Join the GFAR webinar on “Webcasting & Webstreaming”

For 500 years, nothing changed.

Our job as communicators was simple: from the first mass-produced printed publication -The Gutenberg Bible- in 1454 up to the 1990’s, “communications” was limited to “paper only”.

Came the internet in the 1990’s, and we moved more “online”. Came social media in the early 2000’s, and our tool set expanded to a plethora of new outreach media, plugging into much larger audiences.

And as if that was not bad enough, nowadays, it is clear the future of communications migrates at a dazzling speed to combine “online”, “live” and “interactive”: Live webcasting, webinars and online conference are “it”. Failing to jump onto that train, we fail to plug into the potential of these new outreach media.

Migrating to “online”, “live” and “interactive” poses additional challenges for us, communicators, where we not only deal with delivering “quality content” but are also faced with new technical challenges, alien to us: new broadcasting tools -which might not all be mature yet-, battling the hurdles of capturing live audio/video, the limitations of internet connectivity and how to ensure true public real-time involvement…

Specifically the challenges of webcasting -live web broadcasting- are daunting. It is no longer good enough to use a mobile phone to hap-hazardly broadcast on Periscope or Youtube Live, but the public demands a product which resembles something coming close to a professional TV production, online.

We are NOT ready for these challenges.

In the next webinar, we invited both communicators, innovators and technical experts to share their experience, so we can deliver, what the market wants: Quality live and interactive webcasting or webstreaming products.

Join us!

Webinar: “The Art and Science of Webcasting and Webstreaming”

Date: Tuesday October 17 – at 14:00 Rome time
Duration: 2 hours
(Use this tool to help you convert “Rome time” to your timezone)

This webinar is a collaborative effort: our panel of professional communicators worked together to share their experiences and approaches, their trials and errors.

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 speakers, or to the entire group.

Our speakers:

Dianna Dauber is the Global Social Media Coordinator at the United Nations World Food Programme. She is a digital communications specialist with 12 years of experience in the field and ten years of experience working specifically with NGOs. Before joining the World Food Programme, Dianna was previously the Director of Communications for Active Minds, Inc., in Washington D.C. and Communications Manager for AmericaSpeaks. Dianna has previously worked in several private sector marketing and communications roles. She is well versed in a range of social media solutions and technology and has taken part in all phases of both the creative and technical elements of online initiatives, including advocacy, fundraising and outreach.

Morne Ebersohn qualified from the Technikon Pretoria with a National Diploma in Public Relations in 1992. Morne is past member of the Board of PRISA, Vice President of PRISA and member of the Board of the Services SETA (Public Relations Chamber). Morne has developed a keen interest for media, content development and brand management over the years and took a strategic decision to launch SPACE, a media agency, with his long time partner, Johan Prins in October 2009.
SPACE is a fully integrated marketing solutions provider for those international brands and services targeting the hugely complex and diverse African market.

Robert Feldman is the president of “Total Webcasting”, a full service webcasting company located in the Hudson Valley of New York. Having started Total Webcasting in 2007, Robert has lead the technological advancements and business growth of the company. With Total Webcasting’s ‘Glass to Glass’ solution, customers have a single source for everything needed from camera lens to viewing device screen. Total Webcasting has developed its own Content Publishing System, “TAM”, as well as a Portable Production system called the “TW Mediacart”. Combined they enable Total Webcasting to take on the most challenging webcasts in very diverse settings.

Keron Bascombe is the creator of Tech4Agri, a platform to assist persons in realizing the multitude of technological applications that exist in agriculture, to assist in the development of young agripreneurs and to the agriculturally inclined public by empowering its followers through the provision of an interesting and innovative agri-information and service.

Keron is the Trinidad & Tobago representative for YPARD, TFF, GFAR, and YLAI.

Peter Casier is an online media consultant for nonprofit organisations. Peter is originally trained as a printing engineer, worked as a software developer, systems & networking engineer, telecoms technician, aidworker, disaster responder and ski instructor. For decades, he has wondered around the globe, trying to find the origin of life, proof of alien activity and eternal love. He has been involved in setting up webcasting sessions and working with live online audiences for the past seven years. Peter is also our resident GFAR Community Coordinator.

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 the event.

Register fast! Our webinars are limited to 100 participants and the available “seats” are often taken in a matter of days. We encourage participants to actively engage in our webinars with feedback, questions, and sharing of their own experiences.

About the GFAR webinars

We, at GFAR strongly believe in the power of communications to bring – with our partners – our common messages to the public, and to network within our own communities and with our stake holders. That’s why we continuously support trainings, workshops and webinars on communications.

While the webinars are organised by GFAR, they are collaboratively built with the speakers, often presenting the work of GFAR partners. As such, the webinars are by themselves a proof how we catalyze between our partner organizations -and others- to work together towards shared GFAR goals. If your organisation is not a GFAR partner yet, join now!

Attendance to our webinars is open to GFAR partners as well as other nonprofit organisations or individuals working in the area of agriculture, ecosystems and sustainable development. Our webinars are mostly attended by scientists, students, communications staff as well as a wide variety of agricultural practitioners.

We do not ask for a participation fee, but we like all participants to actively engage into the online discussion during the webinar.

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/tablet running any browser.

Topics of our past GFAR communications webinars include:
Showcasing “Communications Success Stories”
“Participatory communications and uptake communications”
“Participatory video”
“Email based newsletters”
The challenge of internal communications
“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”
“Farm Radio, Community Radio and Participatory Radio”