1. Cooking Classes

Lee Allison, the guy who kicked off the concept of live cooking classes, also plans live Hangout parties for the NYC Foodie Circle he’s created.

2. Live Concerts

Cute singer Daria Musk held her first concert two months ago, and the response was so great that Google’s director of engineering Chee Chew had to “daisy-chain” Hangouts so more than the usual 10 people could watch the show. She also created a map so members of the “audience” could tag themselves at their location.

3. Groundbreaking Presscons

Advocacy group the International Tibetan Network organized the world’s first video press conference (Watch it here) and created a wave in the techie universe.

4. Social Experiments

We’re not really sure what the point is, but family team Mark and Philip Olsen are currently running the longest Hangout ever, now well over 60 days and counting.

5. Going Public

If you want to try Hangout but don’t want to randomly round up your contacts for some face time, log on to www.gphangouts.com to see a live list of Hangouts you can participate in.

Can’t find someone with a spare invite to G+? Sign up here to get on the list.