Entries from September 2009
When one of your communication goals is to deliver accurate, fast and timely information to a specific target audience, who wouldn’t want a tool that makes reaching such an objective relatively easy. And why not try to actually bundle some of the communication activities using new media technologies, distributing relevant information via Inter- and intranet and interacting with your target audiences in a quick and uncomplicated way. So, point your communication strategy into a new direction, incorporate and adapt your communication plans, making your activities more user-friendly and ultimately more successful. That is the way I ultimately did it.
Finding a focused communication strategy approach
I found that focusing my communication activities and defining a more targeted approach really helped me get the message across in a clear, direct and understandable way. For example, the CEO and Executive Team would deliver their speeches to employees live in the auditorium at a convenient time in the morning, i.e. European time in this case, while we’d record them and have it on the intranet one hour following the event including Q&A. As a result, the US could watch the session as soon as they got to work in the morning and Asia saw the presentations before they left the office in the evening. That was great. Nobody felt left out. The way we used the webcasts had a strategic focus too because one of the most important communication principles was to inform employees first, fast and straight forward – always.
Setting priorities
As a communication professional I know what it’s like struggling for attention and budget as well as the Executives’ time to get involved in communication activities. Therefore you need to drive for an effective approach with new technologies that makes them easy to use widely and distribute your communication message to a broad audience quickly: E-mail, intranet, Internet with all its reader-/viewer-friendly news-oriented features available at their fingertips.
Make it a strategic priority to get your target audiences hooked on these new channels of information distribution. You won’t regret it!
Categories: corporate communication · employee relations · event communication · internal communication · strategic communication
Tagged: audience, CEO, channel, communication, communication plan, Communication principles, E-mail, Executive Team, Internet, intranet, new media, news-oriented, strategy, technology
First of all I would like to set the stage for introducing a piece of sophisticated technology to you. As a great fan and believer of streaming products, I want to start by explaining some basics and getting a couple facts and possible misconceptions straight. To tell you the truth, I was pretty confused at the beginning myself. So here we go.
What is a webcast?
A webcast is a video and/or presentation that is produced and published on the Internet using so-called streaming technology. The webcast is either done ‘live’ or ‘on demand.’ Webcasting is a type of “broadcasting” over the Internet. It can be shown on an Inter-, intra or extranet. Webcasts use streaming technology to publish content on an Internet page and distribute it to many listeners and/or viewers simultaneously. There are many possibilities for using webcasts as I learned working with Solutionpark over the years.
How are webcasts used?
Webcasts are typically used for investor relations presentations to the financial community, for the transmission of annual general meetings to shareholders and the public, for recording employee events and presentations for the intranet, for broadcasting medical conferences and offering further education to doctors and scientists. These are just a couple of examples.
Who (typically) organizes the webcasts?
Mostly, investor relations and corporate communications responsibles are assigned the task of planning and organizing webcasts. Event managers, media relations people, internal communications specialists or other communication professionals might also be in charge of producing a webcast.
Why is it an indispensible communications tool? 
Once you start working with webcasts, you won’t want to go back to some of the traditional, time- and cost consuming communications tools. The preparation and production is quick, the feedback is immediate. You are flexible and fast. It’s independent of time and location, can be watched by audiences around the globe where and whenever they want to: the perfect tool for businesses on the move. I love it. And who doesn’t like moving pictures these days?!
Categories: corporate communication · employee relations · event communication · internal communication
Tagged: annual general meeting, audience, broadcast, communication, conference, corporate communications, employee event, event manager, extranet, internal communications, Internet, intranet, investor relations, listeners, live, media relations, on demand, presentation, public, shareholder, Solutionpark, streaming, technology, video, viewers, webcast
Let me introduce myself: I am a communication and PR professional with more than 10 years of experience in the field. As a half Swiss, half American I have worked in corporate communication departments of international companies listed on the stock exchange and based in Zurich, Switzerland. In my work I was always involved in and fascinated by new media projects, i.e. Inter- and intranet and more. A couple of jobs allowed me to develop and implement a whole series of web-based communication tools throughout a period of multiple years. Now the time has come to take it all one step further and write my own communications blog with a focus on a particular aspect of new media technologies: streaming and video on the Internet.
Driven by internal communication
Why did I do it? While working in internal communication at an international company based in Zurich, I was confronted with the evaluation and integration of various internal communications tools: employee events, internal newsletters, internal announcements, message from the CEO, news articles on the intranet, staff presentations, communicating quarterly financial results, business strategies, high-level personnel changes, corporate values, vision and mission etc. A number of tools were time-consuming and ineffective and simply too costly. Through the use of webcasts I was able to bundle those channels into one and cover various types of communication with a single medium. No more printed internal newsletter, no more complicated written personnel announcements, no more separate CEO message or sending around video tapes by post across the ocean. By publishing webcasts visibly on the intranet, for example, distribution was already done and the exposure and attention automatically much greater.
Sharing insights and connecting with other communication professionals
Why am I writing a blog? I want to share my experiences in setting up, planning and producing webcasts and videos for the web with a wide audience. So many people keep asking me ‘how did you do it?’, ‘what did you do exactly?’, ‘what were your experiences?’, that it would really be a shame to let these insights go to waste. Plus it is something I couldn’t live without anymore for my communications work since I have become a huge fan of video on the Internet used for all sorts of communication activities. Believe me, if you’re not using this technology by now, you are missing out on something.
It is important to me to post my insights to a worldwide audience and connect with others who want to learn or already feel passionate about this topic. Therefore I am writing this blog in English in order to reach as many of you as possible. Although, please feel free to post any of your comments in German, French, Spanish or your mother tongue and I will do my best to answer you.
Leading through the process
What can you expect from this blog? I want to tell you about my experiences in communication with streaming technology and show you the possibilities and benefits of video on the Internet for internal and external communication. I’ll introduce some of the many solutions and products I applied for different types of communication including change management and crisis communication. Step by step I’ll take you through the process of preparing, getting started, producing your own webcast with the help of an external streaming provider such as Solutionpark and evaluating the results, in addition to giving you the arguments you need to convince your top management of this ingenious communication tool. Any questions?
Come join me on this journey through the wonder worlds of new technology.
Categories: corporate communication · employee relations · event communication · internal communication · investor relations · marketing communication · shareholder communication
Tagged: business strategies, change management, channel, communication, corporate communication, corporate values, crisis communication, employee event, exposure, internal announcement, internal newsletter, Internet, intranet, message from the CEO, mission, new media, PR, Solutionpark, staff presentation, streaming, technology, video on the Internet, vision, webcasts
The blog – ccblog.com
In my blog I want to tell you about my experiences and give you some insights as well as a bunch of tips and tricks on how to best introduce webcasts, produce videos and presentations for the Inter- and intranet and how to establish a process of effective communication through streaming technologies in your company. I hope my passion for new technologies will shine through and take hold of you too.
I look forward to getting your questions, feedback and comments. Keep them coming!
Happy reading to all of you!
Christine
Categories: corporate communication
