Your name

It is important to remember that your name will be shown on screen to the other people in the Hearing. This can be a worry if there is a non-disclosure provision involved in your case. If you do not want people to know your name, there are things you can do to make sure that it is not shown on the screen. 

When you join an MS Teams meeting you will be asked to either join as a guest or log in to your Microsoft account. Join as a Guest will ask you to enter your name. This is the name that will be shown to all of the other participants in the Hearing. You can enter any name here so use the one you want to be known as, or have agreed with the Virtual Hearing Support Person i.e. just your first name and initial, or for professionals, “school teacher”, “foster carer”, etc. 

Remember to tell the Virtual Support Person what name you will use so we let you into the Hearing. 

If you sign in to your Microsoft account, the name shown on screen will be the one set up in the account. This is usually your forename and surname. To check the name that will be shown in the MS Teams meeting, sign in to your Microsoft account and view your profile. You can change the name shown, but you must include something in the forename and surname field. Microsoft will not allow you to leave one of the fields blank.  

Join as Guest allows the best flexibility for withholding your name, so if this is a worry for you, always use this method instead of signing in to Microsoft. The RAVHI Team can help you check what name is shown when you join a test meeting before the Hearing.