Hosting Google Hangouts – Don’t Panic!
Hosting Google hangouts is a great way to connect with an audience or to hold private meetings online but it can sometimes be challenging as I found last night. Our regular Tuesday hangout actually turned out to be a lot of fun despite the fact that technical gremlins tried their best to sabotage it. The irony of this was not lost on us as the subject was “Do you need to be technical to run an online business” ! LOL
For us the purpose of hosting Google hangouts is to communicate openly with our subscribers and anyone else who is considering starting an online business. We cover the sort of subjects that we are commonly asked about and the technical side of things is definitely one of those.
None of us has a lot of experience with hosting Google Hangouts, which in a way answers the question quite well. So in fact does the fact that we had to deal with some technical issues live while discussing the subject. No pressure!
Hosting Google Hangouts Live On Air
The Silent Host !
Whether Internet traffic volumes caused by the world cup played a part we will never know but our problems did seem to be bandwidth related. Poor old Kieran who was having his first ever shot at hosting our hangout suffered worst.
He and I had been on Skype moments before we got started sorting out a problem that was stopping the hangout being broadcast and recorded. So right from the start we were under a little pressure. Then as we went live without time for our usual quick run through, he had a problem with his mic and couldn’t be heard.
In fact, thanks to the positive, cheerful outlook of the brilliant people in our hangout, we just made a laugh out of it and busked it. Eventually Keiran logged out and back in and we could hear him. He did a great job of facilitating the event from then on but the laughter was by then infectious. The side chat we were having in the private chat box made sure of that.
Hosting Google Hangouts With A Silent Host !
A little later our friend Tariq who joins us from Africa was plunged into darkness. We’re used to that though – its just one of the frequent power cuts that Lagos is prone to. When his generator kicked in two Tariqs appeared in the small cameras at the foot of the screen – The Tariq Twins. The phantom twin soon disappeared though and things got back to “normal”.
So from our point of view, hosting Google hangouts that go wrong worked quite well for us. We were able to demonstrate I think, that although technology is a part of what of what we do, a lot of it was and is new to us. Things go wrong and you just need to go for it and work it out – that what entrepreneurs do.
Hosting Google hangouts live is actually quite easy. As with everything there is a learning curve. There a few confusing differences between a very simple private hangout – basically just a video conference – and a live hangout on air. If you work as a team and just go for it you’ll get to love it. Last night’s for us was the most fun we’ve had yet despite the problems we had.
There are tons of tutorials on Youtube and Google on hosting Google hangouts so if you’re not sure how to get started just find those. As we suggested on our hangout last night Google is the place to go for information on pretty much anything technical. Of course we have the added benefit of being part of the SFM so we have experts in everything to call on if we get stuck. We always try and work it out for ourselves first but it’s great to have other options.
