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.
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.
