Introduction to How to Become the Best Hangout or Hangout-On-Air Guest
Helping you become the best Hangout guest or the best Hangout-On-Air guest is the goal of this article and accompanying video. (For the YouTube video click here: Become a Great Hangout or HOA Guest.) Hangouts and Hangouts-On-Air are live video chats between you and up to nine other people. When you’re invited into Hangout call you want to be as comfortable as possible, so I wrote this article to help you a) know what to expect b) to give you a few tips and c) to make it so that, if possible, the technology will just “disappear” and you’ll be inside the video room communicating your message as efficiently as possible.
Article Overview
We will start with the invite; meaning, how to get into the video call to begin with. Then we’ll move to the environment (that means your lighting, your backdrop, the equipment you might use to do your hangout). The next section is going to guide you through the actual Hangout tools, or the interface itself (meaning, where the tools are and where the buttons are that you will click). And last but not least I’ll provide some special tips that will help you make the best impression possible using Hangouts.
The Invite – How to Get into the Hangout Call
When you’re invited into a Hangout you’ll hear a ringing sound (kind of like a telephone ringing), which you can answer in a couple of ways. One of the ways to answer is to choose the little bell icon in the upper right of the window, which is called a notification.
All you need to do is click where the bell is, it’ll drop down, you’ll see a big picture of the person, or page, inviting. From there just click the “Join Hangout” button.
This method works well for experienced users. But when you’re brand-new it’s sometimes not that easy to find. So this is my biggest tip for finding your way into a Hangout: go to the page, or to the profile, that is actually inviting you into the call and then look for an area that says that somebody has invited you to a Hangout. You’ll see “join a video call with…” and the name of the person, or people, and then you can click where it says, “join Hangout.”
That will bring you right into the video call. On the way, you might see a window that says, “You are about to join a video call” that shows you the profile or the pictures of the people that are currently in the call that you’re going to be joining. From there, click the “Join” button. Optionally, you may see a screen that has a legal disclaimer that you need to agree to.
This is allowing you to join a Hangout-On-Air which is the live broadcast version of a Hangout call. What is different here is you have to go through the legal disclaimer saying you understand you are going to be recorded and broadcast live. Therefore, you will check the box and click the “join” button, and that is what brings you into the Hangout video call.
Environment – Your Equipment, Background and Lighting
So now that you are on the inside of the Hangout interface let’s talk about your environment. The first and the most important thing may be a surprise for many of you: it’s the sound. The sound is what’s most important. I am referring to your audio quality. I recommend that people get a headset (like what I’m wearing in the video). It separates the microphone from the speaker, eliminating the possibility for echo. If you’re using a laptop, there is a good chance you’re going to get some echo because the speaker is right next to the microphone and that can cause problems. So if a headset just isn’t your preference, then go ahead and get some ear buds or other similar headphones. You just need to get something to make it so that the speaker sound does not get right into the microphone.
The next thing we’ll cover is your camera. Most people’s built-in web cams are fine. Optionally, you could get a separate one that mounts in a different spot. This may allow you to look at the camera more efficiently. Most of the web cams readily available or installed on computers and laptops are already HD quality and that’s what you want to have.
Next, let’s cover the lighting. You want good light in front of you. You want it to be brighter in front of you than it is behind. That’s the biggest key. The bottom-line is to get more light shining on your face than is shining from behind you.
Your connection to the Internet is also very important. Try your best to connect via a wire instead of using wireless (WiFi). No matter how fantastic your wifi seems to be for other work, using a wired connection will be best for hangouts.
The last thing to be concerned about is your backdrop. Meaning something like the backdrop behind me that you see in the accompanying video. I’ll admit, I did get a little fancy with the one I use, but you don’t have to get that fancy. You basically need to have a clear background so that it just doesn’t look messy. One way that you can verify that it doesn’t look messy is when you’re inside of a hangout like this one, go to the bottom right corner where you see the icon that says “you” and click on it.
That will let you see what it looks like to everybody else. That’s the best way to see whether the “mess” is visible or not. I’ve got a mess around me but you’d never know it in the video because I’ve cleared it away enough so that the Hangout looks good.
Interface Tools – Where the Hangout tools are and What They Do
Now we’ll cover the actual Hangout interface, or the tools that are on the inside of interface; in other words, the buttons that you push. When you’re inside the interface and you don’t see any tools on your screen, here’s the number one tip I can give you: wiggle your mouse. Move your mouse around and the buttons will appear within the Hangout interface.
You’ll see buttons and things on the top, bottom and the sides. We’ll cover all three areas next.
Top of the Interface:
Right above your head or the head of the person speaking on the Hangout is the very first icon we will cover. The left-most icon in the set is the invite icon which allows you to invite people into the filmstrip area (into the video call). If you click on it, it’ll open up a dialog box where you can invite people.
The next icon to the right is for muting your microphone. Click on it and it mutes you so nobody can hear you. Click on it again and it unmutes you. Then comes the icon for your camera: i.e. you can turn your camera on or off. Next you’ll see a button to control the bandwidth settings. So depending on how fast your Internet connection is, you can adjust your video quality.
And then the next tool is the gear icon (or Settings). This will bring you into the place where you can make adjustments that will stay-put and the next time you come in to a Hangout they will be set that that way.
For example, if you’re having a hard time with your sound or your camera, etc., all those settings can be adjusted in this Settings area and then you can save your settings. Whatever settings you select will be saved for the next time you come into your Hangout.
The last thing you don’t want to do right away is click on this little hang-up button. That’s your exit button and you will actually leave the Hangout right away. Click this button when your Hangout is complete.
