Virtual meet-ups are a great way to connect with
friends and family regardless of distance or how busy life can be. With the
current climate, being able to contact family through video conference services
has become even more important.
But
here’s the problem:
Video-conferencing can seem rather intimidating at first, especially if you
haven’t used it often, if at all.
There are so many features, options and settings that it’s easy to get confused
and overwhelmed. But the truth is, it’s nowhere near as difficult as it may
look.
In fact, you’ll be able to master services like Google Meet with no prior
knowledge just by reviewing the information contained in this special report!
Why do so
many people prefer Google Meet?
To start, they offer a free version with the option to upgrade for as little as
$8/month. And Google Meet provides you
with advanced security ensuring that you and your loved ones can communicate
without concern of interference.
And since Google Meet integrates with Gmail and Google Calendar, it’s easy to
stay organized as well as set reminders so you never miss a call.
But Google Meet does so much more than that!
In this special report, we’ll cover everything you need to know about this popular platform so you can take advantage of its
many benefits with connecting with friends and family.
Let’s begin!
Getting
started with Google Meet is as easy as going to meet.google.com. You can use
your computer or laptop, your tablet, or even a smartphone.
You can access Google Meet via a web browser from your computer or you can
download the Google Meet mobile app, available on both Google Play and the App
Store.
Note: You’ll need to sign in with an existing Google account or you can
create one free in just a few minutes.
Once signed
in, you’ll be able to either start a new meeting or copy/paste a meeting code
someone has given you to join an existing meeting.
You can
also visit the settings link at the
top right and check your audio and video levels to make sure you look and sound
your best, prior to joining or creating a call. J
And just so
you’re fully aware, Google Meet’s free option gives you up to 60 minutes of
screen time per session, with up to 100 participants. There are also other
options, with longer meetings and more participants but you’ll need to upgrade
your account to access those features.
Here’s what you get with a free basic account:
·
You can use
Meet from a browser or mobile app.
·
You can
send invites to up to 100 friends and family.
·
You can see
English subtitles whenever anyone speaks.
·
You can share
your computer screen with everyone in the meeting.
·
You can
adjust the layout of your virtual meeting room for your convenience.
If you’d like to start your own room, simply
click on the “New Meeting” link. This will bring up a choice of three options.
We’ll talk about the other two later – for now let’s focus on “instant
meeting.”
Click that
and you’ll be asked to allow Google Meet to share your microphone and video
camera. This is essential because without these permissions, nobody can see or
hear you.
Once you
give your permission, you’ll see yourself on the screen inside your meeting
room.
Your room
will look a lot like the old “Brady Bunch” TV show opening. It will show a tile
or thumbnail image of everyone in the room. It will also have various features
at the top and bottom of your video image.
The most
important options are at the center bottom. These are the microphone, the
“leave call” button, and the video camera.
Clicking on
the microphone once will mute you, which means no one will be able to hear you
or anything going on around you.
You’ll know
if you are muted because the button will be bright red with a line through the
microphone icon. Just click it a second time to un-mute so you can speak.
The “Leave
Call” button is how to end your participation, so don’t click that until you’re
ready to exit. And the video button turns your camera on and off.
This is
useful if you have to do something else where you’re able to remain on the call
but not the camera. When your camera is off, others in the room will either see
a blank screen with your name, or your profile image, if you have added one to
your Google account.
Another
useful button is available at the top right of your screen: the chat button.
It looks
like a little cartoon speech bubble and when you click it, the chat screen will
pop up to the side of your room. You can type whatever you need to say at the
bottom, then either hit your “enter” key, or the little arrow symbol beside
your words.
Chat is
useful when sharing information like web links or comments you don’t necessarily
want to interrupt the speaker with.
There’s
another little button beside the chat. That looks like 2 little heads beside
each other and clicking that reveals a list of everyone who’s in the room and on
the chat screen.
Once you’ve
gotten the hang of entering and leaving the room, and can mute and unmute
yourself, you’re ready to go.
Now, let’s
look at some basic and more advanced tips and tricks for Google Meet.
If you’re using an Android phone, just get the
Google Meet app and open it. Tap “New Meeting” and you’ll see the three
options: get a meeting link to share, start an instant meeting, and schedule in
Google calendar.
From there, the experience is the same as when
using Google Meet from your computer or laptop.
If you’re using an iPad or iPhone, download
the Google Meet app and open it. Tapping “New Meeting” pulls up the familiar
three options you can choose from.
Are you beginning to see how easy Google Meet
is to use?
You can also start or join a meeting from your
Gmail account. Log into your account and look on the left-hand side of the
screen, toward the middle (or toward the bottom on some accounts).
You should see “Meet” followed by two choices:
new meeting or join a meeting. Choose “New Meeting” and you’ll see the familiar
three choices pop up.
When your guests begin to arrive in the room,
you’ll hear a chime for the first five participants, then you’ll just see a
silent notification for everyone else.
And that’s all there is to starting a meeting!
Anyone can do it, even if they’re a technophobe.
We’ll talk about some other things you, as
room administrator, will need to know about, but first let’s continue with the
basics.
