Mac: share webcam & screen

[TheAcademy]

Hi, 

Our speaker tried to share her webcam and screen (as organiser and presenter), but said that she could only see her screen while sharing; she could not longer see her webcam, which is annoying as a speaker. 

She uses a Mac, I don't have a Mac so I cannot help her to look for solutions. Could you help me ? 

Thanks! 

[AshC]

@TheAcademy  There may be a permissions issue within the Apple OS that is blocking GoTo from accessing the webcam.  In some cases you just have to re-initialize the webcam within the GoTo settings:

1. Click GoToMeeting in the menu bar
2. Click Preferences
3. Click Webcam
4. Security prompt should now ask to allow access to the camera

[TheAcademy]

She was able to access her webcam, we could see her and she could see herself as long as she was not presenting her screen. Butt as soon as she started to present her screen, she could no longer see herself, although her webcam remained visible to us, other organisers in the test GoToWebinar as preparation for the real webinar next week Monday. 

[Chris Droessler]

That is normal on the Mac.

I always set up a second computer connected to the webinar, so I can glance at it and see exactly what the audience sees.

The workaround is to not share a screen, but instead share a window.

If sharing a PowerPoint show, setup the PowerPoint show to display in a window rather than full screen. Then share that PowerPoint show window. 

You should be able to see the webcam and the PowerPoint show.  If you click on anything outside the PowerPoint show window, you have to click back on that show window in order to advance the slides.

[TheAcademy]

Thank you for the information. 

She tried to do so, but unfortunately she said that she still had to choose between seeing the presentation or seeing the webcams, it was not possible to see them both, even when she only shared the application rather than full screen. Difficult to assist when you cannot exactly see what she is seeing. 

[Chris Droessler]

Before opening GoToWebinar, open a program that will show your webcam. On the Mac I use Quicktime and select New Movie Recording. 

Show your PowerPoint in a window rather than full screen.

You are NOT using the webcam feature within GoTo, you are only using the GoTo Share Screen feature.

Now you have two windows, one with your PowerPoint show, and one with your webcam.  Resize and drag those two windows until you see on the screen what you want to share with the audience.

Now share the whole screen with the GoTo audience.

The audience, as well as the presenter can see both the PowerPoint show and their webcam.

You have to click in the PowerPoint window to assign keyboard and mouse to it.  The keyboard and mouse can work on only one program at a time.

Using his method, the frame rate for the webcam is a little less than the frame rate when using the webcam within GoTo, but most will not notice.

[TheAcademy]

Thank you, we will definitely recommend trying this out next time a speaker is using a Mac!