Instructions for Speakers

    • Q+ talks are given using the "hangouts" feature on Google+.
    • You can give your talk on any computer with a webcam, microphone, and an internet connection.
    • You can use any modern web browser, e.g. Chrome or Firefox. Make sure you have the Google Talk plugin installed. You will be prompted to install it when you join a hangout for the first time.
    • We encourage you to use a Google+ account and to circle the Q+ page in order to see the discussions around the announcement of your talk.
    • You will receive a link to join the hangout 15min before the talk.
    • We generally start the hangout about 15min before the talk is due to start in order to have time to sort out any technical issues.
    • The time scheduled for the hangout is 1 hour, which should be about 50min for the talk and 10min for questions.
    • Please open the chat window in the hangout. The audience will use this if they need to interrupt you with a question during the talk. The chair will alert you if you don't notice this. Note, interruptions during the talk happen extremely rarely.
    • You can use the screensharing option in the hangout to display your slides. When the slides are being shared then the audience will not be able to see the video of you. Make sure your slides are clear and legible on the video. It is useful if you can provide us with a pdf of the slides as well, in case they don't come out well on the video.
    • We can arrange a test hangout before the date of your talk to check your slides and to get you acquainted with the system.
    • A two monitor setup can be useful so that you can have the slides full screen on one monitor and the hangout window on the other. An easy way to do this is to plug the monitor from your desktop computer into a laptop.
    • If you use PowerPoint, the following instruction will allow you to run the presentation in a resizeable window rather than full screen. This will allow you to see the hangout while presenting. "From the ribbon (or menu bar in earlier versions) click “Slide Show” and select “Set Up Slide Show”. In the Set Up Show window select “Browsed by an individual (window)” and select OK to close the dialog"
    • Please use headphones to avoid any issues with echo.

Optional Extras

Each of these options will improve the quality of the stream and of the recorded video. They are not essential, and many talks have worked out fine without them, but each one you can do will improve quality.

    • Use a high quality external microphone or a Skype headset with a high quality mic instead of your laptop's internal microphone.
    • Use a high quality HD webcam instead of your laptop's internal webcam.
    • Use a high bandwidth wired internet connection rather than WiFi.
    • Use a reasonably well-powered computer, i.e. a desktop or pro-level laptop rather than something like a netbook.