Google Hangouts On Air: as private as I can make them

Here's how to set up a Hangout On Air, and make it not too public. The trick is to delete the G+ post that comes free with the hangout, and then make it private on YouTube as soon as it's over.

The detailed steps:

1. Go to: https://plus.google.com/hangouts
2. Click on the "Start a Hangout On Air Button"

3. Fill in the setup info. If your G+ account is not connected to YouTube you may have to go through some stuff to get it connected. I had to, but I didn't write it down.  Boo!

Put in a name, and invite some people. Once you've done your setup, you'll see something like the screen below, which indicates, like it says, that Google preparing to let you broadcast. 

While it's preparing the broadcast it will put a notice in your stream and in your  G+ posts page. 

If you click on the dropdown in the upper right corner of the post, you can delete it.

At this point the hangout is private: restricted to only those people you had invited.

Once the Hangout is ready for broadcasting, you'll see something like the screen below:

When you click on that Google will display a dialog and ask you to affirm that you know the rules. Once you've agreed, or accepted, or whatever, the "Start Broadcast" button will change to say "End Broadcast" The Hangout will show "On Air"  Kind of like the picture below.

 When that happens, your post will change to private and public, and anyone is following you can see it in their  G+ stream or through email, if they've elected email notifications when you post.

Once the notice goes up, however, you can delete it. Here's how:

Hover your mouse over Home.

A panel (which I could not capture with the software I am using) will slide out. Select Profile from the panel.

Add caption

Now click go to the post announcing your hangout, and click on the dropdown.
Note to nitpickers: this shows the private version.

Delete the post and it's gone. Or as gone as you can get it. It will be replaced with this notification. Click on "Dismiss" and that's gone too.

When you finish the broadcast the Hangout will continue, but you'll be off the air. The recording will end up in your YouTube account. To see it, click on your name to reveal the Video Manager selection, then click on Video Manager

Once in the video manager you'll see all your Hangout On Air recording as well as any other crap you've uploaded. To privatize your recording, click on the box to the left of the recording, the the Actions dropdown, and choose "Private."

Now you can use Google's video editing tools to clean it up and then make it public, or whatever you like.