These days, every talk I give--whether my dissertation defense or a talk to the public at a local library--I broadcast via Hangouts on Air. This lets me review my own talk, archive it for posterity and, best of all, share it with all my remote fans.

With Hangouts on Air, I can schedule the event and share the broadcast link ahead of time. People can tune in live, or access the same link to the archived broadcast on Youtube. And ... it's easy.

To schedule a Hangout on Air:

To broadcast (i.e. to start your hangout on air):

  • If you scheduled ahead, re-open the hangout on air via your link.
  • Click “start” on the event, or just paste the event URL in the browser.
  • Choose the "screen share" button (blue) to share your slides. (If it's not visible on the left sidebar, it's probably hidden under three vertical dotst on the top right.) Click it, and select your desired source.
  • Up top, make sure to confirm "yes I wanna share publicly!"
  • Now start the hangout--Press the “Broadcast” button at the bottom!
  • Be sure to click "stop broadcasting" when done!

That's all there is to it. Those instructions look long just because I'm being sooo explicit--it's basically six mouse clicks!

With that said, I recommend including "Hangouts on Air" as part of your practice talks, and to get in early to make sure your Internet connection is working well!