11th MVP Award Rewarded

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I am actually on vacation, but as I sit here under the summer sun, toes in the pool and a cold drink within reach, I have been waiting for that email confirming that I’ve been awarded my 11th Microsoft MVP Award! As last year, I am being awarded in both the Teams and Copilot category. To say I’m humbled would be an understatement. Being part of the global Microsoft MVP community for over a decade now has been an incredible journey, filled with learning, sharing, speaking, and connecting with passionate technologists from every corner of the world. What is the Microsoft MVP Award? The Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) award is given to technology experts who share their knowledge and real-world expertise with communities. With fewer than 4,000 MVPs worldwide, it’s an honor to be part of such a vibrant and dedicated group. MVPs contribute through speaking engagements, writing, open-source contributions, and helping others online and offline. You can learn more about the progra...

Changes to the background images feature in Teams

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There are two enhancements coming to the Background features in Teams soon.

Admin Controls:
When background images became available in Teams, there were no admin controls for the feature. Soon there will be a new meeting policy to control this feature. This policy will be available through the "SkypeOnlineModule" in powershell. According to the Message in the admin center, this is the syntax for changes, on a per user basis:
  • Grant-CsTeamsMeetingPolicy -Identity "email address" -PolicyName "BlurOnly" 
    The following options will be available: "BlurAndDefaultBackgrounds" | "BlurOnly" | "AllFilters" | "NoFilters"

    Upload images:
    Interestingly, one of the settings in the above set of options "AllFilters" is described as: AllFilters, which includes the ability for users to upload custom images.
    This feature, coming by the end of May will give the users an official way to add custom images within Teams. 
    If I understand the roadmap item correctly, the default will be "AllFilters"