The document provides guidance on using Google+ Hangouts to broadcast events from NASA. It outlines the benefits of hangouts for sharing expertise, establishing a human side of the agency, and allowing public access to experts. Instructions are given for setting up required accounts, starting a hangout, choosing broadcast flavors, preparing for the event, promoting it, taking questions, and tips for production. The overall process from initial planning to day-of execution is covered.

1. Google+ Hangouts
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Jason Townsend, Office of Communications

2. Benefits to Hanging Out
• Allows the public access
to your subject matter
experts
• Allows you to showcase a
particular topic and
expertise
• Can show a human side
of your government
organization, thus
breaking previously held
ideas of your organization
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3. Required Accounts
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YouTube account and
channel free of third-
party content claims
Google+ Page where the
YouTube account is an
admin user on

4. Starting Your Hangout
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From your Google+
Page, click to Manage
The Page
Login using your credential that is the login for your
YouTube Channel & an admin on your Google+ Page

5. Two Flavors of Hangouts
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The ‘green’ Hangout flavor is only for up to 10 people and is not broadcast

6. Picking The Broadcast Flavor
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The ‘yellow’ flavor is a Google+
Hangout On Air meant to be
broadcast to the world via YouTube
To access Hangouts on Air, hover
your mouse over the left side fly-
out menu to expose your options.

7. Open Your Room
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Then click on Start a Hangout On Air
Check that you are on the ‘yellow’
Google+ Hangouts On Air page

8. Let’s Hangout!
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Once in the Hangout
room, setup and test
all participants
audio, video
camera, and other
room options.
Familiarize everyone
with how to mute
their audio when not
speaking
Capture your Embed
code to give to bloggers
and capture your
YouTube URL for your
Google+ Event Page

9. The Show is About The Start
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When ready, click on
Start broadcast to
share your Hangout
with all of cyber
space!
Remember, your broadcast ‘On
Air’ portion of the Hangout will
appear on both your Google+
Page and your YouTube Channel
When you enter the room,
you are in setup mode and are
NOT broadcasting until your
click on ‘Start Broadcast’
After clicking Start
broadcast, there is a
10 second countdown
prior to actually being
LIVE on air
The number of
concurrent live viewers
is shown next the the
Embed code options

10. What’s Needed?
• Staff:
– One on-air moderator (we require it to be a NASA
employee)
– One behind-the-scenes technical producer
– On-air talent (number varies based on topic)
• Resources:
– Backdrops & quiet locations with wired internet
connections for best results
– Each participant must have a webcam and
microphone, plus the Google+ Hangout Plugin
installed (may need admin rights on your computer)
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11. Tips & Tricks
 Internet: For the highest-quality video and clear audio, use
a high-bandwidth, wired connection
 Lighting: Hangouts work best in a well-lit environment. If
you can’t flood the room with light, make sure you set up a
light source behind the webcam facing you
 Audio: For the best audio, broadcast in a quiet, controlled
environment where there's nothing blocking your mic. One
participant per room is best to prevent different mics from
picking up the wrong person.
 Location: Find a very quiet place for the Hangout – even
small background noises can be distracting for other
participants and viewers.
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12. More Tips & Tricks
 Background: You may look for a background with some
depth and also consider a backdrop that reflects the topic
you’ll be. Backgrounds that are too busy can be distracting.
 Real Time: Ensure that you only have the Google+ hangout
open in one screen – if for example, you have the live
stream open you will create a feedback loop that will create
an echo in the Hangout
 Headphones: It is sometimes helpful to use headphones
during the event to prevent the audio of the other speakers
from creating an echo in the Hangout
 Frame the Shot: Frame the camera shot so that your eyes
rest at approximately the top 1/3 of the screen
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13. Taking Questions
• We’ve found that it’s best to take questions from
Twitter using a common event hashtag; and to
post an update to Facebook to allow comments
soliciting questions. Additionally, we create an
event page (explained later) that can be your
Google+ location to accept questions.
• An off-screen producer will filter through the
questions in real-time and feed the best
questions to an on screen moderator to ask the
talent
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14. How to Hang(out)
• Moderator opening: Introduce yourself, the event, and then the participants:
 Start with the our participants
 Then introduce any potential external participants (e.g.
schools, reporters, partners, etc.)
• Opening remarks: “To start us off on a little bit about this topic, let’s go to John Doe”
• Questions: Moderator begins asking questions to the participants:
 Take questions from people on the Hangout
 Take questions from prerecorded YouTube questions that are queued to be played
 Take questions from social media in advance and real-time
• Select a hashtag (such as #askNASA, #askAstro, #askJWST, etc.).
• Search the hashtag on Google+ and Twitter.
• Also, if you have a Facebook account, you can open up a thread for questions.
• Closing Remarks: Take closing remarks from participants (optional).
• Moderator closing: Moderator closes the event and provides a (government) website URL on
the subject matter.
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15. Production Magic
 An off-screen producer can use the Camerman app to select
which camera is shown in large on the Hangout (including
selecting each participant as they are introduced)
 Prepare graphics to be shared using Screenshare features
 Queue up YouTube videos to play when needed via
screensharing
 Feed in an external camera and/or microphone by connecting
it to your computer and selecting it in the Gear menu within
the Hangout window
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16. Two Weeks Out
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 Secure your talent
 Send your talent a welcome
email with information about
the Hangout event
 Double-check that timing
doesn’t compete with other
agency social media events &
de-conflict the event if needed
 Notify your Social Media Team
so your event can be added to
the agency social media
calendar & promoted on the
agency’s Flagship accounts
 Draft an event one-pager to
circulate with
date, time, talent, moderator, p
roducer, Google+
page, YouTube
channel, topic, and description

17. One Week Out
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 Create a Google+
Event Page
 Determine if call
outs to traditional
media or online
bloggers is
warranted
 Promote the
Hangout on your
social media (don’t
forget
Twitter, Facebook, Y
ouTube and others)

18. Google+ Event Pages
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Select the Events
button in the left
column from your
Google+ Page
Then select Create Event
in the upper right corner

19. Creating Your Event
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1. Event Title: Name your event
2. Event Options: Open this
dropdown and select “Advanced
Options” – see next slide for
more
3. Time: Set the starting date and
time and ending time if you
choose.
4. Location: State “Google+
Hangout”
5. Description: Paste your
description from your one-pager
in here.
6. Guests: Invite individuals or
entire circles.
7. Theme: Don’t forget to upload a
topical image for the header

20. Setting Event Options
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Under the Event Options menu, uncheck
“Guests can add photos” unless you really
want spammy pics that you need to police
Then, select Advanced to bring up more
options
 Select Make this an event on air
 Select Show additional fields
Don’t check Google+ Hangout
since that will allow general
public users to enter your event
on camera.

21. Using Additional Fields
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For a website URL, put in a
.gov URL for more
information about the topic
For YouTube URL, edit your
event after you start your
Hangout and paste in your
URL from the Embed options
in your Hangout. (This can
also be used ahead of time
to have a promo video in
place on your event page.)

22. Day Of
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 Scan for questions on
your event hashtag and
send to on-camera
moderator to ask talent
 Promote the Hangout on
your social media (don’t
forget Twitter, Facebook,
YouTube and others)
 Add the YouTube URL
from the embed menu to
your event page
 Be sure to send a direct
link for your Hangout
room to your talent and
do NOT distribute it
widely, lest you get
uninvited guests on
camera

23. Let’s Hang(out)!
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
John Yembrick and Jason Townsend, Office of Communications

24. Your Title Here 24
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