We’re 1 and 1 with Google Hangouts

As I mentioned earlier, Deb Galant, who runs the New Jersey News Commons here at MSU, organized a Google Hangout Web video discussion after N.J. Gov. Chris Christie’s speech to the Republican National Convention last week.

We’d done a trial run the previous night and thought we’d ironed out all of the bugs, but the web can be fickle. One of our guests lost his connection and couldn’t join us and the n Deb lost HER connection halfway through our discussion. She was the host so when she dropped out, we lost the ability to stream, so we finished the discussion amongst ourselves. Here’s what streamed…

Still it was a good trial run. And the one she did a week later after Newark Mayor Cory Booker’s address to the Democrats went much more smoothly.

One big lesson learned:

Good lighting makes a huge difference. If you look at the demo videos Google posts or the ones from their booth at the GOP or Demo conventions, you can see how good the video quality is with good lighting (and better cameras). Hint to the folks at Griffin, or any wannabe tech startup — how about a cheap three camera lighting kit and some instructions on doing three-point lighting?