To join a
meeting, you’ll need the meeting code from the meeting’s organizer. That’s the
string of letters at the end of the meeting link.
Go to
meet.google.com and click the “join a meeting” button. Enter the 10-digit code
you’ve been given. You don’t need to enter the hyphens when you enter the code.
Click “continue” and then “join now” and you’re in.
To join a
video call from your Gmail account, open your account and look for the “Meet”
links on the left-hand side of the screen, around the center.
Click “Join
a Meeting” and enter the 10-digit code you were given by the administrator.
Click “Join” and make sure your video camera and microphone are either on or
muted, whichever you desire.
If your
meeting is scheduled on your Google Calendar, pull up your calendar and click
on the event you’re going to be joining.
Click on
“Join with Google Meet” and a new box will open on the screen. Click “Join Now”
and you’ll be in the room for the meeting.
If you
don’t have a Google account, you can still join a meeting if the organizer has
the paid Google Workspace edition and grants you access. You won’t be able to
do this with a mobile device if you don’t have a Google account.
First, open
the chat message or email containing the meeting link. Click “Ask to Join” and
wait for access to be granted.
If you
don’t have an email link, just go to meet.google.com and hit “Use a Meeting
Code.” Enter the code you’ve been given and click “Continue.” Then click “Ask
to Join” and wait for access to be granted by the administrator.
If you have
an Android device, open the Google Meet app and swipe up from the bottom to
view your scheduled meetings. The only meetings that will show up are ones that
have been scheduled with Google Calendar.
Tap “Join”
or select a meeting from the list and tap “Join Meeting.” You can also tap
“Meeting Code” and enter the code you were given (the hyphens are optional).
Tap “Join Meeting” and “Ask to Join,” then wait to be admitted to the room.
If you have
an iPhone or iPad, open the Google Meet app. Swipe up and tap on the scheduled
meeting you want to join, then tap “Join.” You can also tap “Join with Code”
and enter the code you’ve been given on the top right (hyphens are optional). Then
tap “Join.”
You can add
people to a meeting either beforehand or during the meeting itself. If you
start an instant meeting, you’ll be adding them after you start. Also, some
people will need you to accept their request to join, as we discussed above.
To add your
friends and family to your meeting room, you just click on “Add People” (it
looks like a little head and shoulders bust with a + sign) and either choose
from your contact list or enter an email address to send an invitation.
You can
also click on the “Copy Joining Info” (that looks like two sheets of paper
stacked together) and then paste that meeting information into an email or into
the app.
Once you’re
in the meeting room, you can always find the invitation information by clicking
on “Meeting Details” at the bottom left of your screen. Clicking that will
bring up the copy/paste information for you.
You can
bulk-admit participants, too. Only you, as the meeting organizer, will be able
to approve or deny entry to your room, so stick around until everyone else is
there.
When a
request to join pops up, you can either tap “Admit” or “Deny Entry.” To handle
multiple participants, click on “View All” and pick one of two options.
Either
click “Admit” or “Deny Entry” next to each name one at a time, or click “Admit
All” or “Deny All.”
If you need
to remove a person from your room for any reason, you simply click on the
People icon (the two little busts) and point to their name on the list. Click
the back arrow (<) and click “Remove” (-).
Google
Meet automatically switches the layout around in a video call to show the most
active speakers and/or content. You can change this around easily, though, and
show the number of participants you wish (up to the limit of your screen).
Using
your computer, go to meet.google.com and start or join a video meeting. Look at
the bottom right of your screen and find the three vertical dots.
Click
that and you’ll see a list of other options. Choose “Change Layout” and pick
from the four options that will then pop up:
·
Auto: This is the view that Meet chooses for you.
By default, you’ll be able to see nine participants on a page.
·
Tiled: This view shows up to 49 participants at
once. By default, it will start by showing 16 tiles, but you can move the
slider at the bottom of the window to show the number of participants you want
to see.
·
Spotlight: This is where the active
speaker or shared screen fills the entire window. It will show whoever is
talking (or making any noise at all) or whichever screen has been shared with
the room and you won’t be able to see anyone else.
·
Sidebar: The main image in the center will be the
active speaker or shared content, while you’ll see thumbnails of the other
participants in a vertical line to the side of that speaker.
Your
new layout preferences will be saved once you pick them, but the number of
participants you see will default at the start of every new meeting, so you’ll
need to change that every time.
You
can also decide if you want to see your own image in the room. By default, this
feature is off when you first enter a room.
You
also won’t see yourself if you select the sidebar view or have another
participant pinned.
To
turn on self-view, look at the top right corner of your screen and hover over
the little thumbnail of your image. You’ll see an icon that looks like four
squares stacked into a cube.
You
can click “Show in a Tile” to see your own image with everyone else, or “Remove
Tile” to turn it back off again.
Note:
you’ll still see the tiny thumbnail of yourself during the meeting, but you
won’t see your image in a regular tile like everyone else in the room. Remember
that they can see you, though, unless you turn off your camera.
Are
you having trouble understanding the people in your room?
There’s
an easy fix for that: you can turn on closed
captioning.
