Tips for video meetings

On this page

• Start your meeting
• Tips for presenting
• Ways to collaborate

               

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Start your meeting

Start or schedule a meeting

You have several options for starting a meeting.  Start a quick impromptu video chat now, schedule an event for later, or schedule an event and put it on people's calendars.

Learn how

Start a meeting fast with a shortcut

1. Open a browser window and enter meet.new.
2. Click Add others or share the joining information to add participants.

Start a video meeting from Meet

1. ​Go to Google Meet.
2. Click New Meeting.
3. Select an option:
   • Create a meeting for later:
     • To share the meeting details for a future meeting, copy the meeting link and share with participants.
     • To directly start the meeting with this link, paste the link into a browser; or enter the link into the “Enter a code or link” field click Join.
   • Start an instant meeting: Create a new meeting and join the meeting directly. 
   • Schedule in Google Calendar: To schedule a meeting, you’re directed to Google Calendar.

Tip: Google Workspace Essentials users can't schedule a meeting in Google Calendar.

Schedule a video meeting from Calendar

When you create an event on Google Calendar, you can add a video meeting link.

• Google Workspace users: You can also add a dial-in number to the Calendar event.
• Google Workspace Essentials users: You can't schedule a meeting in Google Calendar.

Important: Guests can forward the meeting link to other people. If someone tries to join who was not invited to the Calendar event, a meeting participant from your organization must accept their request. For meetings organized by a personal Google Account, only the meeting creator can admit these participants.

1. In Calendar, create an event.
2. Click Add guests.
3. Enter the names or email of the people you want to invite.
4. Click Save.
5. To notify guests, click Send.

 

 

Check your equipment and setup

Make sure Meet is using the correct camera, microphone, and speakers. Check your video and audio settings and options.

• Video—Sit in a well-lit area, ideally with light on your face and not behind, to avoid creating a silhouette.
• Audio—Consider wearing headphones or earbuds for better audio. You can also use your phone to speak and listen if you’re on the move or your connection is poor. Do a quick sound check before you start a meeting and learn how to mute yourself and others. You can even switch audio devices during a meeting.

Learn how

Change your camera settings

1. On your computer, open meet.google.com.
2. Join a video meeting. 
3. Before you join or during the meeting, click More   Settings .
4. On the left, click Video  Camera.
5. Select a setting. 
6. At the top right, click Close .

Change your speakers and microphone settings

1. On your computer, open meet.google.com.
2. Join a video meeting.
3. Before you join or during the meeting, click More   Settings .
4. On the left, click Audio  the setting you want to change:
   • Microphone
   • Speakers
5. Optional: To test your speakers, click Test.
6. At the top right, click Close .

Learn more at the Google Meet Help Center

 

 

Change your background

You can use this feature only if your organization supports it. For help, contact your administrator.

To help limit distractions or make meetings more fun, you can blur your background or use filters and custom images.

Learn how

1. Go to Google Meet select a meeting.
2. On the bottom right of your self view, click Apply visual effects .
   • To completely blur your background, click Blur your background .
   • To slightly blur your background, click Slightly blur your background .
   • To select a pre-uploaded background, click a background.
   • To upload your own image for your background, click Upload a background image .
   • To add a style to your video, click a style.
   • To select a filter, at the bottom, tap Filters the filter you want to use.
   • Tip: If the filter is interactive, follow the directions on the screen to activate it.
3. Click Join Now.

Learn more at the Google Meet Help Center

 

 

Set up a live stream for large meetings

When you need to present to a large audience, use Calendar or Meet to create a live-stream event. Up to 250 participants can attend. Or, you can add up to 100,000 view-only guests. You can’t see or hear view-only guests in the meeting, and they can’t present, record, or control streaming.

Learn how

1. Open Google Calendar.
2. ClickCreateEventMore options.
3. Add the event details, such as date, time, and description.
4. Add the guests that can fully participate in the video meeting. 
   • All guests added to this event can be seen, heard, and present their screen.
   • People from other organizations and trusted domains can be added. Only people in your organization can record and control streaming.
5. Next to Join with Google Meet, click the Down arrowAdd live stream.
6. Click Add live stream again to confirm.
7. Click SaveSend.
   Note: Streaming does not automatically start. During the meeting, at the bottom right, click, click Live StreamingStart streaming.

Learn more at the Google Meet Help Center

 

 

Record your meeting (and let people know)

If some people can't attend the live meeting, record the meeting for them to play back later. As a best practice, before your video meeting starts, inform participants that you’ll record the meeting. You can add a note to the Calendar invite or announce it before you start recording.

