How to Make Someone Else a Presenter in a Microsoft Teams Meeting

You’ve scheduled a Microsoft Teams meeting. You’re ready. Your slides are ready. Your coffee is… emotionally ready.
Then your guest speaker joins and says, “Hey, I can’t share my screen.” And suddenly you’re the unwilling star of a
corporate escape room: How do I make someone else a presenter?

The good news: promoting someone to Presenter in Teams is usually a quick, two-click move.
The even better news: you can do it before the meeting (for calm, organized people) or
during the meeting (for the rest of us).

This guide walks you through the fastest ways to make someone a presenter, what to do when the option is missing,
and a few real-world tricks that keep meetings from turning into “Oops, who’s sharing their inbox?” theater.

Quick Answer: The Fastest Way to Make Someone a Presenter

1. In the meeting, select People (the participants list).
2. Find the person you want to promote.
3. Select More options (often three dots) next to their name.
4. Choose Make a presenter, then confirm.

If you don’t see that option, don’t panic. It’s usually one of these: you’re not allowed to change roles, the meeting
is set to “Only me,” it’s a channel meeting with limited role controls, or the person joined anonymously with restricted
permissions. We’ll handle all of that below.

What “Presenter” Means in Teams (And Why It Matters)

In Microsoft Teams meetings, roles control who can do what. The three most common roles you’ll deal with are:
Organizer, Co-organizer, Presenter, and Attendee.
(Yes, that’s four words. Teams is very into collaboration.)

Presenter vs. Attendee: The practical difference

A Presenter can typically share content (screen, window, PowerPoint), use meeting features that help run
the session, and keep things moving. An Attendee is more “participant mode”: they can talk, chat, react,
but their ability to take over the meeting is limited by your settings.

Why it matters: if someone needs to share slides, demonstrate software, or drive a whiteboard, they generally need to be
a Presenter. If you’re hosting a large meeting and want fewer surprises, keeping most people as
Attendees makes the meeting feel calmer, cleaner, and less like a group project with 87 editors.

A note about anonymous presenters (important if you invite guests)

Teams can allow anonymous people to join (depending on your org settings). But if someone joins anonymously and you promote
them to Presenter, they may still be restricted from certain “presenter-level” actions (like muting or removing other participants).
So they might be able to share, but not fully “run” the room. Keep that in mind for external speakers.

Method 1: Make Someone a Presenter During the Meeting (Best for Last-Minute Fixes)

This is the move you use when the meeting has started, your speaker is ready, and you’d prefer not to reschedule your entire life.

Step-by-step (Teams desktop or web)

1. In the meeting controls, select People (sometimes labeled “Participants”).
2. Find the person you want to promote. If the list is long, use search (your future self will thank you).
3. Hover over their name and select More options (often the three-dot menu).
4. Select Make a presenter, then confirm the change.

To switch them back (because not everyone needs permanent power)

1. Open People again.
2. Open More options next to their name.
3. Select Make an attendee.

Practical tip: If someone is actively sharing and you demote them to Attendee, their screen sharing may stop.
So if you’re about to change roles mid-demo, consider waiting until a natural break (or at least until they stop
clicking the one button that makes the app explode).

Who can promote presenters during a meeting?

Typically, the Organizer can do it. In many setups, Co-organizers and Presenters also have permission to change other participants’
roles. If you can’t change roles, you may be an Attendee or your meeting policy may limit role management.

Method 2: Make Someone a Presenter Before the Meeting (Best for Planned Speakers)

If you already know who needs to present, setting roles ahead of time is the smoothest option. It also prevents the
“Can you make me a presenter?” question from arriving precisely when you’re trying to greet attendees, start the recording,
and remember how breathing works.

Use “Who can present?” in Meeting Options

1. Open Teams and go to Calendar.
2. Select your meeting and choose Edit.
3. Open Meeting options (this often opens in your browser).
4. Find Who can present and choose the right setting.
5. Select Save.

What “Who can present” options actually do (in plain English)

• Everyone: Anyone with the link joins as a presenter. Fast and flexible, but potentially chaotic.
• People in my organization: People in your org can present; external users typically join as attendees.
  Great for internal meetings.
• Specific people: Only the people you choose can present; everyone else joins as attendees. Excellent for
  webinars, guest talks, and “I love my coworkers but not enough to let them share screens randomly” meetings.
• Only me: Only the organizer can present. Great for lecture-style meetings or when you’re presenting sensitive content.

