How to connect OBS Studio to Microsoft Teams

Key Takeways

• Dynamic Presentation: With OBS Studio, you can switch between scenes in real-time, as if you had a live director supporting you during your presentation. 

• Simple but effective setup: Three main scenes (first person, speaker with slides, and slides only) are enough to create a more engaging presentation. 

• Complete control: Using keyboard or mouse shortcuts, you can manage the flow of the presentation without disrupting the rhythm, ensuring smoother transitions. 

• Increased audience attention: Scene changes spark curiosity and keep the audience’s attention high. 

• Integration with Microsoft Teams: Thanks to OBS’s windowed projector, you can project your scenes directly to Teams, making your presentation professional and interactive.

Online presentations have now become an integral part of our routine. We spend hours of our workday on platforms like Teams, Zoom, Gmeet, Webex, sharing our slides.

Many people think that online presentations are necessarily boring: you can’t interact with your audience as you would in person, we are subject to technological barriers, sometimes the audience turns off their cameras, and it’s impossible to assess their level of attention.

How can we counter these difficulties and make online presentations more engaging?
During the pandemic, I started asking myself this question, and now, after years of experiments, I’ve realized that our online presentations have much to learn from the world of online streaming.

For younger generations, it’s common to follow streamers on Twitch or YouTube, often related to gaming, but not necessarily.

Streaming is a form of online entertainment that young people find truly engaging.

In this guide, I’ll explain how I’ve transferred and adapted the presentation and entertainment techniques typical of the streaming world to online presentations to make them more engaging and memorable.
Get ready though, because presenting like a streamer will leave your audience speechless!

Remember that everyone is used to the usual screen-shared presentation, preceded by a: I’m going to share my screen, can you see it?

What does it mean to present like a streamer? 

The great advantage lies in controlling the scenes in real time. When you normally present, you can only show two scenes to your audience: 

• The speaker talking from one of the small squares in the grid of all participants 

• The speaker in a small square within the participants’ grid and the large slide (the famous shared screen) 

However, switching from one scene to another is cumbersome and requires you to choose whether to share the screen or a window, and possibly the specific window. 

As a result, you will have to announce that you are about to share your screen, interrupting the flow of your speech. 

Presenting like a streamer means having unlimited scenes at your disposal and being able to switch them in real time as if you had a live production crew supporting you, except that you are the crew! 

To get started, all you’ll need are three scenes and one camera angle.

Which camera to use for high-quality streaming?
Recently, I purchased the Razer Kiyo 4k, and I believe it’s a great compromise, offering good streaming quality and ease of use. If you want to go pro, you can consider a DSLR like the Sony Alpha 6000, 6100, etc.

Read also: Complete Guide to Creating Effective Presentations

The transition between scenes happens naturally as you’re speaking. The presentation becomes much more dynamic, and the perception that someone is behind the scenes changing the setup creates curiosity: the audience doesn’t know what to expect or when the next scene will change. 

This raises the level of attention, and your audience will generally be more receptive. 

What do you need for the streamer setup? 

To create the three scenes we just discussed, you’ll need streaming software, available for free online, called OBS Studio. I like using the traditional version. 

In this guide, I will use PowerPoint 365, with the presenter mode, and a Windows PC. To make the slide creation process significantly faster, I also rely on our MLC PowerPoint Add-In, which saves a huge amount of time before the presentation even begins.

As for hardware, I usually use: 

• External camera for high-resolution streaming
• Professional streaming microphone, Shure MV6  
• Elgato Key Light panel

To follow this guide, any webcam and microphone will be enough. 

OBS setup: learn to configure the scenes 

OBS is a very powerful tool, but we only need a few basic functionalities. First of all, you need to configure the scenes to show to your audience. 

In the bottom left corner, OBS allows you to add scenes and set the signal sources for each scene. 

Now let’s get to work to create the three scenes I showed you earlier. 

Scene #1 – FIRST PERSON

I usually name this scene after myself, as it reminds me that it will display me in full screen. In this case, the only source is the camera signal we are using (in my case, a Razer Kiyo 4k). 

Creating it is very simple: just add a scene and then the video source.

As you may have guessed, you could also have multiple camera angles for an even more sophisticated stream. In that case, you would simply create new scenes with different cameras to get variety in the framing. 

