Microsoft Is Offering Virtual Graduations - For Up To 20,000 Participants

Graduation season is about to begin, but the pandemic has put almost all such events on hold.

Not to worry: any Office 365 faculty license holder, which is free to schools and universities, can host a virtual event. You can even throw that cap in the air - though it may hit your ceiling. JL

Kris Holt reports in Engadget:

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many students will miss out on the chance to celebrate with a traditional ceremony this year. However, virtual versions can still go ahead, and an arena-sized audience can attend on Microsoft Teams.From early May through July 1st, holders of a Microsoft Office 365 A1 faculty license, which is free to educational institutions, can run Teams Live Events with up to 20,000 attendees at no added cost. The standard limit for Live Events is 10,000.

Graduation is a major milestone in most people's lives, and due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many students will miss out on the chance to celebrate their accomplishments with a traditional ceremony this year. However, virtual versions can still go ahead, and an arena-sized audience can attend on Microsoft Teams.

From early May through July 1st, holders of a Microsoft Office 365 A1 faculty license, which is free to educational institutions, can run Teams Live Events with up to 20,000 attendees at no added cost. The standard limit for Live Events is 10,000. License holders will be able to hold 50 concurrent live events, lasting up to 16 hours, during that timeframe, which might prove useful for alumni events or conferences as well.

While Facebook is running its own virtual graduation ceremony with Oprah Winfrey and other celebrity guests, Microsoft is letting every school hold its own large-scale one. That type of ceremony won’t be quite the moment students had been working towards, but it’s a decent alternative under the circumstances. (It might not be as fun as a Minecraft graduation or one with telepresence robots though.)