Best practice: For most professional meetings, “Specific people” is the sweet spotcontrolled, but not restrictive.
For a training session with Q&A, you can keep “Specific people” and still invite participants to unmute when appropriate.

Recurring meetings: a sneaky detail that trips people up

If you change someone’s role during a single occurrence of a recurring meeting, it may only affect that one session.
If you want the role to stick for future occurrences, set it in Meeting options ahead of time.

Method 3: Add a Co-organizer (When You Need a Backup “Host”)

Sometimes you don’t just need a presenteryou need a second set of hands to manage the meeting: admit people from the lobby,
start/stop certain meeting actions, and generally keep things from falling apart when you step away for 45 seconds.

Why co-organizer can be better than presenter

Co-organizers often have permissions that make them “meeting copilots.” They can help manage the flow and handle logistics
while you focus on content. If you’re running a large meeting, this role is a lifesaver.

How to add a co-organizer

1. Make sure the person is invited to the meeting (typically as a required attendee).
2. Open Meeting options.
3. Find Choose co-organizers and select the person.
4. Save.

Key limitation: External participants generally can’t be co-organizers. So if your speaker is outside your organization,
you’ll usually make them a Presenter, not a co-organizer.

Making External Guests a Presenter (Without the Awkward “Try Leaving and Rejoining”)

Guest presenters are common for trainings, partner calls, interviews, and webinars. The main thing to know:
if your meeting is set to People in my organization, external participants often join as Attendees by default.

Best way to handle a guest speaker

• Before the meeting, set Who can present to Everyone or Specific people.
• If you choose Specific people, make sure your guest is on the invite list so you can select them.
• During the meeting, you can still promote them using People → More options → Make a presenter.

If your guest joined anonymously and they’re missing some controls, ask them to join signed in (when possible).
Anonymous access can work, but it may limit what they can do even after you promote them.

Special Meeting Types: Webinars, Town Halls, and the Green Room

Teams events can be more structured than a normal meeting. That’s where presenter assignments become even more important.

Webinars

Webinars typically separate presenters from attendees more clearly. You may be able to add presenters during scheduling,
and you’ll often see options that control attendee experience (like limiting cameras/mics and managing what attendees see).

Town halls

Town halls are designed for large, broadcast-style sessions. If you need someone to speak or share content, promoting them
to presenter is usually the path. Plan roles ahead of time so you’re not role-switching during a live broadcast.

The Green Room (for “Let’s test audio before the audience arrives” people)

The Green Room feature lets organizers and presenters prepare before attendees enter. If you change someone’s role to presenter,
they may be moved into (or gain access to) that behind-the-scenes space, depending on how your event is configured.
It’s perfect for sound checks, slide testing, and confirming your guest speaker isn’t accidentally using the “airport runway fan” microphone.

Presenter Role vs. “Give Control”: Two Different Tools

There are two common situations that sound similar but aren’t:

• “I need them to present.” Translation: they need permission to share content and use presenter features.
  Solution: make them a Presenter.
• “I need them to click around on what I’m sharing.” Translation: you’re sharing your screen and want them to control it temporarily.
  Solution: use Give control / Take control.

When “Give control” is perfect

If you’re demoing a tool and want a colleague to walk through steps on your shared screen (without switching who shares),
giving control can keep the flow seamless.

Why “Give control” might be missing

In many organizations, “Give or request control” can be turned on/off by IT policy. Also, some devices/settings can prevent
the feature from working properly. If the request comes through but you can’t approve it, it may be a system capability issue
(like hardware acceleration requirements).

Troubleshooting: When You Can’t Make Someone a Presenter

1) You don’t see “Make a presenter”

• You’re an Attendee: Only certain roles can change others’ roles.
• Meeting policy restrictions: Your organization may limit who can assign roles.
• You’re in the wrong place: Make sure you opened People and used More options next to the person’s name.

2) “Specific people” is missing in Meeting Options

• If it’s a channel meeting, some role controls (like selecting specific presenters) may not be available.
• Your IT admin may have set meeting policies that change what options you see by default.

3) Your guest is outside your org and can’t present

• Check Who can present. If it’s set to People in my organization, external guests may default to attendee.
• If you need one guest to present, use Specific people and select themmake sure they’re invited first.

