Here is the quickest and most efficient way to germ IMO:

Moist paper towel inside a plastic bag. Place seeds in towel and blow some air into the bag to act as a humidome. I set the bag on top of the cable box(heat pad would be better) and let set overnight. Most seeds pop over night. If the seeds dont pop overnight I scrape the edge of the seed(scuffing) and let those set overnight. I like to move them once I have 1/2 tap root coming out of the seed,
From there it goes tap root side down snuggly into the plug. Once they break the surface i throw some CFLs on them until they show leaves. Then into the system they go.