Google Meet is the video conferencing app from Google that G-Suite users can use to host secure real-time meetings. The app has seen explosive growth in the past few weeks since many organizations and institutes have found themselves heavily dependent on it to conduct their day-to-day business. People across the globe are using the platform to conduct online meetings with colleagues, and impart education to students via online classes.
But when hosting large meetings, it is common practice to mute other participants by the presenter. Especially for online classes, teachers tend to mute their students to avoid unnecessary disruptions. But, sometimes even when the participants are on mute, you’d like them to be able to express themselves without disrupting the lecture or the meeting by unmuting themselves.
Enter – ‘Nod – Reactions for Google Meet’. It is a Chrome extension. When added to the browser, it allows Google Meet users to send reaction emojis in a meeting with just a click. So, people can avoid speaking until it’s absolutely necessary while still being able to express themselves.
Fun Fact: The extension was born out of need due to the pandemic. Developed by someone for their team, it has gotten nearly a million users in just a couple of weeks.
Go to the Chrome Store to get ‘Nod- Reactions for Google Meet‘ for your browser. Then, click on ‘Add to Chrome’ to install it.
A confirmation dialog box will appear on your screen. Click on ‘Add extension’ to confirm the installation.
The extension will download and the icon for the extension will appear on the right side of the Address bar.
Now, if a Google Meet meeting was already going on, you will need to refresh the page and re-join the meeting. Otherwise, when you join a new meeting, the reaction bar will appear on the upper left corner of your screen.
Users can send a ‘Hand Raised’ emoji to show they have a question or just a reaction emoji.
To send a reaction emoji like a ‘Thumbs Up’, ‘Well Done’, ‘Wow’, ‘LOL’, or ‘Hmmm?’ to express your reaction, hover the cursor on the ‘Thumbs Up’ icon to expand the options, and then click on the emoji you want to send.
The reactions appear on the lower-left corner of the screen for all meeting participants.
Note: The users who have the extension installed on their browser are the only ones who can send or see the reaction emojis on their screen. All the users can either individually install the extension for their browsers, or the admins can roll out the feature to the entire domain from the G-Suite admin console.
The extension has also added customization features recently, so you can change the skin color of the emoji. Click on the ‘Setting’ icon and then, select the color from the options available.
You can also turn on notifications, so people who are presenting something and do not have the video screen active can still know when they receive a ‘Hand raised’ reaction from someone. To turn on notifications, click on the ‘Settings’ icon, and then click on ‘Turn on Notifications’.
A dialog box will appear from your browser to ask for confirmation to allow notifications from Nod. Click on ‘Allow’ to confirm.
Install ‘Nod – Reactions for Google Meet’ browser extension to enhance the meeting experience in Google Meet. When all users have installed the extension, silent participants can easily express their reactions and concerns without disrupting the speaker. This way, the harmony of the meeting won’t get disturbed, but everyone will still get their reactions across. It can also just be a fun addition to your meetings.
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