CaddyInfo Cadillac Chat: Learning Hangouts #Motorama #GmChat

Cadillac Chat in a Google+ Hangout?  Count me in!  Last evening we had our first CaddyInfo Cadillac Chat using Google+ Hangouts.

Cadillac Chat Video:

Using Google+ & Hangouts for Cadillac Chats

Google+ is Google’s version of Facebook or similar social media site.  They are different, but that’s the idea.  Google+ has many interesting features, and I am still learning how to take advantage of all of them.

Google+ Hangouts is a service that offers up to 9-way video conferencing with very little setup.  Grab your smart phone or webcam, log in, and you are set more or less.  You can also participate in a live Cadillac chat with just a mic & audio, or even with just joining and text chat.  I have also seen Readers interact by for example adding comments to the video feed in the forum and then we can respond in the live video.

Our chat started slowly (I should have gotten everyone set and working before I started the video broadcast) but once we got going we had a fun time.

We used the Google+ Event planner to plan the Thursday night CaddyInfo Cadillac Chat at 8 PM Central / 9 PM Eastern / 6 pm Pacific US time.  I was surprised that although it prompted us that ‘it was time’, the Hangout then had to be started manually.  Now that I know this, okay.

Hangouts on air is a feature that captures the live video conference and sends it to Youtube.  There people not in the live conference can watch the video live, and the entire conference is saved a short time after the end of the conference as a Youtube video for later viewing as above.  Using this feature I was able to embed the live video feed in a post on our CaddyInfo Forum so it was easy for Readers to access.

Improvements for next time

We had some first night issues — Mike never got video or audio running, but generally things went more or less as planned and we all had fun chatting about Cadillacs.

Hangout Toolbox to the rescue

Hangout Toolbox to the rescue

After the CaddyInfo chat was over I learned how to add and use a Hangouts App to add subtitles showing each person’s name and other info.  That will help viewers follow the conversation.

Summary — Cadillac Chat Accomplished!

Overall we all had a good time chatting — the key to good Video Chats is likely to have a great group of people in the chat — and plan to continue to do these weekly.

Find me on Google+:  Link

Schedule for CaddyInfo Cadillac Chats:  Thursday evenings at 8 PM Central Time

 

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