Yes, you can use a SMART Board with Microsoft Teams

Yes, you can use a SMART Board with Microsoft Teams (along with Zoom and Google Meet).

First, you’ll need to differentiate between an official ‘Microsoft Teams Room’ (MTR) or a simple, ‘Bring Your Own Meeting’ (BYOM) setup.  Most larger organizations have numerous MTR spaces – where users can walk in, touch a button and start their Teams meeting.  These rooms typically necessitate additional hardware and a higher lever of administrative support.  Whereas in a typical BYOM space a user’s laptop (running Teams) along with a display is all that is required.

A SMART Board will work best in a BYOM setting. Users simply connect their laptop to the room’s SMART Board QX or MX series.  The laptop will be able leverage the microphone array, speakers and (optional) conference camera* that come with your SMART Board.  

That’s it, you now have a fully functional Teams meeting for you and your in-room colleagues.

And, since it is an interactive display, you can open the Microsoft Whiteboard app during your Teams session and use the SMART Board to write or draw.  And it allows users to share content and utilize collaborative tools directly from the SMART Board.

Administrators may be concerned that the SMART Board is not officially Teams Certified but rest assured, SMART has been in the business for 25+ years and focused on a great user experience for both Windows and MAC users.

The SMART Board QX and MX series also allow users to install the Teams app directly onto their SMART Board as they both are Google EDLA certified with access to the Google Play Store.  (More on that in a future blog post.)

What else do you get with your SMART Board (outside of a Teams meeting)? A great image and, of course, interactive whiteboarding! This is the SMART Board’s secret sauce. It has been designed to be as intuitive as possible, and this is especially true when using PowerPoint and PDF files with SMART’s (free) Ink software.

*The SMART Board QX series includes a conference camera, whereas it is an option with the SMART Board MX…and you could always opt for one of the amazing conference cameras from Huddly.