You’ve all been there: The Google Meet meeting is about to end, and you’ve got something important to ask, but the meeting host just isn’t noticing your pleas. “Alright folks, if there’s nothing else, see you next time,” they chirp, leaving your question unanswered.
Last year, Google made it a tiny, little, wee bit easier to get noticed in Meet with a Hand Raise feature, but it was so hard to notice that it was essentially useless. Now, the company has made it a little bit better, but you’ll still have to hope your meeting host has a big screen and good eyesight.
Hey Joe, whatcha doin’ with that hand in the air?
Now, the icon that shows up when you virtually raise your hand has been updated with a little expanding animation. It’s still small, but it’s better than nothing. Google also says that the tiles of people with raised hands may be moved to be more visible in the video grid.
Perhaps most importantly, when the first hand is raised, all participants of the meeting will get an audio notification, which is almost certain to become a meme after this sound inevitably gets invoked by the same guy or girl every time.
Finally, the raised hand will automatically be lowered when the speaker is done talking.
Google says the feature will be on by default, and there are not end user or admin settings related to the feature. It will be available in all meetings except those organized by users with Google Workspace Business Starter, as well as G Suite Basic customers, as well as users with personal Google Accounts.
The new feature will gradually be rolled out, starting on June 16, 2021 for Rapid Release domains, and two weeks later for Scheduled Release domains.