As part of our ongoing relationship with NHS, we were asked to film a recent Patient Safety conference at the Ark, the NHS Conference Centre in Basingstoke, and to carry out and record some interviews with staff beforehand which were to be used as part of the day.

This material and more will shortly be available on the NHS Patient Safety Federation website.

EUFIC, the European Food Information Council, provides authoritative information on food safety and quality, health and nutrition.  They commission research and in the last year have been looking at  food labelling.  Across Europe and the rest of the world, people in the food industry are working on ways to to make sure consumers know about the fat, salt and sugar content of their food.  So EUFIC held Webinars to announce the outcome of this research, and found their audience only too willing to make the time to ‘attend’ online.  It just means providing security details to signed-up attendees so they can listen to the live presentation, watch the slides and ask questions at any time using an online form.  For people in other timezones the live webinar may have been at an inconvenient time, so they just watched the online recording later.  Surprisingly the recording opened up a whole new audience even larger than the original number, and the views are still clocking up several weeks later.  The message reached people that other media just couldn’t find.

Of course nobody would put on a physical conference for just one seminar, expecting their audience to fly in for it.  Which may be why we’ve found  more people attending webinars and the recordings afterwards than would ever make it to a conference.

So what are the real advantages of a webinar?  Well obviously, whether you’re making the presentation or viewing it, it involves less time, and arguably the retention of information is better.

Presenters like it because, although the session can be live, presentations can be recorded beforehand, with just the Q&A going out live – so the pressure is less.  At the end the presenter and moderator run through the Q&A live, an exhilarating way to engage with what could be a worldwide audience!

For each person joining with their laptop, the engagement experience is unique.  The Webinar has real immediacy, with the expectation of acquiring knowledge before anyone else.  And the Q&A are like Instant Messaging with an audience!  More important – it doesn’t cost anything!

For the organisation running it, the cost is much less than a physical conference, the lead time is shorter, and the shelf-life sustains its benefit for months.

Contact us if you want to know more.

This edition of the monthly MCA Video News Podcasts explains why membership of the UKSR is such a benefit for ship owners.

The Brief was to build a green screen space from scratch in several European cities.  We were to meet certain people in each of those cities and they would perform for us.

But lighting and shooting green screen is an art-form.  Here, Andy on camera and Dave on lights put on a show of their own.  But then, they’ve done it once or twice before.  So naturally it all worked beautifully.

If you want to shoot green screen – call the boys.

‘Training doesn’t have to be boring’ is the message behind a new DVD that aims to increase safety during lifeboat operations.”

“The film will grab seafarers’ attention about a complicated subject“, Walport’s maritime training producer, Jill Tinsley told SASI.  The film certainly makes an impact. The opening narration takes place over footage of a familiar scenario: a lifeboat being recovered following a drill.  Then the lifeboat plunges suddenly and terrifyingly into the sea, showing just how badly operations can go wrong.

Focus producer Ian Ward said:

“This was one of the most challenging projects we have undertaken.  Many seafarers’ lives have been lost during lifeboat drills in recent years, so we had to be sure our crew could work safely within a lifeboat being deployed from a container vessel.

“But even more importantly we simply had to produce a DVD for seafarers that would help ship owners prevent more loss of life.  Time will tell if we have achieved that.

“Walport is a great client to work with and we were delighted with their professionalism and commitment to achieving high standards of production.”

Focusbiz produces video material and podcasts it for some quite unexpected organisations! For several years The Worshipful Company of Information Technologists has  used Video Podcasts produced and hosted by Focus Business Communications to keep their wide membership ‘connected’ and up to date.   The Worshipful Company of Information Technologists is the 100th Livery Company of the City of London, and their members are all senior IT professionals who joined the Company in order to give something back to the IT sector and the wider community.

Charles Hughes is the new Master Elect of the Information Technologists’ Company. He has been a Freeman of the Company since 1996, has chaired several committees, and is currently leading the team seeking a Royal Charter for the Company. His theme for the year will be “professional values”.  The is the second video podcast from Charles as he becomes the new Master.

See more WCIT Podcasts