In our example, one central camera is enough, usually placed on a bracket or directly above the monitor. 

Scene #2 – PRESENTATION

During the presentation, it’s important to give value to your slides without neglecting the speaker. With OBS, you can position yourself perfectly to the left of the slide to keep a high level of interaction with your audience. 

Remember to always place yourself to the left of the slides, as viewers read from left to right, so their eyes will naturally be focused on you first, and when the slide changes, they’ll glance to the right to check the slide and then return to you.

As you can see, I also like to add the speaker’s name, their role, and perhaps even a small company logo in the bottom right corner — in the image, you’ll find the logo of my company, MLC Presentation Design Consulting, a specialized PowerPoint presentation design agency.

To set this up, you’ll need to compose the scene with the same video stream you used in Scene #1 but adapt it to the left side of the screen. 

To crop it, simply drag the edges while holding the ALT key on your keyboard.

To set up the presentation feed, you first need to start the PowerPoint slideshow as if you were about to present.

Now add a Window Capture source and select the slideshow from the list.

Pay attention to the most common mistakes: 

Common mistake #1 – Setting the source on PowerPoint but not on the slideshow. 

Even if you change slides in presenter mode, the audience will remain stuck on the PowerPoint window and won’t see the slides progress. 

Common mistake #2 – I can’t find the slideshow signal. 

It’s common to forget to start the presentation in presenter mode in PowerPoint, which is why you don’t see the signal in OBS. 

Common mistake #3 – With the slideshow in full screen, I can no longer see OBS. 

You can easily switch windows using the shortcut ALT + TAB on your keyboard. 

If you encounter other errors, feel free to ask in the comments. 

Scene #3 – DEMO SLIDESHOW

In this scene, I show only the slide in full screen. It’s useful when I want to share a video during my presentation, and I like the attention to be focused solely on the content, without any distractions from my expressions. 

It’s generally very useful because it allows you to disappear from the video and work behind the scenes. The audience will be watching your screen, hearing your voice, but not seeing you. 

To set it up, simply choose the Window Capture source again and select the slideshow.

Advanced Technique (for Microsoft Teams): maximizing video quality with a motion background 

Teams dynamically adjusts the FPS (frames per second) based on the content you’re sharing. 

If you share a video, the FPS of the stream increases; otherwise, they remain low. Streaming video at low FPS can make you appear choppy on camera, resulting in mediocre quality. 

To trick the AI in Teams that dynamically lowers the FPS to save resources, the ideal solution is to have a video background that doesn’t distract your viewers but forces Teams to keep the FPS consistently high. 

As you’ll see, among my sources, I always have a video running in the background.

I recommend choosing a dark video with slow and steady movements so that it remains in the background and doesn’t distract your audience.

Once you’ve set up the three scenes, you can simply select the one to project onto the canvas with your mouse. With a single click, you can switch scenes. 

Shortcuts to control the scenes 

The scene changes will happen dynamically during your presentation. Your mouse will be busy advancing the slides, so you would be too slow if you had to select each scene in OBS and then return to PowerPoint to change the slides. 

There are two practical solutions you can use to manage dynamic scene switching while speaking: 

Mouse shortcuts

My favorite alternative, and also the most affordable. You just need any mouse with at least three free buttons, which you can assign directly to each scene. To change slides, you’ll use the mouse, and since your hand is already in position, you can switch scenes using the extra buttons without ever taking your hand off the mouse or moving the cursor. 

In the OBS settings panel, you have the option to assign a mouse button to each scene by simply clicking it.

Once you’ve assigned the scenes to the buttons on your device, you’ll just need to press them during the presentation to switch scenes. I recommend always using the same buttons so you can get used to switching quickly, without having to think about it. 

Elgato Streamdeck 

The preferred solution for professional streamers who need to manage multiple scenes and applications during streaming.

The Streamdeck allows you to assign scenes to buttons on a keypad that you’ll always have at hand. 

In our case, with a limited number of scenes, I believe we’re faster by switching scenes directly from the mouse, as it saves the time needed to move your hand to another device. 

Connecting OBS to Teams or other video call platforms 

At this point, you can control the scenes displayed on OBS’s canvas, but how do we show them to your remote audience? 

The simplest way is to use the windowed projector. 