Muting:
When you first arrive in the Hangout, you might end up being muted. In other words the microphone icon might be red.
If it does happen to be red, you’ve got the ability to click it in two different places to turn it back on (un-mute it) so that people can hear you. One is at the very top, or you can click on it on your own profile picture on the bottom right corner. This will allow you to un-mute yourself so that you can be heard.
Now once you’ve gotten into the habit of muting and un-muting, it’s a good idea to do self-muting. In other words, if you’re in a conversation and you’re not going to be talking for a length of time, you can self-mute to insure that your camera doesn’t come on the main screen simply because you had some background noise or something like that. So self-muting is just a good idea, good etiquette, for being in a Hangout.
Bottom of the Interface:
The group of pictures/thumbnails displayed at the bottom of the screen is called the filmstrip. When you’re in a Hangout you can click on your thumbnail in the filmstrip, or someone else’s thumbnail in the filmstrip and that is called “blue boxing.” When you “blue box” yourself or you “blue box” somebody this will change what you see in the main window.
If you blue box yourself then you’re going to see yourself and that is something that you want to do initially to verify everything looks the way you’re expecting it to look. When you’re done checking out what you look like go ahead and click on that blue box again and it will turn off that level of focus. If no one is blue-boxed, the Hangout will switch back and forth based on who’s speaking or making sounds. The sound causes the switching of the camera! If you don’t see anything switching back and forth when people are talking, check to make sure you don’t accidentally have yourself or someone else blue-boxed!
Now when you do have yourself blue-boxed, there are some special options that you’ve got with the Hangout interface called filters.
The default filter nowadays is “enhanced.” I’m not so sure that is the best choice for most people so I encourage you to either change it to “smooth” or maybe “original”. I specifically like to use the one called “original” – it takes less processing power and may end up looking like a better video image for you depending on your computer and bandwidth. This setting does not do any special filtering. Test your filters out to see what works for you and consider testing them with others telling you what they see.
Side of the Interface:
Now that we have covered the stuff on the top and we covered the thumbnails on the bottom, let’s move over to the side. (Again, wiggling your mouse to make sure all these things show up.) The items on the left side are what are called Hangout Apps.
Hangout apps are ways to customize your experience inside the Hangout. The ones shown in the video are the defaults, and if you don’t see the ones that you want, you can go ahead and click on the very bottom part where there are three dots and that will “fly out” and let you find some more apps.
Let’s cover the most commonly used apps. This top-most Blue one is called Chat. When you click on it you’ll see a little panel open up on the right side.
This is where you want to lookin case somebody is actually trying to get your attention while you’re in the Hangout by typing or texting. This chat area is a place for everybody that is on the inside, or inwhat’s called that filmstrip area, to communicate via text. That’s called “Group Chat” and the easiest way to turn all the apps on and off is by clicking on them on the left side… they act like a toggle switch for on and off.
Other Side Buttons:
Screen Sharing
The next one that is really popular when you are doing presentations is screen sharing. Then the next app allows you to take screenshots (which, by the way, I don’t really suggest using). And then there are other tools but the ones we have covered here are the most important ones. And again, as I mentioned earlier, the 3-dots pop up will allow you to see some other choices. There is a very popular app called the Hangout Toolbox which we’ll get to in a little bit.
Appearance & Tips – Tips on How to Make the Best Impression Inside of a Hangout
So in this last section we will cover some extra tips, to make sure you do the best you can inside your Hangouts.
Tip #1: The first thing you need to do is to be looking at the camera. Just like I tried to do during this whole filming of the video. Now the default action, or what most people want to do, is to look down at the filmstrip. It makes sense because that’s where the people are. But when you do that, and you’re talking to them, it really looks like you’re not talking directly to anyone. So you need to try to establish something to train yourself to look into the camera. Maybe you could put little arrow, or something nice and obvious right by the camera to grab your attention. Just make sure that you’re looking at the camera because that’s really going to make it look like you’re looking at the people. (Admittedly, it does take a little getting used to.)
Tip #2: Here is another tip: practice on your own. Start a hangout and begin by practicing on your own and then bring some your friends in and get them to help you practice and then you’ll feel more comfortable in the environment.
Tip #3: Another thing you’re going to want to do is turn on what is called The Lower Third. And that is part of the Hangout toolbox app. Again, the Hangout Toolbox app (if you’ve loaded it) will be over on the left side. If you don’t have that the app installed, go-ahead and just click where it says Add Apps and you can grab it. Simply turn it on and that’s going to load it up. Then on the right side where the first icon in the Hangout Toolbox is (round circled profile image), you can click on it and it will bring up what we can refer to as some “branding” or information about yourself that you will display in the lower third area of your video.
Now you’ve got some standard stuff that you can turn on which basically just turns on your name and your profile icon. That is the most common thing you’re going to see for most people. Now you can get a little bit fancier if you happen to have some graphic design skills. You can go ahead and add in some custom lower thirds and do some branding. If it looks backwards to you when you turn it on, which is common, click on the little icon next to the on/off button for your lower thirds and that mirror function will allow you to flip your video around so that it’s not backwards. It never looks backwards to anyone else, just you at times.
Tip#4: And the last, very important tip, is to smile! Smiling makes you seem more approachable. And more approachable means that people are going to receive your message a lot easier.
In Closing
So if by now you’ve decided that you need to keep up with Hangouts or you definitely want to because they are going to be a part of your future, you can follow me at Google+, or you can check out my website which is www.theHangoutHelper.com. Or for the deep dive, so you can keep up, you should “sign-up to keep up” with the Hangout Mastery membership site. See you there!
YouTube Link: Become a Great Hangout or HOA Guest - Google Hangouts Tutorial
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