A graduation can be one of the most important milestones in a person"s life, and thanks to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, many in-person graduations might end up being canceled. Today, Microsoft announced a potential solution. Schools will be able to host a virtual graduation on Teams, completely free of charge.
It will require an Office 365 A1 subscription, which is free for educational institutions. Starting in early May, those users will have the ability to do a live broadcast on Teams, and Microsoft is increasing the maximum amount of attendees to 20,000. Moreover, the amount of simultaneous live events is being increased to 50 and the maximum length is being extended to 16 hours. All of this, of course, is for a limited time, as the features will be turned off on July 1.
Microsoft says that different schools are trying different things for their live events. Some are doing PowerPoint presentations, while others are doing more complicated things like a mix of live and recorded ceremonies. The Redmond firm also suggested using things like FlipGrid, Sway, and PowerPoint to commemorate the occasion.
This also isn"t just about graduation ceremonies. Schools might be holding other events, like an alumni summit or something of the like. Also, after a graduation, families and friends might want to have their own more personal celebration. That"s where the suite of tools that Microsoft is offering comes into play.