EventBuilder adds the webinar functionality you need to Skype for Business.
The purpose of this page is to assist you with understanding your options, including basic operations and some limitations from Skype for Business (remembering that Microsoft may change features or specifications at any time).
This is not a sales page -- we don't sell Microsoft products, and we trust you will appreciate that all information about EventBuilder's suite of add-on functionality is tastefully shared sparsely and at the end of the page.
Have a question you don't see here? Give us a shout.
About Skype Meeting Broadcast and Skype for Business
Why use Skype Meeting Broadcast?
What is Skype Meeting Broadcast and its main features?
What are the different roles used in Skype Meeting Broadcast?
What is the difference between Skype Meeting Broadcast and Skype for Business?
How do I pull a report for a Skype Meeting Broadcast session?
How do I pull a report for a Skype for Business session?
What elements of a "typical" webinar platform are missing in Skype Meeting Broadcast?
What are the system requirements for Skype Meeting Broadcast?
Does Skype Meeting Broadcast work on a Mac?
Can I give Skype Meeting Broadcast attendees a phone number to dial into?
How do reports work in Skype Meeting Broadcast and what information is captured?
What information can I provide to the attendees to troubleshoot issues with Skype Meeting Broadcast?
There are three primary reasons to use Microsoft Skype Meeting Broadcast:
Users of Skype Meeting Broadcast may select who may view the webcast in one of three ways:
Interactions (such as polling or group chat) in Skype Meeting Broadcast require use of a separate solution such as Yammer or Pulse.
Skype Meeting Broadcast does not have traditional webinar-type reports and includes the following information.
Reports may only be pulled by Event Team Members on the same domain. Reports do not include data points from separate solutions such as Yammer or Pulse. Correlating this information (such as if you wish to see all of one attendee's data and comments or votes in one place) requires manually combining separate data sources.
Video recordings of the webcast may be made and downloaded or shared online. It is useful to remember that
Finally, Organizers may enable machine-driven transcription and translation for auto-generating captions.
Skype Meeting Broadcast identifies people in one of three ways: organizer, event team member, and attendee. This organization of roles assumes that in many large broadcast meetings or events that there will be several people involved in producing a broadcast.
Role | What this person does | Notes |
---|---|---|
Organizer |
|
|
Event Team Member |
|
|
Attendee |
|
Role | Organizer |
What this person does |
|
Role | Event Team Member |
What this person does |
|
Notes |
|
Role | Attendee |
What this person does |
|
Technically, Skype Meeting Broadcast is a feature of Skype for Business (and is included in most licenses of Office 365 and Skype for Business Online). Functionality, however, it operates as an entirely separate product.
The table below illuminates key distingctions between Skype for Business and Skype Meeting Broadcast. (Note that there are more differences that what are outlined in this table).
Feature | Skype Meeting Broadcast | Skype For Business | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Polling | Add-on feature | Yes |
Microsoft suggests that Skype Meeting Broadcasts use a separate (external) tool like Microsoft Pulse. There results, therefore, are not part of your Skype for Business reports. Note that Skype for Business enables only a single-select, multiple choice option for polls. For other options (multi-select, drop-down menus, free-form text entry, etc.. consider EventBuilder) |
Dial-in Audio |
No | Yes | Skype Meeting Broadcast only offers streaming (VoIP). |
Reports | Yes | No | Skype Meeting Broadcast reports are minimal: to Skype Meeting Broadcast offers no option for pre-registration. |
Videos (non-webcam) |
No | Yes | Skype for Business only allows for videos to be played if thay are embedded in PowerPoint. |
Automatic recording access | Yes | No |
Skype for Business recordings are created and stored locally. Sharing required you to have a place to upload. Skype Meeting Broadcast recordings may be automatically shared in the cloud if you have and use Office 365 Video. |
Ability to "rewind" in a live meeting | Yes | No | |
IM | No | Yes | Rolling IM conversation via Skype - attendees can sea each other's questions |
Scheduling via Outlook | No | Yes | Skype Meeting Broadcast is accessed through a separate URL. All creation and management of Skype Meeting Broadcast events and recordings are separate from the way you use Skype for Business. |
Feature | Polling |
Skype Meeting Broadcast | Add-on feature |
Skype For Business | Yes |
Notes |
Microsoft suggests that Skype Meeting Broadcasts use a separate (external) tool like Microsoft Pulse. There results, therefore, are not part of your Skype for Business reports. Note that Skype for Business enables only a single-select, multiple choice option for polls. For other options (multi-select, drop-down menus, free-form text entry, etc.. consider EventBuilder) |
Feature | Dial-in Audio |
Skype Meeting Broadcast | No |
Skype For Business | Yes |
Notes | Skype Meeting Broadcast only offers streaming (VoIP). |
Feature | Reports |
Skype Meeting Broadcast | Yes |
Skype For Business | No |
Notes | Skype Meeting Broadcast reports are minimal: to Skype Meeting Broadcast offers no option for pre-registration. |
Feature | Videos (non-webcam) |
Skype Meeting Broadcast | No |
Skype For Business | Yes |
Notes | Skype for Business only allows for videos to be played if thay are embedded in PowerPoint. |
Feature | Automatic recording access |
Skype Meeting Broadcast | Yes |
Skype For Business | No |
Notes |
Skype for Business recordings are created and stored locally. Sharing required you to have a place to upload. Skype Meeting Broadcast recordings may be automatically shared in the cloud if you have and use Office 365 Video. |
Feature | Ability to "rewind" in a live meeting |
Skype Meeting Broadcast | Yes |
Skype For Business | No |
Feature | IM |
Skype Meeting Broadcast | No |
Skype For Business | Yes |
Notes | Rolling IM conversation via Skype - attendees can sea each other's questions |
Feature | Scheduling via Outlook |
Skype Meeting Broadcast | No |
Skype For Business | Yes |
Notes |
Skype Meeting Broadcast is accessed through a separate URL. All creation and management of Skype Meeting Broadcast events and recordings are separate from the way you use Skype for Business. |
Notice in the image "Skype Meeting Broadcast presenter interface" that while the look and feel is similar to Skype for Business, the controls are different (and there are fewer features as illuminated above).
