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It really happened: You returned to the office and sat in a real conference room again. One person presented in the front, some people sat in the room, others joined remotely
It didn't take long for people to remember what they liked least about conference rooms.
Find out how Meet's companion mode saves your conference room meetings.
The trouble with hybrid meetings
The trouble with hybrid meetings
Riley was glad the conference room was even available, and so many people joined remotely. Then, the awkward thing happened: One of the remote attendees sent a chat message. It disappeared too quickly for the presenter to notice, but the attentive crowd in the meeting room read a truncated "Hey Riley, can you speak ..." Should they interrupt Riley, asking for clarification what the message was about? Should one of them join on their laptops, so they can read along? But wouldn't that create echo and risk drawing Riley's ire for a lack of audio/video engineering skills?
Meet companion mode
Meet companion mode
Riley's teams work like clockwork - and meetings run on Google Meet. So you, the person in the last row, can open your laptop and select "join via companion mode" instead of joining the Meet normally. When you do:
You will not send any audio or any video. You will also not receive any. It's almost "text-only". You can join without creating feedback loops or filming yourself from weird angles*.
You can engage in chatting, hand-raising, polling, watch the participant list etc.
You can moderate the meeting if you are a host or co-host.
*This has been softened somewhat. You can now share your screen and see when someone shares their screen (nobody likes squinting at decks in the front). You can also open your camera now. But absolutely no sound - in or out. No echo.
Use cases for companion mode
Use cases for companion mode
Giving everyone a voice: Companion mode was designed for something called "Collaboration equity". Google found that people in hybrid meetings fell into two "classes" with distinct powers: Those in the room can speak up without technology. They also got free coffee. Those joining remotely could vote, chat, click on links, present their screens. And though many features were meant to substitute the "real" actions that happen in a conference room, those sitting in a back row felt they were getting a worse deal. In too many conference rooms, there is only one person talking and clicking - enter companion mode.
Improving accessibility: Those in the conference room can use companion mode to see presented content up close (even zoom in). Closed captions can aid with hearing and Meet will translate captions if desired.
Moderating: Google Meet is the tool of choice for large, secure meetings. You can help your host answer questions, manage breakout rooms, set up polls, change slides and much more without disrupting the meeting.
Alternative use: A second screen for Meet
Alternative use: A second screen for Meet
If your company has monitors on the walls (those that connect to the network), you can use them as a wireless second monitor. Either for working, or for quickly presenting something to a colleague.
On the monitor, join a Google Meet (navigate to meet.new)
On your laptop, join the same meet URL, but then join via companion mode. No fiddling with sound necessary.
On your laptop, present your whole screen (or just a tab - tabs are much faster). Done!
No conference room meeting for me without companion mode, that's for sure. At your next meeting, join with companion mode and show others how to do it. It will allow them to answer questions, copy URLs and be more engaged - without disrupting the presentation, guaranteed. Thank you for reading!
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