This
is a useful feature if there’s too much background noise or if your hearing
just isn’t what it used to be. The text of what’s being said will appear at the
bottom of the screen.
Note: if you record the meeting, the captions are not recorded and will not show
up on the recorded view.
On
your computer, go to meet.google.com and join or start a meeting. At the
bottom, look for the little box with “cc” and click that to turn on captions.
Click it again to turn it back off. It’s just that easy!
The
captions will remain on throughout future meetings until you turn them off
again.
One handy tip: if your captions are covered by the
room control icons, move your cursor away from the room and wait for the icons
to vanish again.
If
you have an Android device, open the Google Meet app and join a meeting. At the
bottom right, tap the three vertical dots (“More”) and tap the “cc” box on or
off.
If
you have an iPhone or iPad, open the Google Meet app and join a meeting. On the
bottom right, tap “More” (the three vertical dots again) and tap the “cc” box
on or off.
There
are many useful controls in your Google Meet room and we’ll talk about the most
frequently used ones now. The first one is your mute button.
Remember
the little microphone at the bottom center of your screen will be red with a
line through it if you are muted.
This
means nobody will be able to hear you speak (or hear anything else that may be
going on in the background where you are speaking).
If
you are unmuted, everyone can hear your voice, along with whatever else is
going on. It’s usually polite to mute yourself if you’re not speaking.
If
you’re the room organizer, you can also mute other people in the room. This is
very useful if you’re getting feedback or extraneous noise from their
microphone.
Just
go to the “People” icon (the two little busts) and click on their name, then
tap “Mute.”
You
can also just tap their thumbnail image and you’ll see the “Mute” option pop
up. Note: you will not be able to unmute anyone, however. You’ll have to tell
the participant to unmute themselves if they wish to speak.
If
you’re using a mobile phone or iPad, once you’re in the meeting tap the meeting
name at the top left. On the “People” tab beside a participant’s name, tap
“Menu” (three vertical dots) and then tap “Mute.”
Pinning
someone’s image so that you always see them is another useful function of Meet.
First, tap and hold their image. Then, just tap on the “Pin” icon (that looks
like a little thumbtack) and they will remain front and center on your screen.
You can also tap the “People” icon and choose “Pin” from that screen.
If
you’re using a mobile phone or iPad, once you’re in the meeting tap the meeting
name at the top left. On the “People” tab beside a participant’s name, tap
“Menu” (three vertical dots) and then tap “Pin.”
Pinning
an image lets you see that person at all times, which is useful if they’re
giving a speech or a reading – or if they’re your favorite grandchild. You can
also unpin the image when needed by clicking the same button.
Chatting
is a fun way to “whisper” to each other while someone else is talking and you
don’t’ want to interrupt them.
On
your computer or laptop, just look at the top right of the screen and you’ll
see the “Chat” box.
Clicking
that brings up a new screen to the side of the room. Type whatever you wish to
say into the box at the very bottom. To share with the room, either hit the
“enter” key on your keyboard or tap the arrow symbol to the right of the text
box.
Your
message will then show up to the side of the room, along with anything said by
other participants. This is very useful if you want to share URL links, book titles
and authors, or anything else your friends and family might want written down.
If
you have a cellphone or iPad, you can chat by using “In Call Messages.” Join a
meeting with the Google Meet app, then at the bottom right, tap “More” (three
vertical dots). From there, just tap “In Call Messages” and you’re good to go.
You
can change your background easily, too. To change it before you join, select a
meeting, then at the bottom right of your self-view, click “Change Background.”
You can blur the background completely by tapping “Blur Background.” “Slightly
Blur Background” is another option. There are also some preloaded images you
can use for your background.
To
choose one, just click on that image. Or, you can upload one of your own photos
to use. Just click “Add” (+) and select the image from your computer.
Once
you’re in the meeting, you can still change the background by clicking the
three vertical dots at the bottom right on your screen (“More”).
Choose
from the four options given above to select your background image. On a mobile
phone or iPad, your only choice is to blur the background or leave it clear.
Changing
your background can add interest to a meeting or share an image with friends
and family. It can also just be a fun way to get a laugh if you have a humorous
background you’d like to use.
So,
there you have it: the basics of using Google Meet. Now you’ll be able to
create a meeting, manage a call and understand the many features available to
you.
You can start with a free account and only upgrade when you decide you need
more time or wish to access additional features.
Think about the power of Google Meet. Not only is it exceptionally useful when
connecting with friends and family, but if you run an online business or you’re
an educator or coach, this is one of the easiest ways to integrate a video
conference into your existing platform.
For
example, Google Workspace Essentials is currently just $8USD/monthly and
extends your group meeting length from 100 participants to 150 while also
providing you with US or International dial-in phone numbers as well as the
ability to offer Q&A sessions and polls.
And if you want even more, Google Workspace Enterprise is designed for large
businesses and comes bundled with many other options including 300 hours of
meeting time as well, up to 250 participants and features special options like
intelligent noise cancellation and live streaming.
So, take some time exploring the different packages available and choose the
one that works best for you.
