💡 Our Technical Review in summary
Summary
- Microsoft is introducing a new meeting option for Teams Town Halls titled “Who has control of production tools.”
- This feature allows organizers to specifically designate which participants have the authority to manage the screen, start the event, and end the event.
- The rollout for General Availability is expected to begin in late July 2025 and reach completion by early August 2025.
Impact
- Granular Permissions: Currently, all organizers, co-organizers, and presenters share production capabilities. After this update, organizers can restrict these “production tool” rights to specific individuals.
- Functional Restrictions: Presenters who are not assigned production rights will still be able to present but will be unable to start/end the meeting or manage which participants are “on-screen.”
- Visual Indicators: During an active event, a clapperboard icon will appear next to the names of participants who have been granted production tool access.
- Default Settings: The default setting for new events created after late May 2025 will be “Organizers, co-organizers and presenters,” maintaining the current behavior unless manually changed by the organizer.
- Configuration Options: Organizers can choose from three levels of control: “Organizers, co-organizers and presenters,” “Organizers and co-organizers,” or “Specific people.”
- Legacy Client Behavior: Users on older versions of Microsoft Teams will not be subject to these restrictions and will continue to see the old behavior where all presenters have production access.
- Licensing: This feature is a standard update for Town Halls and does not require a Teams Premium license.
Action Required
- No Administrative Activation: This feature will be enabled automatically by Microsoft; no action is required within the Teams Admin Center to toggle the feature.
- Internal Documentation: Update internal “How-to” guides for event organizers to include instructions on managing production roles under the “Details > Production tools” menu in Town Hall settings.
- User Training: Notify frequent Town Hall organizers of the change, emphasizing that they should configure these permissions prior to the start of the event to ensure a smooth production workflow.
- Version Management: Ensure that staff involved in high-profile events are using the latest version of the Teams desktop or web client to ensure the permission restrictions are enforced correctly.
Microsoft Official Update
Service: N/A
Category: stayInformed
Severity: normal
Updated August 8, 2025: We have updated the timeline. Thank you for your patience.
Coming soon for Microsoft Teams: A new town hall meeting option called Who has control of production tools allows organizers to designate who can manage the screen during the event. Assigned individuals will be able to start the event, control what attendees see, and end the event, for a smoother, more organized experience.
This message applies to Teams for Windows desktop, Teams for Mac desktop, and Teams for the web.
This message is associated with Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 487432.
[When this will happen:]
Targeted Release: We will begin rolling out mid-May 2025 and expect to complete by late May 2025.
General Availability (Worldwide): We will begin rolling out late July 2025 and expect to complete by early August 2025.
[How this will affect your organization:]
Before this rollout, organizers, co-organizers, and presenters can bring participants on or off screen and start or end the event. After this rollout, only assigned users will have the ability to perform these actions. Organizers, co-organizers, or presenters who are not assigned can still join the event and present but will be restricted from managing the screen or starting and ending the event. Presenters who are unassigned will not be able to manage assigned users with the options Make an attendee or Remove from meeting. A clapperboard icon will appear next to the names of participants who have been granted these permissions during the event.
In Town hall meeting options, event organizers can designate which roles have control over production tools at Details > Production tools:
Who has control of production tools will have three options:
- Organizers, co-organizers and presenters: This is the default.
- Organizers and co-organizers
- Specific people
This meeting option is only available for town halls and does not require a Teams Premium license. We recommend the organizer set this option before the event starts.
Limitations
- Who has control of production tools is not available for meetings or webinars.
- Users joining through older Teams versions will continue to see the existing behavior, where all organizers, co-organizers, and presenters have the ability to manage the screen.
Any new events created or updated after late May 2025 will receive the new Who has control of production tools meeting option by default.
This feature will be available by default for meeting organizers to configure.
[What you need to do to prepare:]
This rollout will happen automatically by the specified date with no admin action required before the rollout. You may want to notify your users about this change and update any relevant documentation.
Before rollout, we will update this post with revised documentation.
Additional resources: Control town hall production tools in Microsoft Teams – Microsoft Support
