Account Setup for Google Plus Hangouts and HOA

This article and video set will guide you through Account setup for Google Plus Hangouts and HOA.

Google Plus Hangouts; What and Why
Google Plus Hangouts and HOA (Hangouts on Air) are Google Plus’ most powerful component. Hangouts are a video conferencing tool that make holding online video meetings so simple, “The Technology disappears”. The ability to hold video chat sessions without any additional hardware or software for most users is a major Plus!

Account Setup Required for Hangouts
Setting up your Accounts to be able to participate or create Google Plus Hangouts or Hangouts on Air (HOA) is a multi-step process. Watch the video to see the step by step instructions.

In the video you’ll see the step-by-step instructions needed to set up all the required Google accounts in order to be Hangout or HOA ready. As a bona fide “Hangout Helper”, I have been asked to make a video like this by quite a few people. I trust it will prove helpful to you and those you want to interact with inside Google Plus Hangouts (this can help move them over to Google Plus, if that is your goal)… after all if you want to hangout with someone they do need to have their accounts setup and ready.

It is possible to hold a 1 on 1 hangout with limited functions if you just have a Gmail account (aka “hangout lite”), but the goal here is to get the complete hangout experience, which requires the accounts mentioned.

Getting Started with Hangouts – what to do After Account Setup is done
It is generally a good idea to participate in Hangouts that others invite you into before venturing out and creating your own. Most people are happy to welcome newcomers into the Hangout world and are happy to “show you the ropes”.

When you do decide to start ‘hanging out’, try starting a hangout on your own and experiment inside one all by yourself. It is ‘safest’ to do that in the “Regular” kind of hangout, but if you like, you can also play around solo inside a HOA (before you decide to press the ‘start broadcast’ button). The two kinds are really not that different Until you ‘go live’.

Hangouts come in 2 basic ‘flavors’… Regular Hangouts and Hangouts on Air commonly referred to as HOA. The Regular ones are like private video meetings for up to 10 people, the HOA variety are very similar with the added bonus that they are Streamed Live or Broadcast to the world and also automatically recorded, both via YouTube.

You will need to use a Google Plus account and a YouTube account to make things work well, and for good measure it is a good idea to also have a Gmail account.

Account Setup for Hangouts leads to better Communications
The Hangout tool lives inside Google Plus (the social network). Many people have found that the hangout tool has become their primary way to hold business meetings. Personally, I have met people all around the world that I would never have met because of the Hangout tool. I’ve been in many HOA ‘shows’ and Interviews because it is so easy to do.

Sure there are some technical issues around doing it right, and utilizing ‘best practices’, but the basics are not that difficult.

Stick around my Google Plus activity to learn more of the details if you like. Share this article and video with your friends and co-workers that you know could benefit from the best communication tools around: Google Plus Hangouts and Hangouts on Air.

Learn More About Google Plus
Since you may be new to Google Plus, you may want to take a look at two of my most popular posts on using Google Plus well: How to Interact Well on Google Plus & How to use Google Plus Hashtags (what are they and why should you care).

As an added bonus, if you plan on creating the HOA variety (Live Streaming Broadcasts) you may want to set up your YouTube Channel to make finding your Live HOA show easier… that can be done by utilizing your Channel’s Featured Video option… learn more about that by watching this video  & by reading this Google Plus post called YouTube Channel Featured Tab… New Options.

Like the video says, if you find this information useful, please share it with others. If you find it super useful for you, go ahead and leave a small donation here or contact Ronnie here or on Google Plus (look for the little ‘envelope’ at the top of my profile page) to see about setting up a private consultation session to work through more details specific to your Hangout or HOA requirements.

Extra tip: Watch the Video again on YouTube when you want to review as there you will have a click-able Table of Contents inside the Video Description text which allows you to efficiently jump to different parts of the video whenever you like.