Learn how

You can use this feature only if your organization supports it. For help, contact your administrator.

1. Open Meet.
2. In a video meeting, at the bottom, click Activities RecordingStart recordingStart.
   If needed, go to Can't find the recording button.
3. Wait for the recording to start.
   Other participants are notified when the recording starts or stops.
4. Click Stop recording when you finish.
   The recording also stops when everyone leaves the meeting.
5. Click Stop recording again to confirm.

When the recording file is ready, it’s saved to the meeting organizer’s My Drive in the Meet Recordings folder. An email with the recording link is also sent to the meeting organizer and the person who started the recording.

Learn more at the Google Meet Help Center

 

 

Turn on captions

You can turn captions on to view subtitles as everyone speaks during a video meeting. When you turn on captions, they will be visible on that particular device. In order for other participants in the meeting to see captions, they’ll have to turn it on for their devices as well.

 How to: Enable captions in Google Meet

Learn how

Turn captions on or off

1. On your computer, go to Google Meet.
2. Join a meeting.
3. At the bottom, click Turn on captions or Turn off captions .

Change the language

1. At the bottom of the meeting screen, click Menu Captions .
2. Choose a language Apply.

How to: Change the language in Google Meet

Learn more at the Google Meet Help Center

Tips for presenting

Choose the best presenting option for your needs

Have the content you want to present open and ready for people to see, then choose how you want to present it.

Learn how

Meeting organizers with Google Workspace for Education can prevent participants from sharing their screen. 

• If you're in an office meeting room—Present from your laptop using Companion mode. Your microphone is off in Companion mode to reduce the risk of echo from your laptop. Learn more about Companion mode.
• Present your entire screen—Choose Your entire screen to show your browser, plus any tabs you have open. You might see an “infinite mirror” if you click Entire screen. To prevent this effect, try presenting from a single tab.
• If you work with more than one screen—Choose A window and select the screen that you want to show.
• To hide sensitive information on your screen only show one Chrome Browser tab—Choose A tab. Images and videos are high-definition (HD) if you use Chrome Browser, making slides with embedded visuals easier to view.

Tip: If you're not using Chrome Browser (which automatically hides any pop-up notifications), mute or turn off notifications so they don’t appear when you’re presenting.

Learn more at the Google Meet Help Center

 

 

Join a meeting only to present

When you join to present, only your computer's window or application is displayed in the meeting. No audio or other video is sent or received.

Learn how

1. Go to https://meet.google.com/.
2. Select the scheduled meeting, or click Join or start a Meeting.
3. Enter a meeting code.
4. Click Present.
5. Select a window or application.
6. Select Share.

 

 

Present to a video meeting using your mobile camera

With the Meet app, you can reverse the camera on your mobile device during a video meeting. For example, you might want to show a whiteboard or notes in the room you're in.

Learn how

1. Open the Meet app .
2. Join a video meeting.
3. On the top right corner, tap Switch camera .

 

 

 

See as many participants as possible

When you’re in a video meeting, Meet automatically switches the layout to display the most active content and participants. You can also choose a different screen layout. For example, if a lot of people are sharing ideas, you might want to use the tiled option so you can see as many participants as possible. When you or others are presenting, you can unpin shared content to see more people in the grid.

Learn how

1. On a computer, join a video meeting.
2. At the bottom, click More   Change layout . Choose an option:
   • Auto: The view that Meet chooses for you. By default, you’ll see 9 tiles on your screen.
   • Tiled: The view that can show up to 49 people at the same time. By default, you’ll see 16 tiles on your screen.
     • At the bottom, move the slider to the number of tiles you want to see on your screen. The number of tiles you choose becomes the default for future meetings until you change it. In some cases, you might see a message that your selection is not saved, this can be due to performance limitations on your computer’s processor.
   • Spotlight: The active speaker or shared screen fills the entire window.
   • Sidebar: The main image is the active speaker or shared screen. You’ll see thumbnails of additional participants on the side.

Learn more at the Google Meet Help Center

 

Ways to collaborate

Raise a hand to chime in

You can indicate if you have a question or want to speak without disrupting the flow of the meeting by using the raise hand feature in Meet.

Learn how

Raise your hand

1.  Scroll to the bottom of the screen  click Hand raise .

Lower your hand

1. Scroll to the bottom of the screen  click Lower hand .

 

 

Conduct a poll to capture people’s attention

Whether it’s identifying topics that need more discussion or testing comprehension, polls in Meet are a great way to break the ice in a video meeting. If you’re the meeting moderator, join the meeting a few minutes early and set up poll questions to gather reactions and engage the group throughout the meeting.

