Atlassian HipChat: Video Group Chat and Screen Sharing for 20 Participants

Some months ago, Atlassian added more functionality to HipChat, allowing teams to collaborate via video in the place where they are already chatting - directly in their HipChat room. With the most recent release, HipChat is now a strong competitor to separate video conferencing tools in companies. Here are the newest features.

HipChat video conferencing

Video chats for small and large teams

Video chats are better for resolving problems, especially when a written discussion becomes too complex. It is vital to hold a such a discussion via video without switching context or tools — developers can start a HipChat video chat with just one click. With this update, more colleagues can join the video chat: HipChat has increased the limit for video chat and screen sharing to 20 participants. HipChat now supports both personal ad-hoc voting in small groups as well as video discussions with the entire team.

The handing of video chats has been improved. The practical navigation panel on the left shows who is in the video chat, and allows you to easily add additional participants. Users who want more control over the layout of their video chat, can move various elements and pin users.

HipChat video chat user list

You can also now protect video chats with a password.

To limit the background noise in larger group video chats (one participant rustles paper, a second has a coughing fit, a third struggles with a barking dog), HipChat provides a new option to mute other participants while the user is talking. You can deactivate the mute function with a key press.

Better coordination in real-time communication

There is naturally friction when there are large numbers of participants in video chats. Everyone talks at the same time and no one understands anything. For this reason, HipChat has a function to 'raise your hand'. This indicates to the group that you want to say something, allowing conversations to be more organized and efficient. You simply need to click on the corresponding icon, or use the keyboard shortcut "R".

Another feature to ensure a smooth discussion is a function to automatically check and display the quality of everyone's connection. Using this feature, participants know when a video or audio signal is delayed, avoiding the oft-wasted 5 minutes with the question "Can you hear me?" A user knows immediately what steps they need to take to resolve the problem when it shows their connection is poor.

Last but not least, HipChat has had some UX improvements, including automatically hiding the toolbar so that video conversations are clear of visual clutter.

HipChat has developed into an all-round powerful tool for synchronous team communications. With the most recent release, Atlassian has delivered additional helpful functions for more efficiency and focus, without bloating their streamlined tool.

The new features are available for HipChat Server and will be rolled out to cloud customers (plus-accounts).

We are your HipChat partner

Do you have a questions regarding Atlassian’s HipChat? Would you like to test HipChat as a cloud- or server-version, or license it immediately? Do you need help integrating it into your system? //SEIBERT/MEDIA is one of the largest Atlassian Experts worldwide.  We are happy to support you in all aspects concerning the implementation and productive usage of HipChat: advice, licensing, integration, support. Just get in touch!

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Further information

99 Arguments for HipChat in corporations
Comparison of HipChat, Slack, Jabber, XMPP, Lync, Skype for Business, Whatsapp and other group chat solutions
HipChat in large enterprise: Tips and tricks, pitfalls and threats, project elements
HipChat Server 1.0 released – real time communication for teams. Securely behind the firewall.

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Our blog articles reflect the situation at the time of writing and are not updated. It is therefore possible that the contents are outdated and no longer correspond to the latest developments. We do not accept any liability for this.
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