In 2020,Google Meetintroduced avirtual hand-raise button in the control barto enhance participation in video conferences. The idea was to keep things flowing smoothly without interruptions. However, clicking a button to raise your hand might not feel as natural as simply raising your hand in person. Google Meet has finally caught up with the times and now lets you raise your actual hand to ask a question without having to fumble for the hand-raise icon.
Googleannouncedthat Meet now uses gesture detection to recognize your raised hand on camera and signal to the meeting host that you’re dying to ask something. This means no more messing around with clicking that hand raise button if you want to speak, making virtual meetings feel more like real, human conversations.
Once you raise your hand, a new icon will pop up in your video window, visible to everyone in the meeting. You’ll also be moved to the main grid, so everyone can see you clearly. There’s a quick-loading icon that gives you a chance to chicken out, but it’s only there for about a second or two. After that, the hand raise icon shows up for everyone else, just like when you click the button on the control bar.
Google’s demo image suggests that gesture recognition only works when you’re not talking, probably to avoid confusing gestures with actual hand movements. So, if you’re currently speaking, the gesture detection won’t pick up your hand raise. That said, it’ll turn back on when you’re finished talking, so you’re able to still raise your hand to ask another question.
If you’re itching to give Google Meet’s AI-powered hand-raise feature a spin, head over to More Options > Reactions > Hand Raise Gesture and toggle it on. Google has the feature turned off by default, so don’t be surprised if you don’t see it right away.
The hand raise gesture won’t work unless your camera is turned on and your hand is clearly visible, away from your face or body. You’ll also need to have a valid business or enterpriseGoogle Workspacesubscription, such as Business Plus, Business Standard, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Starter, Education Plus, Teaching and Learning Upgrade, or Google Workspace Individual.
Google first introduced Meet’s hand raise detection earlier this year,along with a bunch of other Workspace featuresfor education customers in Docs, Slides, and Classroom.
