I have been using Google+ hangouts ever since it came out and in the past couple of months, I have used it to effectively run online panel discussions on various topics of interest. In fact, I see Google+ Hangouts and Youtube broadcasting as a killer of Podcasts (if it is not dead already). It can be effectively leveraged by analysts like me to run online panels and vendors for their marketing purposes including webinars. I have learned a few valuable lessons from running these panels and thought I will share them here.
- Having a good camera and lighting is a must
- Having a good microphone is a must for all. If you are having more than one person sharing the same computer, make sure the microphone is positioned in such a way to get the audio from both people
- Make sure the audio from the speaker is not fed back into the microphone
- Advise the participants to not type (or create any other noise) while others are talking. If they use the keyboard, their face will be shown instead of the person who is talking
- Do not have more than one panelists in the same room with their own computer to log into hangout. I am telling you from my recent experience, it’s gonna mess up who is shown in the video
- Last, but not the least, don’t check your mobile phone while on the panel. Well, this is a note for myself đ
If you really want to understand how the video will end up when you do all the above said mistakes, watch this recent hangout. In spite of all the above said gaffes, this is a pretty good discussion on various topics including CloudFoundry, OpenStack and APIs. We spoke with Jeff Hobbs, CTO and VP of engineering, ActiveState and Yoram Heller, VP of Corporate Development, MorphLabs.
If Google can clearly market Google Hangouts, it will be a great success over many of the other video communication and webinar tools in the market. Many people record their webinars and host it on Youtube while Google Hangouts on Air does the same automatically. I have great confidence in the potential of this product but I am not sure how far Google will go in pushing this hard. I will be very upset if this goes in the Google Wave way.
Krishnan –
Was good to hear from a fellow enterprise G+ Hangout user – I think G+ Hangouts are undervalued for enterprise content. Maybe it’s because folks tried them early and found them buggy, I don’t know.
I started taping Google Hangouts before Google made it easy with the auto-YouTube process, though I still prefer to record them myself as I did with the SAP HANA one I just posted, for several reasons. Still, with the taping hurdle solved more folks should try this!
A few additional points I’ll add to yours:
– G+ Hangouts have surprisingly good video and audio quality for multiple participants. Previously I had attempted to tape multi-party video on Skype and had only miserable fails. Plus Skype charges per month for multi-party video. I can only recommend Skype for a one-on-one video taping.
– Google Hangouts tend to deteriorate in technical quality over time so if you chat for a while, then reboot the Hangout when you get into the content you want to tape.
– I find Chrome to be the best browser for Mac or Windows for G Plus tapings.
– Get people logged off Skype unless you want those Skype instant message sound pings to interrupt your taping. đ
– Google Hangouts are bandwidth intensive so maximizing bandwidth on all sides, reducing additional apps running, perhaps rebooting computers fresh before starting – all work to maximize the chances things go well.
Of course some of the things you note on your list will always happen but a bit of informality doesn’t ruin things if the guests and content are good.
Speaking of which, have enjoyed yours, checked out the most recent PaaS versus IaaS one – good stuff. When someone’s kid interrupts a Hangout that’s always a bonus.
p.s. a comment on taping methods, as there are reasons to do your own taping. At this point there is no software specifically for taping your own Hangout, which creates a challenge as you then need software (and a sound card) that can tape both your own mic and “what you hear” simultaneously. (essentially, an advanced screen capture program).
I can only speak to Wintel, but Camtasia is the one software program I know does this (on both Wintel and Mac I believe).
However Camtasia is a weighty investment and actually brings way more functionality than needed for this purpose. Having tested numerous Wintel alternatives I am huge fan of Screen Cast O Matic, http://www.screencast-o-matic.com/, which should work for Windows and Mac. The “pro” version is very affordable and offers the dual taping functionalities needed.
Two things to keep in mind when taping with such software:
– Screen cast o matic records everything in the window you set, and that includes your mouse, so mouse movements get recorded. Camtasia may have a setting that allows you not to tape your mouse movements, I’m not sure.
Why does that matter? Because if you tape the recording yourself you will need to manually click on the screen if you want to ever be the one featured in the screen (and then manually unclick when you are done). I tend to only do this at the beginning and end of my recordings, otherwise I don’t worry about being featured in the full screen.
Even with the manual recording, I still prefer this method, without going into all the considerations one of them is that I believe I get better recordings when the Hangouts are private, that’s a personal editorial choice. đ (allows for some frank off the record comments and a more relaxed environment, plus people who aren’t invited to the recording don’t feel excluded, and so on).
I have had a Google+ since it was in it’s beta days. I think that the hangout is one of the best features on G+. As a recent college graduate all my my best friends are scattered throughout the country (and world) and G+ hangout is great for catching up. It is great not to have to always schedule a hangout but also to randomly log on and see that you can join a hangout!