As people are working from home because of the Covid-19 pandemic, video conferencing platforms like Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams have been very helpful. Since Zoom has gained a large amount of popularity, Google Meet is bringing a few changes to attract more users.
The two new features were announced by Google in a blog post. The blog posts stated that from 8th October, two highly requested features will be launched in Google Meet to help connect and engage with people in video calls. They are – Q&A and polls.
Google said that Q&A will offer users a way to better engage audiences and help get their questions answered at work and school. Educators can use this feature as a structured way for students to ask questions regarding class content and get answers from their teachers.
On the other hand, businesses can use the Q&A feature to make meetings more inclusive and offering everyone an opportunity to ask questions. The participants can submit and upvote their questions without disrupting the flow of the call. Participants can ask questions and interact with the questions of other participants through upvoting. After this, moderators can choose to answer the highly ranked or most relevant questions on call.
After the end of the meeting, hosts would automatically receive an email having an export of all submitted questions so that they can follow up the unanswered questions.
Polls will be an effective way to gauge the pulse of the audience. Google said that Business users can receive feedback from their colleagues, teachers can quiz questions to make sure that students are absorbing the material and sales teams can make sales presentations more engaging and interactive for customers.
The new features would start to roll out from 8th October and will take a maximum of 15 days to reach all the users. The new features are available to customers of G Suite Essentials, G Suite Business, G Suite Enterprise and G Suite Enterprise for Education. It will remain unavailable for customers of G Suite Basic, G Suite for Education and G Suite for Nonprofits customers.