Dennis Shiao is always trying new things and writing about what he learns on his blog. As a specialist in the field of virtual events, his interests lean toward using technology to bridge the distance between people. Here he shares what he learned by hosting a book club meeting on Google+ Hangouts.
My Google+ Profile: http://gplus.to/dshiao
Introduction
A bunch of us started a digital book club. On a regular basis (well, soon to be a regular basis), we meet via Google+ Hangouts. We recently held our first meeting, for which I was the host of the Hangout. I learned a lot from my first Hangout, so I thought I’d share these five tips.
1) Do a dry run in advance.
Another way of saying this is, “when hosting your first Hangout, don’t enter the Hangout five minutes prior to the start.” Similar to hosting a webinar, you need a dry run prior to the “live date.” I discovered that one browser crashed [perhaps I need to install the latest version], while on another browser, the Google Talk plugin seemed to consume 100% of my CPU, rendering my laptop (and the Hangout itself) unusable. I ended up moving to a better equipped laptop, but in shutting down the Hangout, it bumped everyone else out.
2) Have a backup host.
In the off-chance that you experience technical difficulties, have a designated “backup host” who can fire up a new Hangout. You know how some events publish a “rain date” in advance? Do the same with your Hangout and let your target audience know about your backup host (e.g. “for any technical difficulties, be sure to join a new Hangout that <BACKUP> will create”).
3) Create a Circle of your Hangout’s participants.
In the case of our book club, we asked interested people to “opt in” to our club. Once they did, I added them to a Google+ Circle that I created. I then “shared” the Circle with its members, allowing them to conveniently add the same Circle to their Google+ account. The Circle makes it easy to invite “members” to the Hangout – when the Hangout begins, you can invite the members of the Circle to join.
To read the rest of this post, go to http://allvirtual.me/2012/01/30/5-tips-for-hosting-google-hangouts/ Posted with the permission of Dennis Shiao.
