I was one of 5 lucky Americans to get to ask President Barack Obama a question on the first ever Presidential Hangout created by Google+ (Google Plus) and YouTube!
This is me, in my dining room with my kids, just before we went live with The White House.
Introducing Barack Obama to my three children during the Obama Hangout.
Listening to the President answer my question.
I'm so happy my mom and dad could be there, too.
Moderator Steve Grove from Google/YouTube put everyone at ease.
The highlight: Introducing my three children to The President of the United States of America -- from our dining room!
My parents made these signs before the interview!
Click here for the entire 50 minute Presidential interview.
The whole thing was amazing, but if you only want the parts I was in:
My introduction to the President is at the 2:16 mark
I ask my question at the 17:12 mark
I say goodbye and introduce my kids at the 48:40 mark
Some Media Coverage of The First Live Presidential Google+ Hangout
ABC 7 News Coverage in Chicago
Alexander Howard/Google+
My immediate takeaway? The forum featured real questions on significant issues, with genuine citizen-president interactions, with back and forth conversation. That was precisely the promise of the platform that I considered ahead of time:
http://oreil.ly/znCPfz
The moderator, +Steve Grove, gave the participants (2 men, 2 women and one classroom of young people) the opportunity to follow up on their questions to the president.
A question from within the Hangout about a lack of dialog with children about the financial crisis offered the president a human moment, where he said that he tries to explain what’s happened with economy to his daughters over the dinner table.
At the end of the event, was even a moment of unexpected human connection, when one of the women on the hangout invited her three children to come meet the president. They stared and smiled, left a bit wide eyed by the President of the United States smiling out of the computer screen and bidding them to obey their mother and do their homework. We could do with more wonder in the world, where such unexpected encounters occur online.