👉 Best Practices for Presenting in Google Meet

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Best Practices for Presenting in Google Meet

Most people bumble along in Google Meet without realising it has some brilliant tools to make presenting smoother, sharper, and a whole lot less awkward. Instead of talking to blank screens or fumbling with tabs, you can control how your audience sees you, keep their faces close to the camera, and share your content cleanly.

Below, I’ve outlined the best ways to use layouts, screen sharing, and Picture-in-Picture so you can look less like you’re battling the tech and more like you’re leading the room.

1. Choose the Right Sharing Mode

When you click Present now, you’ll see three options:

Your entire screen → good if you need to flip between lots of apps.
A window → safer, only shows the app you choose (no stray tabs or notifications).
A tab (Chrome only) → best for video or anything with sound/animation (optimised for smooth playback).

💡 Pro Tip: If in doubt, choose A window — it’s neat and avoids oversharing.

A Tab (Chrome only)

Shares a single Chrome browser tab instead of your whole screen or app.
Optimised for smooth playback of video, animation, or audio.
Automatically includes system audio from that tab, so you don’t get the classic “Can you hear the sound?” moment.
Keeps everything else on your desktop private — no stray tabs, emails, or Slack pings leaking into the meeting.
You can switch to a different Chrome tab mid-presentation without restarting share.

💡 Best for showing YouTube clips, product demos, or any web-based tool with movement or sound. If it plays in Chrome, it’ll play beautifully in Meet.

A Window

Shares only a single application window rather than your whole screen.
Keeps the rest of your desktop private — no accidental email pop-ups, Slack pings, or other tabs leaking into the meeting.
Perfect for focused presentations like Slides, Excel/Sheets, or design software.
You can resize or move the app while presenting without disrupting what participants see.
Switching to a different app requires stopping the share and starting a new one, which is a small trade-off for better privacy and control.

💡 Think of it as the “laser focus” option — everything else on your computer stays safely hidden while your audience sees exactly what you want them to see.

Your Entire Screen

Shares everything visible on your monitor — all apps, windows, and notifications.
Useful when you need to jump between multiple apps or files during a live demo.
Quick to start, no need to select a specific window or tab.
If you have multiple screens (e.g., dual monitors), Google Meet lets you choose which screen to share, so you can control exactly what participants see.
Riskier in terms of privacy — participants can see pop-ups, messages, or anything else you’re doing on that screen.
Works best on a clean desktop or if you intentionally want to give a full walkthrough of your workflow.

💡 Think of it as the “everything on display” option — great for teaching, demos, or showing a workflow, but not ideal if you want to keep distractions or sensitive info off-screen.

2. Control Your Layout, adjust view.

Before you present, decide how you want the audience to appear

Auto (Dynamic)

Lets Google Meet automatically adjust the layout depending on what’s happening in the meeting.
If someone is presenting, their content will take centre stage.
If multiple people are chatting, Meet shifts into a tiled grid so you can see more faces at once.
If there’s just one active speaker, they’ll be spotlighted while everyone else shrinks into the background.
Meet also takes into account your screen size — fewer tiles on a laptop, more on a large monitor.

💡 Think of Auto as “hands-free mode.” It saves you from fiddling with layouts and gives you the most relevant view at the right time.

Tiled (Legacy)

Displays all participants in equal-sized tiles.
You can adjust the number of tiles with a slider (up to 49).
Ideal for group discussions where seeing everyone is important.

💡 Best for team check-ins, workshops, or brainstorming sessions where participant reactions matter.

Spotlight

Highlights a single participant or the shared content.
Other participants are minimised or hidden from the main view.

💡 Best for presentations, demos, or webinars — keeps the focus on the speaker or the material.

Sidebar

Large window shows the main speaker or presentation.
Small tiles of other participants run along the side.

💡 Best for workshops or client meetings — you can see reactions without losing focus on the main content.

Tiles Bar & Toggle

The tiles bar appears at the bottom, showing smaller video feeds.
You can toggle it on/off to free up screen space.

💡 Use when you want to keep participant faces visible but don’t want the bar taking up space.

Hide Tiles Without Video

Hides participants who have cameras off.
Reduces clutter and keeps your layout clean.

💡 Ideal for large meetings with many participants who aren’t sharing video.

3. Use Picture-in-Picture (PiP)

Open Meet in Picture-in-Picture mode (three dots → Open picture-in-picture).

This creates a floating mini-Meet window while you’re presenting or working in other apps.

You can see up to 4 participants or the active speaker while sharing your screen.

Drag and position the PiP window just under your webcam.

This way, when you glance at participant faces, it also looks like you’re making eye contact with the camera.

4. Sharing Your Screen While Using PiP

Click Present now to choose what you want to share:
1. Your Entire Screen → shares everything visible on the monitor. If you have multiple screens, Google Meet lets you choose which one to share.
2. A Window → shares a single app, keeping everything else on your desktop private.
3. A Tab (Chrome only) → best for videos or web-based demos; includes audio and smooth playback.
While presenting, the PiP window remains on top, so you can watch participant reactions without interrupting your presentation.
This setup lets you maintain eye contact with the audience while confidently presenting content.

💡 Perfect for presentations, demos, or walkthroughs — you stay connected with participants while keeping full control over what they see.

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