Learn how

Create a poll (for meeting moderators)

1. In a meeting, at the bottom right, click Activities   click Polls.
2. Click Start a poll. 
3. Enter a question and add options for the poll.
   • Tip: You can let users respond anonymously to Polls. Before you save or launch your poll, turn on Responses appear without names .
4. Choose one:
   • To post your poll, click Launch.
   • To save your poll so you can launch it later, click Save.

   Tip: Polls you save remain listed under Polls for the duration of the meeting. After the call ends, all polls are permanently deleted. Meeting moderators are emailed a polling report at the end of the meeting.

5. After a poll is launched, to vote on your own poll, select one of the optionsclick Vote.

Submit a response for a poll (for meeting participants)

1. In a meeting, at the bottom right, click Activities   click Polls.
2. In the poll, select your response  click Vote.
   Tip: After you click Vote, you can’t change your response.

Learn more at the Google Meet Help Center

 

 

Use a virtual whiteboard

With Meet, you can create or collaborate with Jamboard during a video meeting. Jamboard is a virtual whiteboard where you can brainstorm ideas with others.

Learn how

Start or open a Jamboard in a meeting

Important: To start or open a jam, you must join the video meeting from a computer.

1. Start or Join a meeting.
2. At the bottom right, click Activities   Whiteboarding. 
3. Select an option:
   • To create a new Jamboard: Click Start a new whiteboard.
   • To open an existing Jamboard from your drive, shared drives, or computer: Click Choose from Drive. 

      Tip: The Jamboard file will open in a new tab and a link is shared automatically via the in-call chat.

Learn more at the Google Meet Help Center

 

 

Organize breakout rooms for smaller discussions

If you’re a meeting moderator, you can use breakout rooms to divide participants into smaller groups during video meetings in Meet. Participants can then easily rejoin the original meeting after their smaller group discussion.

Learn how

Set up breakout rooms before the meeting

In calendar.google.com choose either:

For a new meeting:

1. Create a new Google Calendar event.
2. Click Add Google Meet video conferencing.
3. Add participants.
4. Click Change conference settings .
5. On the left, click Breakout rooms .
6. Choose the number of breakout rooms, then choose an option:
   • Drag participants into different rooms.
   • Enter names directly into a room.
   • Click Shuffle to mix the groups.
7. Click Save.

For an existing meeting:

1. Open an existing Google Calendar event.
2. Click Edit event .
3. Under Event Details, click Change conference settings .
4. On the left, click Breakout rooms .
5. Choose the number of breakout rooms, then choose an option:
   • Drag participants into different rooms
   • Enter their name directly into a room
   • Click Shuffle to mix the groups
6. Click Save.

Create breakout rooms during a video meeting

1. On your computer, start a meeting. 
2. At the bottom right, click Activities   Breakout rooms.
   • Tip: To prevent students from having the ability to create breakout rooms, admins should reserve Meet creation privileges for faculty or staff only.
3. In the Breakout rooms creation panel, choose the number of breakout rooms. You can create up to 100 breakout rooms in a call. 
4. Call participants are distributed across the rooms. To manually move people into different rooms, you can:
   • Enter the participant’s name directly into a breakout room.
   • Drag and drop a participant’s name into another breakout room. 
   • Click Shuffle  to randomly mix up the groups.
5. At the bottom right, click Open rooms.

Learn more at the Google Meet Help Center

 

 

Use Q&A to submit questions

During a video meeting, you can use Q&A in Meet so participants can submit and upvote questions without disrupting the flow of the meeting or an important presentation. If you’re the meeting moderator, you’ll get a detailed report of all the questions and responses.

Learn how

Ask other participants a question

1. In a meeting, at the bottom right, click Activities   click Questions.
2. At the bottom right, click Ask a question.
3. Enter your question  click Post.
   • To ask your question anonymously, check the option "Post Anonymously."

Find, upvote, or delete a question

1. In a meeting, at the bottom right, click Activities   click Questions.
   • To sort questions by popularity or chronologically, next to "Popular," click Down arrow  and select an option.
   • To view everyone’s questions, click All questions.
   • To view only your questions, click My questions.
   • To upvote a question, on the question, click Upvote .
   • To delete a question, on the question, click Delete .

Learn more at the Google Meet Help Center

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