As you see in this calendar view for Skype Meeting Broadcast, your broadcasts are managed in an entirely separate place. Results and reporting are neither accessible in a combined manner or in combination with other Skype for Business events or recordings you also use over the course of your webinar/webcast program(s).
Skype Meeting Broadcast offers limited reporting, but it is integrated (unlike Skype for Business). What follows are both the steps required and three important things to remember.
There are four important things to remember about reporting for Skype Meeting Broadcast:
See what features EventBuilder adds to Skype Meeting Broadcast and Skype for Business
There is no official reports for Skype for Business meetings. However, you may pull your conversation history (from Microsoft Outlook, not Skype for Business). What follows are both the steps to follow and a few important things to know:
Two important things to remember:
Skype Meeting Broadcast is fundamentally a "streaming-audio plus PowerPoint" solution designed for scale. Here is a list of nine things you may have come to expect that Skype Meeting Broadcast does not offer:
System requirements for Skype Meeting Broadcast differ for Attendees and Event Team Members.
Note, however, that you cannot schedule Skype Meeting Broadcasts unless your Office 365 administrator has enabled it. Learn more via this document from Microsoft.
Role | Requirement |
---|---|
Attendees | Edge, Chrome 35 or later, Firefox, OSX Safari, iOS 8 or later, Android (KitKat). Note: Adobe Flash is required for Windows 7, Firefox versions 41 and earlier, as well as Safari on Mac. |
Event Team Members |
Skype for Business installed on their PC. You need to make sure ou have a recent version of the Skype for Business app. To find out which version you're using, in Skype for Business choose Help > About Skype for Business. You need one of the following versions: For Skype for Business 2016 apps, you must be using Click-to-Run, build 16.0.4227 or later (MSI installations only support the presenter role.) Event team members can join through a different client if no broadcast controls are needed, as explained in this knowledge base article. Or, if you're using a Mac, only the Skype for Business application is supported – not Skype Meeting Broadcast. See this knowledge base article for more information. If your version is older than the above, uninstall the app and then download and install it again. To host the meeting, producers need following licenses: Skype for Business Online Standalone Plan 2 (or 3). Enterprise E1, E3, or E5 — which contains the Skype for Business Online Standalone Plan 2 license. Event team members will be blocked if they are assigned one of the user licenses in this article. |
Yes, but with limitations.
Attendees may join a Skype Meeting Broadcast using a Mac.
Event Team Members may join using a Mac, but they will not see the meeting control options. In other words, you cannot operate Skype Meeting Broadcast solely from a Mac.
No.
(But you can when you use EventBuilder with Skype for Business.)
Skype Meeting Broadcast does not have traditional webinar-type reports. What information is available is captured in multiple places – a downloadable .csv and in Yammer or Pulse if you have used those for chat or polls. Note, too, that reports may only be pulled by Event Team Members on the same domain.
Data collected is limited to the following information:
It’s worth repeating: if you want all possible data, you’ll need to grab it from different places and manually combine it.
Remember, Skype Meeting Broadcast has no traditional pre-registration function, and consequently common webinar-type reporting to understand who registered, attended, registered-but-did-not-attend, etc. is not available.
Skype for Business is designed for smaller, more collaborative meetings. Like Skype Meeting Broadcast, it offers no webinar-type registration pages, etc.
We recommend crafting additional language (e.g., "make sure you’re not using a VPN or remote desktop" or "if experiencing trouble, refresh your browser or try a different one"). Use Microsoft's list of requirements as a guide.
EventBuilder adds features to Skype Meeting Broadcast to form a complete whole. Here are a few significant reasons:
To be fair, there’s a time for each in its own place. A few high-level reasons of many why you might sometimes use EventBuilder with Skype for Business instead of Skype Meeting Broadcast are as follows:
In short, EventBuilder isn’t designed to replace your relationship with Microsoft communication tools, it’s designed to enhance that relationship (if not eliminate your need to pay for a totally standalone webinar solution).