Tag Archives: channel

VIII – In communication it’s all about the mind-set

Posted on 04.11.2009 by Christine| Leave a comment

Remote00099 I grew up being exposed to new technologies and computers from an early age onwards. Then at university in the USA we were required to e-mail our research papers or hand them in on a disk, which seemed quite revolutionary at the time. Later on, in my professional communication career, somehow, I got stuck with different sorts of web projects mostly from an internal communications perspective. Colleagues say I inspire them and as I enjoy working in interdisciplinary teams and on technical topics, communication and PR on the one hand and IT-related activities on the other, make up an ideal mix for me.

Taking on the responsibility and seeing the big picture

Of course I was the one carrying the responsibility for introducing webcasts for internal communications and there was always the chance something out of my reach would go horribly wrong, but I couldn’t let fear get in the way. It’s my job to bring people together, provide the most suitable communications channel for distributing relevant information to a wide audience and collecting feedback to make it even better next time.

Take it from me, I had my doubts if our employees wouldn’t get tired of watching videos say, on a monthly basis, but to them it was so important to see the company’s executives’ and senior staff members’ faces regularly. Colleagues in Tokyo feel more connected and part of the company, staffers in Argentina see the big picture and understand the overall business strategy and the employees at the Cologne hub hear what questions their counterparts in Zurich are raising towards the Global Executive Team. That really helps and at the end of the day makes my live easier too.

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Posted in corporate communication, employee relations, event communication, internal communication, strategic communication

Tagged channel, communication, computer, PR, technology, web project, webcast

V – See me, hear me; loud and clear: the value of webcasting

Posted on 15.10.2009 by Christine| Leave a comment

Let me make one thing clear: There is tremendous value in introducing streaming products to your organization, if you believe it or not. Why? Because you are communicating directly, practically face-to-face and in a transparent and uncensored manner with your audiences. Getting feedback is easy and people will tell you quite honestly what they think of content you just published. In addition, hundreds of companies in Switzerland alone have produced webcasts over the past 10 years.

Bridging the gap between IT and communication

When I first started using webcasts, that was for employee information events in internal communication, I was a little bit skeptical because I did not fully understand what broadcasting on the Internet was all about or how it really worked, and that I as a communication professional would be able to reap such benefits from it in my work during many years. Prior, I had experienced the old-fashioned business TV in all its glory, but couldn’t quite imagine that webcasting would be so easy – and less costly!

After a couple of tests together with one of our IT guys and the people from Solutionpark, I slowly got the hang of it and figured that this would work for a geographically highly spread out audience on multiple continents on the one hand and even more importantly, that our CEO would go for it and actively participate as well as other members of the Executive Team. I must say that they had already been doing live investor calls with presentation webcasts (slides only) and were used to the set-up, though without a camera or live audience in front of them. It turned out to be a success with employees eager to see and hear the CEO’s presentations on quarterly results, strategy, significant personnel announcements etc. Since then I have produced many webcasts for various occasions and communication situations and have become a firm believer in the benefits of streaming technology.

Speaking out

NZZ Online

I have been talking primarily from a communication perspective but want to point out the value for CEOs, Executive Team and/or Board members as well. Through this communication channel a CEO gains significant visibility throughout the organization, even without traveling around and thus saving time and travel costs. Plus, a leader’s credibility can be strengthened on a broad scale and key messages reinforced across entities and organizational structures. Independent of time zone, hierarchy, function, corporate culture or location, everyone with access to the web can see and hear a company’s messages.

What do you think? Send me your thoughts and comments.

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Posted in corporate communication, internal communication, investor relations, marketing communication

Tagged audience, broadcasting, business TV, camera, CEO, channel, communication, company message, employee information event, Executive Team, internal communication, Internet, investor calls, live audience, presentation webcast, Solutionpark, streaming, technology, webcast

II – Go for strategy and bundle your communications activities

Posted on 29.09.2009 by Christine| Leave a comment

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

edit_kamera_hoch 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!

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Posted in 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

Welcome to Christine’s Communication Blog

Posted on 24.09.2009 by Christine| 1 Comment

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.

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Posted in 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

Tag Archives: channel

VIII – In communication it’s all about the mind-set

V – See me, hear me; loud and clear: the value of webcasting

II – Go for strategy and bundle your communications activities

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