Microsoft Teams Town Hall is designed for large-scale communications such as company-wide meetings, milestone celebrations, or live event coverage. It provides a one-to-many experience where presenters share content with thousands of attendees in a high-quality, broadcast-style format.
By combining Microsoft Teams Town Hall with ScreenCloud Broadcast (via OBS), you can extend your event beyond individual devices and bring it directly to digital signage screens across your workplace. This ensures everyone, including deskless and frontline workers, can join in and stay informed.
What is a Town Hall in Microsoft Teams?
A Town Hall in Microsoft Teams is a specialized meeting type designed for very large audiences. It supports up to 10,000 attendees by default, or up to 100,000 with Teams Premium. The format is broadcast-style, where attendees join in view-only mode with their cameras and microphones disabled. Interaction takes place through features such as Q&A, keeping the focus on the presenters and shared content.
For more on Microsoft's Town Hall feature, see their official guide: Get started with town hall in Microsoft Teams.
Why use ScreenCloud Broadcast for Microsoft Teams Town Hall
While Teams Town Hall works well on personal devices, ScreenCloud Broadcast makes it possible to extend the event to shared displays across your workplace - whether that’s an office, production floor, or retail space. By using OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) as a bridge, you can capture the Town Hall feed from Teams and broadcast it directly to any ScreenCloud-connected screen.
This approach is especially useful for company-wide announcements where not everyone is at a desk, hybrid events where employees in common spaces need to watch live, and ensuring inclusivity so every worker can see and hear the same message in real time.
Step 1: Set up ScreenCloud Broadcast
Sign in to your ScreenCloud account and go to the App Store.
Search for ScreenCloud Broadcast and install the app.
Set up a new Broadcast app instance, give it a name, and create a streaming channel with a clear, descriptive title (e.g., Town Hall) for easy identification.
Set it's sharing option to Private if you only wish to share to your screens or Public sharing if you wish to generate a Live Streaming Page URL to share outside of ScreenCloud.
Save the app, and leave it open in your browser to access later, as you will copy the Streaming URL and Streaming Key. These details will help connect OBS to ScreenCloud Broadcast.
Important: The connection is valid for 3 hours and the URL and key refreshes after each event.
Step 2: Open your Microsoft Teams Town Hall meeting
For this step, please note that you will need the Microsoft Teams application on your desktop or device.
Get started by logging into the Microsoft Teams application on your device or desktop.
Create or find your Town Hall meeting and click Join to start.
If you are making your first Town Hall meeting with Microsoft Teams, please find help from Microsoft's help guide Host a town hall in Microsoft Teams
Keep the Microsoft Teams application open while you work on the next steps with OBS.
Your meeting will have an outlined red box for the town hall presentation view. This is where you will aim the OBS stream which will feed into your ScreenCloud Broadcast app.
Step 3: Capture your Microsoft Teams Town Hall with OBS
Install OBS Studio.
In OBS, go to Settings > Stream and set Service to Custom.
In ScreenCloud, open the ScreenCloud Broadcast app, and copy the Streaming Channel URL and Streaming Channel Key.
Back in the application's and streaming tool’s Destination settings for OBS, paste the stream URL into the Server field and the key into the Stream Key field. Select OK to save the connection.
Add a Windows or macOS Screen Capture source in OBS.
For the Screen Capture source, set Method to Application Capture and set the Application to Microsoft Teams. Make sure your Microsoft Teams app is open on your desktop so that you are able to select it.
At this point, you might want to disable Show cursor.
Hit OK when your selection and settings are ready.
Next, arrange your Microsoft Teams application so that the red rectangle surrounding the presentation window lies just outside the OBS streaming window.
Set your audio sources as needed (system sound, microphones).
Click Start Streaming to send the feed to ScreenCloud.
If you Preview your Broadcast app, or check the Live Streaming Page URL, you'll be able to see the Town Hall main presenter window through OBS.
The Live Streaming Page URL view
Step 4: Display your Microsoft Teams Town Hall on your screens
When your Town Hall meeting is ready to begin and you have connected it with OBS to your Broadcast app, here are ways you can set the livestream to your screens:
In ScreenCloud, assign your Broadcast app instance to a Channel, Playlist, or directly to individual screens. See steps on setting content to screens here.
If scheduling in advance, use Channels to align Broadcast with the Town Hall start time.
For urgent or all-hands announcements, use the Cast option to push the live stream instantly to all or selection screens. Learn about Casting here.
Town Hall meeting image source: Microsoft.com
Best practices for setting up Broadcast for town hall meetings
Test in advance: Run a short rehearsal to confirm video and audio quality.
Mind the 3-hour stream limit: Long events may need a new streaming channel URL and key mid-session.
Collect Q&A separately: Since Broadcast is one-way with a slight delay, use Microsoft Teams chat or Q&A apps for questions.
Review after the event: Download the Town Hall recording and publish it for employees who missed it.