Communications Directors get street smart and go live in hands-on webcasting workshop

Senior Communications Directors attending today's (April 5) Coaching Day of the Asia Pacific Association of Communications Directors (APACD) got street smart advice on how to produce live webcasts, and produced their own live show in Hong Bao Media's Cecil Street studio (pictured).

Over the course of the three hour workshop, we answered participants' queries, which revolved around how to:

• Overcome timezone issues when live webcasts are held in, say, the US and Europe
• Localise content presented during global webcasts
• Understand what webcasting vendors are saying when they speak in technical jargon
• Check how much internet bandwidth they need for an uninterrupted viewing experience
• Spot areas where cost efficiencies can be achieved
• Win over management and staff to use live webcasts as a communications medium
• Present well, to hold audience attention

We also covered:

1. The technology behind live webcasting - candid perspectives on which platform is best for specific needs.

We talked about platforms ranging from free channels such as Facebook Live and YouTube Live, to self-service portals such as IBM Cloud Video, Kaltura and Brightcove, to Managed Services provided by West Corporation (formerly InterCall), Nasdaq, Arkadin and EQS.

2. Four conditions you should meet before deciding to run a live webcast - if you meet 2-3 of these conditions, a recorded video might be enough. If you don't meet any of them, just write your audience an email!

3. Knowing what success looks like - some not-so-obvious ways to measure the effectiveness of a live webcast.

4. Presentation essentials - a live webcast is not a traditional media interview, nor is it an on-stage keynote address. It's neither, and both at the same time. We talked about some key concepts.

Our participants also had a surprise in store for our facilitator. They decided Mark Laudi should be the guest - rather than the host - of the webcast they were asked to produce. And the topic was, how Communications Directors could counter fake news about their organisations. You can see the webcast by clicking the link below.

The workshop had a long waiting list of participants. To attend the next workshop, non-members can either join APACD or contact Hong Bao Media directly for an Executive Coaching workshop.

Next Wednesday (April 12), we will be staging another Coaching Day for APACD, this time at our Kuala Lumpur studio on the topic of "how to deal with internally-produced videos". Click on the link below to sign up (priority given to existing APACD members).