Google Plus Hangouts on Air or HOA’s, are online videos that are broadcast live in HD to a Google+ page, your organization’s YouTube channel and website at the same time. Best of all, HOA’s are recorded and automatically saved on your YouTube channel so that your subscribers can watch without any additional effort on your part. You can also convert your HOA into a podcast by following the steps found here. (Read our earlier post about rabbis and podcasts here.)
Instead of having to use expensive software to live-stream events, shiurim or a “How to Clean for Pesach” webinar, your rabbis and educators can use this Google provided service for free and broadcast from anywhere from the Beis Midrash to their own home. This allows your students, congregants and donors the ability to enjoy your shiurim even if they are traveling for work, or tune in live from the comfort of their own home or office.
Before jumping in and offering all of the classes provided by your outreach organization or community kollel available as a HOA, we recommend that you visit the Hangouts On Air tab on Google+ and watch the events that are happening at any given time. There’s a lot that can be gained by viewing others.
Once you decide that you are ready to host your own HOA, we recommend that you review the following links:
Below, is an example of how The AVI CHAI Foundation is not only producing ELI Talks (which are modeled after TED Talks and cover innovative ideas and inspiring concepts exploring Jewish engagement, literacy and identity) but also ELI on Air – a weekly interactive broadcast held via Google Hangouts on Air.
We hope you have found this post informative and encourage you to read our earlier post that introduced our readers to Google Plus here. We are certain that HOA’s can highlight your classes and events, and allow people to discover your organization and learn Torah online!
