If you want to say something during a Google Meet meeting, raise your hand. Not by clicking the button, but by literally raising your hand in the air.

To avoid speaking at the same time during group conversations, most video conferencing platforms have a raise hand button. In this way you signal to all participants in the meeting that you want to take the floor. Google Meet is taking the term “raise hand” very literally and introducing a new feature that requires you to actually raise your hand to speak.

hold hands

Using motion sensors in the webcam, Google Meet registers your hand movement and highlights you to other participants. For the feature to work, your hand must be visible to the camera and far enough away from your head and body, Google writes in a blog.

This way you can ask to speak without having to click the button. Nothing will happen if you hold your hand in the air while you’re already speaking. Make sure you don’t accidentally ask to speak because you wanted to overwhelm yourself.

Google is rolling out the feature to work and school accounts starting today, and every paying user should have it by November 28th. It is less clear whether private accounts will also be introduced later.

Google has been creative lately in developing features for Google Meet. A few weeks ago, an “on-the-go” mode for video conferences on the go was also introduced. In the competitive video conferencing software market, Google Meet finds itself in the shadow of Microsoft Teams and Zoom and is trying to change that with original features.