Austin’s inaugural Social Good Summit was an incredible experience, with a packed house, at N. Austin’s Alamo Drafthouse. The incredible number of entrepreneurs who turned out and committed to doing more is a sign of what’s to come in Austin’s social impact economy.
My reason for sharing my experience with that specific event is that it was the first real experience I’ve had with a virtual conference; while we discussed how Austin can make a difference on ozone levels in one beautiful city, New York’s simultaneously occuring global conference joined us live, through a Google Hangout.
Extending Events through Google Hangout
A single experience is rarely enough to drive me to put pen to paper. As I pondered what Google Hangouts can do for conferences, classes, and events, WP Austin, one of the world’s largest local WordPress groups, shared that this very week, the WordPress meetup was to be broadcast and recorded by Hangout. The evening’s topic, which featured Pat Ramsey, Nick Batik, and Clark Wimberly? Social Media and WordPress.
It’s hard to ignore two strong signals that Google is on to an incredible innovation that is indeed impacting the way we communicate and interact. It’s harder still to ignore three.
5 steps for using technology to fuel your startup’s success
On October 3rd, the world’s greatest innovators will come together at the Inc 500/5000 Conference and Awards Ceremony at the JW Marriott Desert Ridge Resort in Phoenix to tell that story; the story of how 5 steps fuel startup success through technology. While the conference highlights related achievements, the driving forces behind the success of startups embracing technology, and what entrepreneurs of the future will need to know, Dell Business will be recognizing that one thing is certain: technology played a huge role in almost every step of their entrepreneurial journey.
Interested? Join Ingrid Vanderveldt of Dell, Alisa Swann of Microsoft, Laura Yecies of SugarSync, and Kim Overton of Spibelt on a live Google+ Hangout as they will be discussing and taking questions on the role technology plays in:
- Getting capital
- Marketing your ideas
- Gaining access to people and resources
- Collecting and utilizing data
- promoting innovation
Register for the Google Hangout event here
Have you tried a Google Hangout?
Not without hiccups, the technology ran with fits and starts but still gave the Social Good audience the opportunity to sit and listen to Deepak Chopra live as he spoke in New York about our changing culture and the role social media plays in evolving how we interact. Others from the Austin community, unable to attend the event at the Drafthouse live, also joined the Hangout and were involved, virtually, in the workshops, panels, and discussions that will impact Austin’s future. Bottom line, it worked.
Have you used the technology? Let me know if I can help you leverage it to fuel your success.
We are a small business that designs and develops WordPress websites and optimizes Google+ Local and Google+ business pages. We love the Hangout feature in Google+ and use it ourselves to meet internally to catch up, screen share, and use it for technical support. What’s great is we use Google Apps and are able to collaborate on the Hangout. One issue we have is recording the Hangout privately. You can do an On Air Hangout, it records to YouTube and then you make it private. We are hoping Google can make it so that it is always private – business don’t want their meeting recorded and then up on YouTube. You should be able to record it as private from the start.
All and all we find it a great tool and this is what’s making Google+ a hit. Richard Branson, Michael Dell, Brittany Spears use personal G+ pages to promote their brand as well as having a business page. A lot has to do with the Hangout feature. Google HelpDesk Hangouts are great to watch – you get to know Google people in those hangouts. They use it internally for Webmaster tools, Google Apps, GMail and more of their products.
What’s great is it’s free – if you need support – go to their forum.
Susan
@SusanThank you so much for that comment Susan because I was trying to wrap my head around the very question of private recording. It is then public isn’t it?
Frankly, I also wish there was an easier (more intuitive) way to schedule Hangouts with attendees – not a meeting per se but with individuals who have registered to attend.