Google Hangouts 101

There are many online tools now to do presentation, chat and record video at the same time. Your budget, size of your audience and cross device functionality are some factors to consider which software is best suited to your needs.

I have tried Stealth Seminar and that’s pretty good, especially for scheduled presentations. Many folks in the marketing arena use GotoMeeting which is pretty stable but marginally unfriendly to mac, as some functions seem to get a bit flaky.

I am attempting Google Hangouts, and again seeing more marketing experts using it. It is free but not as easy to use as I imagine. For starter, the very weird thing is it is not Chrome friendly on mac. For the non-geeks there, Chrome is made from the same people as Hangouts, ie, Google, so it is bizarre that they don’t work. I have to switch to Firefox and open Google Hangouts in the mac.

But having said that, it is a great collaboration tool and could supercede Skype (which I am now liking less since it is sold to Microsoft. The billing and payment plans are a real pain to get a clear picture. They speak Marsian in Microsoft, I am sure 😉 )

For those of you ready to reach out to larger audience, perhaps to do online training, check out this great presentation of Google Hangouts 101.