Google Meet

Language:	English

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Google Meet can be used to easily organise video conferencing when you have a subscription to Google Suite. It is an extension of the (retired) Hangouts program.

Google Suite setup

Additional parameters can be configured by the administrator.

Functionality

• Web browser application (use Chrome by preference)
• Multiple operating systems
• Simple
• Voice and video
• Presentation mode for everyone
• A client does not necessarily need to authenticate with Google (you can connect just by typing any alias)
• The conference owner can mute (when bad audio) or disconnect any participant (when being a troll or non-cooperative)
• You have the option to stay connected (turn off timeout) so you can always receive incoming calls

Setup sound

When you startup the connection you should hear a click in the speaker. This confirms that the audio is working. Avoid conflicts with noise sources:

• On the task bar right click on the speaker, then select "Open Sound Settings".
• Then click on "Manage sound devices".
• Clicking all microphones and speakers and "Enable" or "Disable" until only 1 input and output device is active.

Advantages

• The session can be open indefinitely
• The coordinator does not need to distribute passwords - so the link can be provided in advance, via several applications.
• The coordinator does not need to know any email addresses, nor to send an email to the participants.
• The participants do not have to register in advance.
• The link can be retained for consecutive sessions. For example, the Wikimedia Belgium helpdesk can be reached via https://meet.google.com/qwk-ecio-ssb (we have another, also fixed, link for Webinars - per instructor).
• Participants do not need to have a Google account; you can just as easily identify yourself through a pseudonym
• Google Suite is GDPR certified (what about Jitsi?)
• The coordinator retains full control: she/he accepts participants
• The coordinator may also "drop out" participants if necessary (in case of misconduct).
• The coordinator can mute the microphone of all participants
• The user interface remains similar (I even have the impression that Google Meet is simpler than Jitsi?).

Security

• Disable sound and video when not actively participating
• Participants need to be accepted by the coordinator, the first time they are participating
• Persons are only announced by their (self chosen) name or pseudoniem

Privacy

• Every participant can see the list of participants
• The chat box can be archived (when recording the session)
• Every participant is responsible for his own contributions in the chat box
• The coordinator can record a video of the meeting; one should request whether everybody is OK with this. If not, participants can disable their video. Video of persons is only recorded while speaking.

Capacity

With Google Meet you can have a live meeting with up to 250 persons.

You can use the Live stream option to reach an additional 100.000 persons (without interaction).

Recording

For recording purposes, start a separate recording session on a separate screen, and use Microsoft Game DVR (Windows-g) to record.

• Do not login (to avoid sharing the configuration!) but set the user alias to "Session"
• Disable microphone and video on the Google Meet recording screen (passive recording session)
• Set the sound output to a headset (and make this the default audio output for recording purposes)
• Drag the browser to the main laptop screen (have an external screen for the presentation)
• Set layout to side bar
• Disable the bottom bar via CSS Inspect, by deleting the bar <div> (workaround because Google disabled autohide mode in December 2020)
• Double click on the screen to make it full-screen (1920x1080) or press F11
• Start recording with Windows-g
• Disable recording with the builtin mike
• If needed disable e.g. system sounds in audio mixer
• Make sure to enable Capture all audio

Known problems

• The sound of other applications are disabled:
  • WhatsApp has one-way voice when Google Meet is active
  • Radio player sound is impacted when Google Meet is active
  • TuneIn Radio cannot use Bluetooth when Google Meet is active (device conflict)
• The session might need to be manually restarted after suspend/resume, or a network problem (perform a screen refresh to trigger the reconnect)
• When the sound does not work:
  • Try to reconnect USB audio devices
  • Verify sound devices (possibly muted; right click to open Volume mixer)
  • Try to refresh the browser session (F5) - try both sides (session settings are reset, including presentation mode)
• When there is bad sound, the browser session might be refreshed or the browser be restarted (best browser is Google Chrome)
• When the browser is hanging, kill and restart the browser (active parties stay connected)
• Bluetooth devices might have worse audio quality (better use USB cable devices)
• The bottom banner stays visible during recording (remove it by deleting the related CSS section)

Missing functionality

• (automatic) Logging of session parties
• Party blacklist

External links

• https://support.google.com/calendar/answer/72143#live_stream

See also

• Video conferencing