Starting today, Google is making Google a calendar standard for the...

Correction: The headline and story have been updated to accurately reflect a Google Calendar update sent to Google Workspace IT admins rather than Gmail users.

Google is pushing its Zoom competitor, Google Meet, to November 16 by default in Google Calendar invitations, but is notifying Google Workspace’s IT admins (formerly G Suite IT admins) that they can now go live with this feature. On November 16, the switch will be operated for them. The new setting is available to all organizations starting today. The move may be related to some big Zoom news that will be released later today.

Google sees that more than 100 million meeting participants use Google Meet per day and add about 3 million additional users per day. Much less than zooms + 500m. Starting November 16, users will be prompted to change the settings in an email sent to Google Workspace IT administrators (formerly G Suite IT administrators). The move will be 100% by November 16.

To set Google Meet as your default video conferencing tool now:

Go to Apps> GSuite> Calendar> Sharing Settings> Video Conferencing and search for “Make Google the Default Video Conferencing Provider”.

Google is introducing this new mindset to “… provide you with better tools to promote the use of Google Meet in your business because it’s included in your Google Workspace license.” The email also included a subtle stab over the cost; “[changing Google Meet to default]… now enables users to create Google Meet conferences instead of other conference solutions that may incur additional IT costs. “Google Meet has levels that also cost money.

Google isn’t banning the use of Zoom and other video conferencing apps in invitations, but the move to make Google Meet the standard is clear evidence that this market is intended to be dominated by Google.

You can find the full Google email address below:

“We would like to inform you that starting October 13, 2020, you will have more control over how your end users choose between available conference providers when creating calendar events. The new setting will take effect on November 16, 2020 and will allow 30 days to make changes if necessary.

A new admin console setting will start allowing you to choose Google Meet, Google’s secure, high quality video conferencing solution included with your Google Workspace (formerly G Suite) license, as the default video conferencing provider.

The “Make Google Meet the default video conferencing provider” setting (under Apps> GSuite> Calendar> Sharing Settings> Video Conferencing) now allows users to create Google Meet conferences instead of other conferencing solutions that may incur additional costs .

What does this mean for my organization?

The new setting is enabled by default for all organizations. However, it only affects the user experience if both Google Meet and other conferencing add-ons are installed.

When the setting is ONUsers with Google Meet and Conference add-ons installed will:

• Start to see a sectional button to add video conferencing in Google Calendar when creating events
• Google Meet can be added with a single click on “Add Google Meet Video Conferencing”.
• Additional video conference providers can be added using the drop-down menu

• Only Google Meet conferences are automatically added to eventswhen Auto Add Video Conferences is enabled. Previously, the last used conference provider was automatically added.

When the setting is OUTUsers will see a drop-down menu where they can choose from all of the available providers.

What do I have to do?

• If you are happy with the changes, No action is required.
• If your organization uses the Auto-Add Video Conferencing feature and wants to continue seeing how it behaves today when adding the most recently used conference provider to a new event, then just do it Turn off Google Meet as the default provider.
• If you want your users to keep seeing today’s Add Conference button to add video conferencing instead of the slice button, easy Turn off Google Meet as the default provider.

Turn off Google Meet as the default provider

• Go to Apps> GSuite> Calendar
• Go to Sharing Settings> Video Conferencing

How to automatically add an add-on as a standard for video conferencing