With a right-click on OBS, you can create a window where the canvas with your scenes will be projected in a dedicated window (the windowed projector).

To ensure the best possible quality for your audience, it’s important to maximize the windowed projector to full screen. 

Remember that the windowed projector must not have any other windows over it; it must always stay in the foreground. Otherwise, it will freeze and stop transmitting. For this reason, in the following sections, we’ll move it to a secondary virtual desktop.

At this point, you just need to switch apps (ALT + TAB), go to Teams, and share the window of the windowed projector (share only the window, not the entire screen).

Now, your audience will be viewing the OBS canvas through the windowed projector. Your stream is live—congratulations!

Managing the presentation setup 

We’ve taken care of what your audience sees, but now we need to ensure you can comfortably manage your presentation. 

I’ll go over the basic case where you’re using a single monitor (like I do). 

To effectively present, you’ll need to keep an eye on three applications: 

1. PowerPoint to control the presentation (changing slides, zooming, skipping slides, etc.)

2. OBS to switch scenes 

3. Microsoft Teams (or another video call platform) to interact with the audience 

So, I like to organize my screen into three sections.

As you can see, I dedicate 50% of the screen to Teams to interact with my audience in real time. I place PowerPoint’s presenter mode in the top-right corner and keep OBS with its scenes in the bottom-right corner. 

With this setup, I have complete control over everything happening and am ready to present at my best. 

However, I need to free myself from two windows that would otherwise get in the way: 

1. The OBS Windowed projector – if it’s not on top of all other windows, it freezes. 

2. The PowerPoint slideshow – if placed behind other windows, especially Teams, it will jump over Teams and send it to the background every time you change slides (try it and see 😊). 

Therefore, I’ll move these two applications to secondary virtual desktops (since I’m using only one screen, otherwise, I could place them on two additional monitors, but that wouldn’t be an efficient setup). 

On Windows, simply use the shortcut WINDOWS + TAB to get a complete view of all open applications and available virtual desktops. 

Drag the Windowed projector to a secondary virtual desktop.

Now move the PowerPoint slideshow by dragging it to another secondary virtual desktop.

Make sure to place them on different virtual desktops, otherwise, it won’t work.

Remember to share the audio 

If you have videos in your presentation, always remember to share the audio on Teams/Zoom before starting.

Now everything is ready, greet your audience and start your presentation!

Conclusions  

Connecting OBS Studio to Microsoft Teams allows you to transform your online presentations into dynamic and engaging experiences, similar to professional streaming. With a simple setup, you can manage different scenes and keep your audience’s attention, offering a personalized and interactive experience. 

This technique helps you overcome the limitations of traditional presentations on Teams, making the process smooth and visually captivating. You don’t need expensive equipment to start: a webcam, microphone, and OBS Studio are all you need to significantly enhance your online presence.

FAQ 

Is OBS Studio free?  

Yes, OBS Studio is a free and open-source software available for download on multiple platforms.

Do I need a professional camera and microphone to use OBS?

Not necessarily. You can start with a standard webcam and microphone, though upgrading your equipment can improve the overall quality.

Can OBS Studio be used on Mac or only on Windows?

OBS Studio is available for both Windows and Mac, and it works similarly on both platforms.

Can I use more than three scenes during the presentation?

Yes, OBS Studio allows you to create as many scenes as you like, but three main scenes are often sufficient for an effective presentation.

How can I fix the issue if OBS doesn’t correctly display PowerPoint slides?

Make sure you’ve selected the correct slideshow as the source in OBS and have started presentation mode in PowerPoint.

Can I use OBS Studio with other video conferencing platforms besides Teams?

Yes, you can use OBS Studio with other platforms like Zoom, Google Meet, and Webex, following similar steps to those described for Teams. If you notice any differences, mention them in the comments, and let’s discuss!

How to connect OBS Studio to Microsoft Teams?

To connect OBS Studio to Microsoft Teams, follow these steps:

1. Set up your scenes in OBS Studio. 
2. Right-click on OBS and select the “Windowed Projector” option to open a dedicated window with the scene canvas.
3. In Microsoft Teams, select “Share” and choose to share the “Windowed Projector” window (not the entire screen).
4. At this point, your audience will see the content of the OBS canvas projected on Teams, allowing you to manage scenes in real time.

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