As part of our ongoing video and communication services to the South Central NHS Trust Communication Group we have been asked to film the  Water Fluoridation Public Consultation programme that is happening in the Southampton area.

We initially produced an information video explaining the situation and possible action that could be taken. This was added to the NHS web site.

We have now been asked to film one of the public meetings in Southampton which is happening Monday 20th October. For details of the debate see the article from Dentistry.co.uk

On the 20th we will have a multi-camera crew with a vision mixer taking the feeds from the public meeting. A video editor/producer will mix the feeds in real time and so in effect reduce (or remove) the need for post-production editing. We do have the option to stream the whole event live to the internet but we are not doing it in this case. What we will do is produce the video from the event and help South Central to put it online for people to see who could not make the event. That way they can maximise the value of the event by increasing their outreach.

As we have seen from previous experience you can expect up to 20x the number who attended the event itself to watch the online version. This really starts to change the ROI calculations. For a public body like the NHS it is important that they maximise enagagement with the public to ensure that the consultation is as wide as possible.

It's Parents Week in the UK next week (October 20th - 26th) so it seems most apt to be launching a new internet TV channel - TV4Parents.

We are deep in planning the final details of the launch with the client. This is very much a community site with parents driving the content and acting as interviewers to the gurus and subject matter experts. The target is parents and carers of children aged up to 12.

The board of directors and advisors are ex-BBC childrens programming, educational specialists, medical professionals and people from the world of digital marketing and community building. The vision of supporting parents to help their children reach their full potential drives the editorial policy as does the interaction with parents for input on topics to cover.

Radio interviews are lined up from Monday 20th and there is a launch celebration on 23rd in London (e-mail me at adrian@tomorrowschild.co.uk if you want an invite)

The channel will launch with over 20 videos already available and be releasing them at the rate of 1 per week. Over time a large online video library will be available for parents to access for free. Each video will have supporting documents - hints, tips and advice - in a resources section. Parents will join the i-Parents Club to get free access to the documents.

In early focus group feedback parents were very clear that pre-roll and pop-up or in programme advertising was regarded as intrusive. Parents were happy to accept post-roll advisory and information type ads and programme or channel sponsorship so this is the model that will be used.

It has been great working with the TV4P team over the last few months as we completed the focus groups and field research and started planning and recording the programmes especially those directly involving kids.

(Disclosure: I am 'on secondment' from Focus while working as MD of TV4P for its development and launch phase. Focus are doing the web site build out and hosting of the video server)

We have now done 2 webinars for our client - the European Food Information Council (www.eufic.org).

A few months ago they asked us to help them with their communication outreach programmes. We have previously recorded a 2 day seminar for them and podcast that (almost 200 people attended the conference. Over 2k have listened to it since).

We have also podcast a number of round-table conferences and events for them. Over the last two years these podcasts have been listened to or watched by close on 50k people. That is big ROI in terms of numbers of people reached. Looking at all the project costs over that time the cost per listener is about £1 and of course is falling everytime a new person listens in. Now compare that to the costs of direct mail, newsletters or brochures or even a physical seminar!

What did we do?

We built them a customised webinar system so they could present to the world from their offices in Belgium (or anywhere with an VoIP or internet connection). They have a web based master control panel that they use to control the slides and talk into a microphone. Their 'desktop' and their audio line feed is fed into our studios in Southampton in real time and via us (we are recording it for later podcast) to a streaming server so anyone can listen and watch the slides at the same time via a web site. After it is over the recording is uploaded to a web site so that anyone who could not virtually attend live can listen whenever they want.

So what was the result of the last webinar?

We had a restricted invitation list and 48 people listened live. They were able to ask questions via an IM/e-mail button on the web site. The presenters read the questions to air and then answered them. We recorded the presentation and linked it to the PowerPoint slides. We also recorded the Q&A session. This was all then put on a microsite which we hosted but was linked through from the EUFIC site. (Check out the EUFIC link to listen to the webinar). The client notified a few e-mail lists but mainly it was left to 'word-of-mouth' marketing to promote the webinars availability.

The result? In just under three weeks a total of 889 people have listened in. That is an 18X multiple on the live audience.

