Tag Archives: Executive Team

VI – Show me the advantages and I will show you the content

Picture 13In communication we talk about two-way communication, sender and receiver, interactive and dialogue, viral and e-communication, as well as integrated communication plans and concepts. With webcasts, I am sending out very specific information, portioned into digestible news blocks or categories on average to a very broad audience. Therefore my role was to brief and coach the CEO and Executive Team members as to their performance in front of the camera as well as the messages we wanted them to bring across to employees, clients, shareholders etc. I made sure any scripts and presentation print-outs were available, the microphones working, the speakers desk set up and any and Q&As prepared. Often times during an employee information event, I’d sit in the front row close to the speaker’s desk, just in case something went wrong. From there I also had eye contact with the cameraman recording the webcast who could give me hand signs should any technical issues arise.

Reading the non-verbal communication signs

Be aware of who you are broadcasting to. Depending on your receivers, you need to prepare your content accordingly. As this is an honest and sometimes non-forgiving format, where people pick up on non-verbal signs as much as what is actually said, interpretations may vary depending on cultures, religions, gender and hierarchical level. IMG_1552Keep your communication bits relevant, significant and to the point. It all depends on how it is delivered. You have surely heard that a million times, but take note, with webcast this holds true even more.

Connecting with the audience

I see so much wasted content, that I wonder what really sticks with the people. One of the best examples I experienced was the introductory speech of a new CEO, early in the morning on a cold winter day in February where employees at first seemed half asleep sitting in the auditorium where they suddenly got captivated by the company’s new leader through her clarity and direction, charisma and personal engagement. Wow, that was an experience. We webcast it to all our local offices around the globe and received instant feedback on our new CEO from the far corners of the world.

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

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 communicationPicture 16

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

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.

II – Go for strategy and bundle your communications activities

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 approachedit_luethi_scriptscreen_hoch_warm

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_hochAs 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!