When the day has finally come to start broadcasting, here is what to do.

For Live broadcasting, you can use the free streaming service from Google: Hangouts on air.
You can start a Hangouts on Air on the Youtube site, so you will need a free Google/Youtube account to use Hangouts on Air..

You can start your Hangouts on Air in several ways:

1 – From the Webinar backend on your WordPress site (this option won’t work when you have a Google Apss/Google Suite business account! Please use a personal account or start the broadcast from Youtube Live, which is mentioned as 2nd step on this page)

2 – From the Youtube website, using Youtube Live

1. Starting the broadcast from within Webinar:

You can start a Hangouts on Air from within the Webinar plugin. On the ‘live page’ settings there is a yellow button which says ‘Start HOA’ in your own language. Click on this button to open Hangouts on Air.

The Hangouts on Air screen will open.

The “Start Hangouts on Air” button won’t work when you have a Google Apss/Google Suite business account!
Please use a personal account or start the broadcast from ‘Youtube Live’, which is mentioned below

2. Start the HOA broadcast with Youtube Live:

When you are logged in on Youtube, click on the ‘upload’ button on the top right of your window. It will take you to the upload screen. Here you will find the option to start a livestream on the right, click on ‘get started’ to configure the settings for your livestream.

Or click here to go directly to the Live Streaming Events section of your Youtube account. 

Click ‘new live event’, add the webinar information and make sure to select the ‘quick (using Google Hangouts on Air)’ option. If you don’t want your livestream to be publicly broadcasted on Youtube, then select ‘unlisted’, otherwise just leave this option on ‘public’. DON’T use the ‘private’ option, because only you as a logged in user will have access to the output of the HOA broadcast. Your viewers won’t see it in this case. Save the changes with the blue button on the bottom of the page.

When you are done with the basic info, go to the ‘advanced settings’ tab to check some settings.
Make sure the ‘allow embedding‘ option is selected, so you can play the stream within your webinar page.

Also, there is a small latency when using Google Hangouts. The delay is between 8 and 30 seconds, depending on your internet connection. If you want the smallest amount of delay, then check the settings to optimise the stream. Make sure the ‘optimise for interaction‘ option is selected.

Great! So you configured your Hangouts on Air. To start/enter your hangout environment, click on the blue “Go Live now” button at the bottom of the page. This will take you to the actual hangout screen. Or enter in details to schedule your event for later.

The Hangouts on Air

Here you will be broadcasting your webinar. You can share your video, voice, and your screen through Hangouts on Air. Before you start your broadcast, you will have to grab the URL to your Hangout, and place this in Webinar. In the animation below you will see where you can find the link in the Hangouts on Air window.

Copy the first link and place this on the ‘live page’ settings of your webinar. Make sure the webinar type is configured as ‘Hangouts/Youtube’, and save your settings.

Don’t forget to “save” the page after pasting your link!

Start your broadcast!

If you have placed the URL of your Hangout in Webinar, you can go live.
– You can start your broadcast by clicking on the green “start broadcast” button in Hangouts on Air.
– You also need to set the webinar status to “Live” in Webinar, so your attendees will be redirected to your Live page automatically and can see what you are broadcasting.

Below you will find a brief description of the Google Hangout window.

As soon as you start the broadcast AND the webinar status in Webinar is “live”, your viewers will see your broadcast and can interact with you. There is a small latency when using Google Hangouts. The delay is between the 8 and 30 seconds, depending on your internet connection.

If you are finished with broadcasting then click on the red button which says “stop broadcast”. Your broadcast will end and Youtube will automatically generate a replay of your broadcast for you. After a few minutes, this replay will be available in your Youtube environment. If you have chosen not to share your hangout publicly, then the replay won’t be publicly available either. Only people with the link to your live broadcast will have access to the replay because Youtube uses the same URL for both.

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