How do I add a presenter when they are outside the organisation?

Question

How do I add a presenter when they are outside the organisation?

Claire Sedgman (Staff) 0

Setting up a meeting where one of the presenters are not part of my organisation, how would I do this?

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Answer 1

Liora D 7,515 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Dear Claire Sedgman (Staff),

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A.

You can absolutely add a presenter who is outside your organization, but by default external participants join as attendees. To make them a presenter, you have two options:

Before the meeting:

Go to Teams > Calendar > Select the meeting > Meeting Options.
Under Who can present?, choose one of the following:

Specific people > Add their email address (they need a Microsoft account).
- Everyone > This will allow all participants, including external users, to present.

During the meeting:

Once they join, open the participant list, click the three dots next to their name, and select Make a presenter.
If you only see Make an attendee (as in your screenshot), that means the person is already a presenter. Teams only shows the option to switch roles, so if they are already a presenter, you can only demote them to attendee.

I hope this information helps point you in the right direction. If you run into any issues while trying the steps, or if something still doesn’t feel quite right, please don’t hesitate to reach out again. I’ll do my best to support you however I can.

Looking forward to hearing back from you with any updates or additional details.

Warm regards,

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Claire Sedgman (Staff) 0 Reputation points

2025-11-05T15:37:32.5666667+00:00

thank you for this, I cannot open this to everyone as this is a school and a need only select teaching staff and an external to present. It is not accepting the external email address? Why doe this have to be a microsoft one?
Liora D 7,515 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-11-06T17:22:39.13+00:00
Hi Claire,

Thank you for your follow-up.

When using the “Specific people” option in Meeting Options, Microsoft Teams requires that the email addresses you enter belong to users with a Microsoft account (either a personal Microsoft account or an Azure AD account). This is necessary so Teams can identify and assign the presenter role before the meeting starts.

Here are two ways to proceed:

Ask the external presenter to use a Microsoft account If they don’t already have one, they can create a free Microsoft account at signup.live.com. Once they have it, you can enter that email under “Specific people” in the Meeting Options.

Assign presenter role during the meeting If pre-assigning doesn’t work, you can still promote them to presenter once they join the meeting. Just open the participant list, click the three dots next to their name, and select “Make a presenter”.

I hope this helps clarify things!
Liora D 7,515 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-11-10T15:04:00.54+00:00

Hi Claire,

I just wanted to follow up to see how things are going with the information I shared above. I truly hope it was helpful and brought you closer to resolving the issue.

If you’ve had a chance to review it and have any updates, questions, or if you ran into any difficulties along the way, please don’t hesitate to let me know. I’m more than happy to assist further if needed.

It would be great to hear back from you!

Warm regards,

Liora.
Liora D 7,515 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-11-11T16:26:47.2+00:00

Hi Claire,

Just checking in one last time to see if you still need any assistance with this topic. I completely understand that things can get busy, so no worries at all if you haven’t had a chance to respond yet.

If the information shared earlier helped resolve your issue, feel free to click "Accept Answer" to help others with similar questions. Otherwise, I’m still here and happy to support you whenever you're ready.
If you have any other questions in the future, please don’t hesitate to create a new thread, other moderators and I are always happy to help. We truly hope you have a smooth experience with Microsoft products and wish you continued success in your work.

Best regards,

Liora.

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How do I add a presenter when they are outside the organisation?

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