Looking at the results of the Food In Action conference we did for EUFIC almost a year ago this result is very similar. For Food In Action we had just over 150 people physically attend the event. Over 2250 people have listeded to the podcast recordings of the 2 day event since. That is a 15x multiple.

Looking at all the webinar budgets the cost per 'listener' is just under £2.50. Everytime a new person listens this cost goes down! Compare that to the cost of organising a physical seminar or even doing direct mail or newsletters. Webinars are very cost effcetive.

So what does the client think?

They have just booked their next conference for November 5th!

They have also asked we look at creatively reducing the cost per person attending by another 20%. They do not want reduced budgets but more people listening!

One of our clients - the Maritime and Coastguard Agency - decided on Monday that they wanted a podcast on the vital importance of lifejackets at saving lives at sea before the start of the Southampton Boat Show this Friday.

We quickly agreed the core objectives of the video with the client and created an ideal shot list script with outline voice-over. We then looked at what archive footage we had that we could use. Having found the gaps we realised we needed some close filming scenes of drowning and lifejacketed people in the water. We had to source a pool, lifejackets and a volunteer who would be happy to drown for us! 

Yesterday we did a quick location check and sorted out the video logistics and health & safety issues. We got client approval for the script and started to edit the archive footage ready for the new footage.

We shot the footage this morning (Wednesday) and added the standard MCA podcast 'header' and 'footer'. We then recorded the voice-over, added the credits and uploaded them onto the MCA podcast page. We have about 30k RSS subscribers a month so we should get a good number viewing the video in short order.

A US based newspaper group, the Chicago Sun-Times News Group, has used Pluck to build readers forums, blogs and communuties.

As with any organisation an active customer base is essential to maintain loyalty and allow 'up-selling'. In these challenging times for newspapers with declining circulation and advertising revenue having a community will help reduce this decline. The big question is - 'can it halt it'? Judging by the lack of newspapers being bought by the younger generation I doubt it. Todays 16 - 30 year old takes most news content online.

An interesting post on how US local newspapers are adding video capabilities. What is useful is to see how they have scaled back their initial thoughts on costs based upon the output needing only to be 'web quality'.

There are some really interesting ideas for corporates. When I was at Tektronix we had a number of business units in Europe. Each managed by its own VP and self sufficient. The challenge for senior management was there was little or no understanding across the divisions on what the others were doing. This meant any opportunity for cross-selling products was lost. I was in Corporate Communications and so funded a batch of video and still cameras and loaned them out to the divisions to film events and activities. We then took the tapes and made a monthly video news story. This was almost 15 years ago so the video had to be duplicated and sent by tape to each office to use in staff meetings but it did help.

Today with internet connections the opportunity for companies to work with video to help improve internal and external communications is much more powerful and cost effective.

Sun is to start its own live internet radio/podcasting seriers based upon social media and called 'Socially Speaking' The show joins other Sun 'open forum' inititives that have the objective of building and supporting communities.

Cadence have experienced strong participation in their first month of operation

Facebook now has now hit 100m users.

Marriott Hotels have established an online community to allow guests to post comments and share experiences.

How Sun has developed its own social media to improve employee networking and hence communication and co-operation.

Great post of what to do and not do to be successful in social networking.

A must read for PR agencies and in-house PR and marketing.

Great video from Dell. They explain how they are using twitter to drive sales and cross link blogs and web sites.

One statistic that was mentioned towards the end that was particularly interesting was how many people found out about part of the Dell websites doing special offers via twitter. They quoted 30%. What is also interesting was how they have changed the process of using twitter (embedding the discount coupon code) and the timescale of the offers (from that day to a week) to maximise sales.

Any company looking for yet more ways to help boost sales and revenue should check the video out.

Great post from Neville Hobson on how Dell creatively used twitter and webcasting to maximise outreach at yesterdays product launch event. Not only does it engage with a bigger audience at the time but it creates an online buzz and ongoing WOM marketing.

Dell is very active in community engagement already with Direct2Dell, and IdeaStorm.

What is even more exciting is that there is nothing Dell is doing that could not be copied by anyone else.

The All Blacks already have a powerful website providing information to fans. Now they will be introducing an IM platform and adding video and audio download services.