Using an AI avatar in a Teams, Zoom or Google Meet call

This guide explains how to invite an AI avatar into a video call and interact with it.


Meetings let you send a scenario's AI avatar into a Microsoft Teams, Google Meet or Zoom call, where it takes part like any other participant. Everyone in the call can hear it and talk to it, so a group can work through the same scenario together.


This is different from a normal video scenario, which is a one-to-one session in your browser. Use the meeting option when you want to:


  • Practise as a group, taking turns to speak to the AI avatar
  • Work with people who are already meeting in Teams, Meet or Zoom


Not every organisation has this turned on. If you don't see the option, ask your organisation's administrator.


Sending the avatar into a call


Set up your Teams, Meet or Zoom call first and copy its join link. Then:


  1. Open the scenario from Scenarios or Collections and read the instructions
  2. Select Video
  3. When asked How do you want to run the video session?, choose Send into a video call
  4. Paste your join link into Meeting link
  5. Check the Avatar name and choose a Response mode (see below)
  6. Select Send to meeting


SimChat opens a Video call session page that shows you what the avatar is doing.



Paste the full join link, starting with https://. SimChat accepts Microsoft Teams, Google Meet and Zoom links, and asks you for one of those if you paste anything else.


If your link is rejected, copy it again from the calendar invite or from the meeting's join button.


Avatar name


This is the name the avatar uses in the call, and the name you say when you want to talk to it. It may already be filled in. Use something natural, like the patient's name.


In the participant list the avatar appears with (AI) after its name, so Sarah Mills shows as Sarah Mills (AI). Look for that name when you let it into the call.


Choosing a response mode


Group call is the default. The avatar joins quietly and says nothing until someone uses its name. Say "Sarah, can you tell me about the pain?" and then carry on talking normally. Use this for group practice, so the avatar doesn't interrupt while you discuss the case between yourselves.


1:1 call makes the avatar say hello when it joins and reply to everything it hears. Use this when one person is doing the whole consultation.


In Group call the avatar stays silent on purpose. If it seems to be ignoring you, say its name.


Letting the avatar into the call


Most calls hold new participants in a lobby or waiting room, so the avatar cannot join until someone lets it in.


  1. Watch your Teams, Meet or Zoom window after selecting Send to meeting
  2. When the request appears, admit the participant whose name ends in (AI)


The Video call session page tells you what is happening:


  • Joining the meeting - the avatar is connecting
  • Waiting in the meeting lobby - it is waiting for you to let it in, and the message tells you which name to look for
  • In the call - it has joined and the session has started


If nobody lets it in, the avatar never joins and the session does not start.


During the call


Talk to the avatar as you would to a patient in the room. Everyone in the call can hear it, and it can hear everyone.


  • A call lasts up to 30 minutes and then ends on its own
  • Keep the Video call session page open. You are taken to marking automatically when the call ends
  • When you have finished, select End session on that page instead of just hanging up


Only the avatar's voice comes from SimChat. Microphones, cameras and speakers still belong to Teams, Meet or Zoom, so muting and volume work as they always do in your call.


Your results


When the call ends you go to marking, the same as after any other session, and the transcript is saved with it.


For a group call, marking is a guide only. The checklist assumes one person did the whole consultation, and the transcript combines everyone's speech, so the score describes the group rather than any individual. SimChat shows a reminder about this on the marking screen.


See Understanding your results and feedback.


Your meetings


Find your meetings at: Meetings (in the sidebar)


The Meetings page lists the calls you have sent an avatar into, and the Status of each one:


  • Pending - waiting to join
  • In call - in the call now
  • Ended - finished
  • Cancelled - you cancelled it
  • Failed - the avatar could not join


Select View status to check on a call in progress, or View feedback to reopen your results. You can also Cancel a call that has not started, or End session on one that is running.


If a session is still open, the scenario's intro page shows A video call session for this scenario is in progress, with Open session status to go back to it.


If something goes wrong


The avatar joined but never says anything


You are in Group call mode. Say its name to bring it into the conversation.


The avatar never joined


Somebody needs to admit it from the lobby. If the page says the avatar could not join, the link may have expired, or the call may have ended or been locked. Check the call is open and send the avatar again.


Nobody can hear the avatar


Check it has not been muted in the call, and that everyone's speakers are working.


The avatar cannot hear someone


That person's microphone is muted or not working in the call itself. See Microphone and audio troubleshooting.


If you are still stuck, ask your organisation's administrator, or contact us at support@simchat.ai.

Updated on: 03/09/2026

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