Google Meet

For Fall 2020, Trinity will adopt Zoom for all faculty and staff video and teleconferencing. Support for Google Meet will be discontinued at that time. Click here to learn about Zoom.

Google Meet allows Trinity faculty and students conduct virtual meetings and classrooms synchronously, all online! With Google Meet, you can do the following:

  • Host classroom and meetings with up to 100 attendees over the internet
  • Chat and discuss, in real-time, with your students
  • Share your desktop, presentations and lectures
  • Record lectures and share them with others

To use Google Meet, you will need computer with internet access, a microphone or telephone, and optionally a webcam. Technology Services strongly recommends using web browsers Firefox or Google Chrome. Let’s get started!

Supported Web Browsers for Google Meet

Google Meet works best in the latest versions of Google Chrome and Firefox web browsers. Make sure your web browsers are up to date! If you find yourself unable to join a meeting, download the latest Google Chrome here or download the latest Firefox here.

We do not recommend using Safari, Microsoft Internet Explorer or Microsoft Edge.

Virtual Meeting Etiquette

Follow these best practices to make the meeting go more enjoyable and smoothly.

  1. Ensure your audio and video are working ahead of time!
  2. Ask participants to mute themselves so their background noise is not disrupting your presentation.
  3. Ask participants to post questions to the chat to minimize interruption. The chat button is located in the upper-right hand corner.

Creating a Meeting

To create a meeting, it first needs to be scheduled. Follow the instructions below or watch how.

  1. From the Trinity homepage, log into Google Drive.
  2. In the upper-right corner, click on the dots to expand your apps.
  3. Click Calendar.
  4. Within Google Calendar, click Create, located in the upper-left hand corner.
  5. Give your meeting a title and set the start and end times.
  6. Click Add location or conferencing, followed by Add conferencing. Your meeting should look like the following. Clicking on the down arrow next to the URL will also reveal a telephone conferencing number which attendees can dial-in.
  7. Important: Pay particular attention to the Join Hangouts Meet URL. This is what your students need so they can join your meeting. Copy and paste it into a Moodle resource, or email your students with this URL. If they don’t know this URL, they won’t be able to join!

Joining a Meeting

Follow the instructions below on how to join a scheduled meeting or watch how. You can also join a meeting using the smartphone. Search your smartphone’s appstore for Hangouts Meet!

  1. On the day of your meeting, log into Google Drive.
  2. In the upper-right corner, click on the dots to expand your apps.
  3. Click Meet

  4. Click on your scheduled meeting. Don’t see it? Only today’s meeting will show up, not past or future meetings.
  5. You’ll see a preview before joining the meeting. Before you join, make sure you’re signed in with your Trinity account in the upper-right corner, and adjust your camera and microphone accordingly.
  6. When you’re ready to finally join, click Join.

Presenting In a Meeting

Follow the instructions below on how to present and share content or watch how.

  1. After you’ve joined the meeting, click Present now, located in the bottom-right corner of the meeting.
  2. Select from the following presentation options:
    • Your entire screen: use this if you have multiple applications that you need to present, such as a presentation, and several webpages.
    • A window: use this if you only have a single application that needs to be presented, such as one PowerPoint presentation.

Recording a Meeting

Recording a meeting saves the video file to your Google Drive. You can then share the file with your class in email, or post it to a Moodle resource. The ability to record is temporarily available during the Covid-19 disruption until July 1st, 2020, and will be removed afterwards. Follow the instructions below or watch how.

  1. When you’re in a meeting, click on the context menu in the lower-right corner, and then click Record meeting.
  2. A legal disclaimer appears which you must accept before recording starts.
  3. After accepting the legal disclaimer, a record indicator appears in the upper-left corner. 
    • If you don’t see this record indicator, then your meeting is not being recorded!
    • All participants will be able to see that this meeting is being recorded.
  4. When you are finished with the meeting, click the context menu again and then Stop recording.
  5. Recordings are automatically saved to your Google Drive and can be shared.

Sharing a Recorded Meeting

To share your recorded meeting or lecture, you need to perform a couple steps in Google Drive. Following these steps will generate a link which you can distribute through an email or post to a Moodle resource. You can also watch how to share a recorded video.

  1. From the Trinity homepage, log into Google Drive.
  2. You’ll find your recorded meeting(s) under Meet Recordings.
  3. Right-click on the recorded meeting and then click Share.
  4. Click Get shareable link. This sets up the recording so it can be accessed by people only within Trinity. Copy the shareable link and distribute in an email or post it on a Moodle resource. If people don’t have your shareable link, they won’t be able to view your recorded video!

Help

Having problems with Google Meet? Review some of the common issues below.

Solutions…

  • People can’t hear me when I speak
    • Is your microphone muted? Unmute if so.
    • Check your settings. Does it list your microphone as being detected?
    • Dial-in by phone instead. Click on your meeting’s name in the bottom-left hand corner, and use a phone to dial-in.
  • People can’t see my presentation
    • Did you start the presentation?
    • Do participants only see your webcam view? Switch back to the presentation in the upper-right hand corner.
  • Why do I keep getting asked to admit people into the meeting?
    • This occurs when participants join your meeting with a non-Trinity Google account. There is no way around this other than ensuring participants or students use their Trinity account, and not a personal account, to join your meeting.
  • I can’t see the presentation, but I can hear it!
    • The presenter hasn’t started the presentation yet.
    • Leave and rejoin the meeting to reset your view.
  • Where is my recorded lecture?
    • After recording a lecture, it can take a few moments before it appears in your Google Drive. You’ll receive an email letting you know e.
  • I keep getting disconnected from the meeting
    • If your wifi or internet connection is not reliable or too slow, you will be disconnected. Use a more reliable internet connection. We don’t recommend a public wifi hotspot.
  • Can I obtain a list of participants that joined the meeting?
    • No, Google does not currently have this feature.