Dozens of social media and online media tools now allow us to reach new and wider audiences, faster than ever before. Does this mean we should throw away our “legacy tools”? We don’t think so.
Email-based newsletters (or E-newsletters), periodically emailing updates to a list of subscribers, are still used by many, if not all, organisations. Most organisations still see E-newsletters as an effective way to communicate with their constituency, or at least to broadcast updates to their constituency. However, few are the workshops I attend, where E-newsletter tools are “still” discussed. They are often seen as an old and boring way to reach out.
But are they old and boring? We don’t think so…! Join our next webinar:
Webinar: “Email-based newsletters: Not a thing of the past!”
Date: Tuesday Feb 21th 2017 – at 14:00 Rome time
Duration: 2 hours
(Use this tool helps you convert “Rome time” to your timezone)
This webinar is a collaborative effort: a number of professional communicators will share their experiences and approaches, their trials and errors: what tools have they tried? What feature do they like or miss? How to keep contact databases up to date? How to generate good and exciting content for E-newsletters? Can we automate the generation of E-newsletters? What are the latest technical trends? How do you track the engagement from your audience, and the success of your newsletters?
We will give ample opportunity for all webinar participants to join into the discussion, either to share their own experiences, hints and tricks, or to ask questions to the entire group.
Our speakers:
Dominique Perera is the manager of Web Communications at the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Dominique oversees all web site, intranet, multimedia and social media work. He is also the online-communications liaison with the CGIAR Research Program on Water Land and Ecosystems (WLE).
Dominique will cover the technical aspects to consider, when selecting a e-Newsletter tool, and will share his experience with the E-Newsletter tool IWMI uses.
Ewa Hermanowicz (R) is a communications specialist at the European Forest Genetic Resources Programme (EUFORGEN). She is responsible for managing the website and social media channels, production of videos and public awareness materials and organizing events and workshops.
Nina Lauridsen (L) has recently graduated from the University of Copenhagen in Denmark and is now working as a job trainee for EUFORGEN. She is assisting Ewa with various communication related task, in particular, related to the recent launch of a new website.
Together, Ewa and Nina will share their EUFORGEN experience: the tools used, how to develop content, positioning e-Newsletters versus other online tools, how to track engagement, how to promote a newsletter etc..
Louis Wertz leads communications and outreach for EcoAgriculture Partners. From humble beginnings as an intern four years ago, Louis quickly took on increasing management responsibilities and now oversees the organization’s websites, social media, email communications, media outreach, and publication production. He also co-leads the communications working group of the Landscapes for People, Food and Nature Initiative.
Louis will discuss his experiences with e-Newsletters, growing the EcoAgriculture Partners’ mailing list “responsibly”, segmenting audiences, and creating content that welcomes new subscribers,…
Alex Spillius is a director of the communications consultancy firm “Foreign Desk Ltd“, and a former UK national newspaper journalist.
He served as the Daily Telegraph’s Southeast Asia Correspondent, assistant foreign editor, Washington correspondent and diplomatic correspondent for more than 17 years, before switching to consulting in 2015.
As a foreign correspondent for the newspaper, from 2012-14, he composed its first daily email newsletter on foreign affairs, as well as a newsletter on the final months of the 2012 US election.
Alex will discuss newsletters from the writer’s point of view, and the best ways of engaging with readers.
Deanna Ramsay is the Global Project Communications Coordinator at the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR). She previously worked at UNDP, and as an editor/journalist with The Jakarta Post. Deanna has a love for Indonesia and is currently translating an Indonesian novel from the 1920s in her free time.
Deanna will share her experiences using E-newsletters in CIFOR and the Global Landscapes Forum (GLF).
Register now!
You can register for this webinar by sending a simple email to Peter Casier – peter.casier(at)fao.org
Please mention the title of the webinar you want to participate in, your name, affiliation (organisation/institute) and function.
We will send you a confirmation email. You will get a reminder with the technical details to join the webinar, one day before.
Register fast! Our webinars are limited to 100 participants and the available “seats” are often taken in a matter of days.
Our webinars are open to GFAR partners as well as other nonprofit organisations or individuals working in the area of agriculture, ecosystems and sustainable development. They are often attended by scientists, students, communications staff as well as agricultural practitioners.
We do not ask for a participation fee, but we encourage participants to actively engage in our webinars with feedback, questions, and sharing of their own experiences.
About the GFAR webinars
The Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR) strongly believes in the power of communications to bring – with our partners – our common messages to the public, and to network within our own communities. That’s why we continuously support trainings, workshops and webinars on communications.
Our webinars are presented in collaboration with our partners. If your organisation is not a GFAR partner yet, join now!
The webinars are moderated via BlueJeans, an online tool running within any internet browser. It only requires participants to have a good and reliable Internet connection and a computer running any browser.
Past GFAR webinars on the topic of online media include:
“Building a bridge between scientists and communicators”
“An introduction to social media”
“How to read updates from hundreds of websites easily”
“How to define and measure your social media performance”
“How to find and use pictures for your websites”
Basic Search Engine Optimization
The Art of Website Revamps
The Crystal Ball: Predicting the future of online media
Top picture courtesy IO-Images via Pixabay
blog.gfar.net 
Please register me to participate.
Dear Lizzy, please check the details on how to register, in the post itself:
Best, Peter.
Excellent idea – It’s easy to forget the value of having an open line to supporters/donors etc and as you say, while social media is a great way to broadcast your message, publishing a regular newsletter has so many advantages – not least it keeps things current and offers the chance to update readers.
Indeed, Henry! — We also use direct E-newsletters in combination with other tools such as social media.. Often indeed for specific targeted audiences.. Looking forward to see you in the webinar! 🙂
best, — Peter