Meet and the Half-truths

Meet is being integrated into ever more areas of G Suite. It is becoming part of the collaborative fabric that holds it together - which is good, because it brings us closer together as humans, delivering great value to our clients. As Meet is becoming ever more present, let's talk about some very strange ideas that float around in some quarters.

Time to air out conferencing technology as old as Gandalf (2.020 years to be exact)

The big bag of half-truths

Meet can only accomodate 8/10/15/20/25 participants. Up to 250 people can join a Meet at the same time. I have never been in a Meet that big and honestly I don't want to.
Meet cannot be used with clients. Meet should be used with clients. It's the tool your company has most control over.
My client cannot use Chrome. Well, can they use FireFox? Safari? Microsoft Edgium/Credge? If they are stuck with Internet Explorer, they will be prompted to download an extension that does not require admin privileges. If they can't use anything at all, they can still dial in.
The other party is not on G Suite. You do not need any kind of Google account. People will just type in their name - done.
Meet does not allow dialing in (or out). Yes it does.
Meet links don't show on my old-school iOS/Samsung calendar. First: They do. Second: Why would you not use Google Calendar on mobile?
Meet can't record. Yes it can.
Meet's quality is bad. It is not - we ran the numbers (and there are a lot of numbers) and they are excellent. We got 99 problems, but Meet quality ain't one.
My microphone/speaker/camera/dishwasher doesn't work with Meet. It's not a Meet problem - there is something wrong with your computer. Please talk to your IT. And then turn your camera on, please. It's rude not to.

Did you know?

Meets do have an owner. That's important when it comes to live streaming and recording.
You can make your Meet even better by properly formatting your Calendar events. Proper attachments will show up as Meet support material, for example.
When updating Calendar events, adding Meet links is usually not something noteworthy. Suppress those unproductive notifications and be kind to people's inboxes.

The only imaginable caveat

There are two cases where you don't want to include Meet links:

Physical meetings (that have a room or location info, such as a restaurant). Remember these?
Events that use a different technology than Meet for a very specific reason.

Pro tip: Even for events in physical venues, it may be beneficial to include a Meet link to make it easy for people to join remotely. In that case, provide clear instructions on when to use the link and when to attend in person. Then, remember to set up your laptop so that those people will actually see and hear something.

But what about Webex, Talkpoint and that funny service the other guy purchased last week? I'm not qualified to talk on those, but those services will likely sharpen their profile, which is: They are specialist tools. There is a need for them: Webex is great for delivering online training with dozens of legal requirements, Talkpoint can deliver global all-hand meetings. Just as you wouldn't use Photoshop to take screenshots, they do have their place with specialists.

I'm not sure about that funny service, though. Next time that guy invites you to try something funny ... Tell him he's taking the team out of the flow and ask him to use approved technology.
It's all good until that funny service crumbles under the load or gets funny-service-bombed.

I look forward to seeing you on a Meet these days. If somebody is still moaning - do your job as Underground Change Ninja and pass on this post! Thank you for reading!

#meetPublished 2019-10-15 by Holger Matthies.Modified 2020-08-13 by Holger Matthies.

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