4) Recurring meeting roles keep “resetting”

• If you promoted someone during a single meeting occurrence, it may not apply to future sessions.
• For a lasting change, set roles in Meeting options so they apply going forward.

5) “Give control” doesn’t work even though it should

• Your org may have disabled control requests in meeting policy.
• The device may not support (or may have disabled) hardware acceleration, which can break control approval.

Best Practices: A Simple Role Strategy That Works for Most Meetings

If you want meetings to feel professional and low-drama (a bold dream, but attainable), try this setup:

• Set “Who can present” to “Specific people” for anything with more than ~10 attendees.
• Add 1–2 co-organizers for backup (especially for large meetings, trainings, or events).
• Promote people live only when neededand demote after their segment if appropriate.
• Test with the speaker 5 minutes early (Green Room helps if you’re using it).

Conclusion

Making someone else a presenter in Microsoft Teams is mostly about knowing where the role controls live:
People for quick in-meeting changes, and Meeting options when you want structure and predictability.
Once you get comfortable with “Who can present,” you’ll stop treating every meeting like a surprise talent show.

If you remember just one thing: Invite the right people, set “Who can present” before the meeting, and promote presenters from the People list when needed.
Your future meetings will be smoother, calmer, and significantly less likely to include someone accidentally sharing a desktop full of screenshots named “final_FINAL_v7.png.”

Real-World Experiences: What Actually Happens When You Hand Out Presenter Access (And What I Learned)

The first time I had to make someone a presenter mid-meeting, it was a classic “everything is fine” moment
meaning it was very much not fine. We were hosting a training for a mixed audience: internal staff, a couple of vendors,
and one guest speaker who was joining from outside the organization. The agenda was tight, the attendance was high,
and the speaker had exactly one job: show a deck and walk through a demo.

Five minutes in, the speaker says, “I don’t have the Share button.” You know that feeling when your brain opens a new tab
called panic? That. The meeting was set to “People in my organization,” so our guest automatically joined as an attendee.
The fix was simpleopen People, find their name, promote to presenterbut the lesson was bigger:
external guests need role planning. Ever since, if a meeting includes a guest speaker, I set “Who can present”
to “Specific people” ahead of time and pick the speaker from the invite list. No surprises, no scrambling, no awkward silence
while everyone watches me click around like I’m trying to defuse a bomb.

Another time, a project lead asked me to “make everyone a presenter” because the team wanted to collaborate.
In theory, that sounds friendly and inclusive. In practice, it’s how you end up with three people screen sharing at once,
two people accidentally sharing the wrong window, and one person sharing a spreadsheet so sensitive the finance team
can feel it in their bones. The meeting turned into a digital version of trying to talk in a crowded restaurant.
After that, my approach changed: I keep presenters limited and promote people one at a time when it’s their turn.
Collaboration still happensjust with fewer accidental screen shares and fewer “Wait, whose screen are we looking at?” interruptions.

The most useful trick I’ve seen in real meetings is using a co-organizer like a stage manager.
In large sessions, the organizer is often presenting, watching chat, tracking time, and trying to sound confident.
That’s too many jobs. When we started assigning a co-organizer, the meeting quality improved immediately.
One person focused on delivering content while the co-organizer handled the lobby, managed questions, and promoted presenters
at the right moments. It felt less like chaos and more like an actual productionminus the headsets and dramatic lighting.

Finally, I learned that “presenter” and “give control” solve different problems. In one working session, a teammate didn’t need
to presentthey just needed to click a few things on my shared screen to show a workaround. Giving control was perfect… until it wasn’t.
The request came through, but the approval controls didn’t work. That’s when I learned that sometimes technical constraints and policies
can block control features, even if you’re doing everything “right.” Now, I treat “give control” as a convenience feature, not a guarantee.
My backup plan is simple: if control fails, I either make them a presenter so they can share their screen, or I ask them to talk me through
the steps while I click. Not glamorous, but it keeps the meeting moving.

The big takeaway from all these experiences is that presenter access is less about power and more about flow.
When you assign presenters intentionallybefore the meeting when possibleyou reduce friction, avoid awkward delays,
and keep everyone focused on the conversation instead of the controls. And if you do have to promote someone live,
you’ll know exactly where to click… with a calm expression that suggests you totally planned it this way.