This is the second in what is to be a series of posts for

One of the great things about today’s dynamic communications landscape is that the new technologies provide so many opportunities to take your message directly to audiences without having to get past traditional media gatekeepers. Of course there are costs involved, measured in money, human resources and other opportunities. Still, if we’re willing to explore some of these new distribution methods, we may find that we can successfully reach more — if not more important — audiences that can be useful to our organizations and the work we do.

A case in point: more and more foundations and nonprofits are hosting events that are broadcast live on the web.  However, the big question is how successful are they at attracting audiences to these events?  Wouldn’t it be great if there were a channel that would let people tune in and watch what’s on the web?  That would enable some organizations to offer live events that could compete with likes of CNN, Fox News and the BBC for viewership.

Well, it turns out there that someone is already on to this idea and is testing a new service called LiveMatrix that appears to have the potential to serve foundations and nonprofits in just that way.

Full details about the service are on the Technology Review blog.  Some points worth summarizing here are these:

According to Technology Review, LiveMatrix…

…tracks live events on the Web… By providing a listing for the Web that resembles TV timetables, the company hopes to “make the time dimension of the Web searchable,” according to cofounder Nova Spivack.  The company launched today at TechCrunch Disrupt in New York City, sharing more details of the look and feel of the site. In the video below (clicking on the Technology Review link above and viewing the video there is highly recommended), Spivack demonstrates LiveMatrix in action. The company is indexing about 80,000 live events per week to start, and plans to increase that number going forward.

Any organization can start their own channel on the site (similar to YouTube channels, which many nonprofits and foundations now have) and can have their content alongside events hosted by the State Department, NPR and C-SPAN, as well as non-news content producers focused on sports, shopping and other topics.

If you’re wondering how many foundations and nonprofits are actually doing live web events, you’re not alone.  No one yet is keeping track of the overall numbers of foundation and nonprofit-sponsored events that are broadcast via the Web. But a quick Google search reveals a lot of events live foundation events have taken place recently and several more are scheduled.

For example, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation broadcast a speech by the founders last October from Washington, DC, titled “Why We Are Optimists.”  The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation shared a live panel discussion last February from Kansas City, MO, on “Spurring Business Startups and Innovation in Clean Technology.” The Kaiser Family Foundation has a live web series called “Today’s Topics in Health Disparities.” And last March, the United Nations Foundation broadcast a live memorial service to honor 101 UN personnel who perished in the Haiti earthquake. From the descriptions alone,  these events are as interesting, if not more so, than the content of most mainstream news producers. All of these events also have a potentially much larger audience than just those who could be alerted to the event by a press release, a direct email to established audiences or by the old-fashioned AP datebook.

The utility of LiveMatrix for nonprofits and foundations comes down to the site’s demographics and reach.  If they can show that they have traction in reaching so-called “influentials,” it would seem like a no-brainer to plug into.

Given that the site is in beta, it is really hard to predict the future size and demographics of its future audience and how useful the site might be for nonprofits and foundations hosting live events.  It could be the new YouTube, only organized better.  Nonprofits and foundations getting into it early could be among the first to establish channels that get traction and a large following.  There’s lots of potential there and a foundation that is producing lots of content like Kaiser Health News could really make a big splash with it if it takes off.

Just with any technological innovations, there are lots of questions about how useful this new resource will be.  I’m looking forward to updating this post as LiveMatrix moves past its beta stage and begins to market the service broadly.

Click here to see the video on YouTube: Pathways To Housing Installation

I don’t know how much impact it has had on raising awareness and funds, but the campaign itself has gotten coverage on NPR, The Huffington Post and The Chronicle of Philanthropy.

This is a really creative effort.  Hats off to the folks at Pathways to Housing for trying something new.

The folks at NTEN know a great deal about this topic and they have a blog posing I want to share with you.  The post is titled “Help! I Need Video! (How to Deal with the Question ‘Why Aren’t We Getting 1,000,000 Views?’)” The post, written by Pathfinder International’s Jamie-Alexis Fowler, is much more insightful and on-target than the rambling title indicates.  It includes a list of questions you should ask yourself about hosting, audience targeting, resources to invest, etc.  It is a pretty quick read and insightful.

Also at NTEN, in a separate post, there is a notice about the 4th Annual DoGooder Nonprofit Video Awards.  So if you’re already producing video, you might want to check that out, too.

The topic of the day was “How to Use Low-Cost Multi-Media to Maximal Effect,” which was chosen by members at the last PPC meeting before we went on hiatus. While many of our meetings rely simply on the experiences of our own members, this time we had an expert (even though she insisted that I not call her that) to help us think through the topic: Susan Herr, President of PhilanthroMedia.

Susan started with the core point that thinking about what is “low cost” should take a step back from the costs of relatively inexpensive items like video cameras and video editing software, and look more broadly at the many other cost elements associated with producing good multi-media.

Using the example of her work organizing the “Gorilla Engagement Squad” at The Communications Network annual conference, she talked about how inexperienced and experienced camerapersons using Flip Cams and Tweeters could use inexpensive technologies in combination to extend the reach of a conference outside those present, as well as develop relationships among those on-site. But she made clear that the real cost was not the video cameras, etc., but the human resources to plan the video capture strategy, corralling interviewers and interviewees, and putting the pieces together into a compelling story.  It takes a lot of time (and someone fairly experienced in pulling it all together). This link features some of the participants in that effort talking about how it worked: Gorilla Engagement Squad 2009 http://vimeo.com/8174186

Then she talked about Video Skype and using it to produce “Diavlogs,” which, for the uninitiated, are essentially synched video of two people doing an interview showing both on-screen (usually from separate remote locations). The point here was that doing interviews and putting them up online is exceptionally easy and a potentially great way to share ideas/information in a conversational format. But just like any other interview – it has to be interesting to the audience!  Two people talking is easy to produce, but to get people to watch, there has to be great content, on both the interview and interviewee sides.  Here is a link to some examples of diavlogs: Beyond Branding http://vimeo.com/8265230

Next, she explored an example where she herself was a one-person camera crew, working for the Drum Major Institute for Public Policy, gathering footage for an effort to get Presidential candidates focused on urban issues.  As an admittedly only “moderately” experienced camera person and interviewer, but having access to a really well-connected producer and experienced logistical coordinator, she was able to interview 10 mayors of major American cities about the challenges facing urban centers and use that footage to produce a compelling, cohesive message, which was picked up by The Nation, netroots bloggers and many well-trafficked .org sites.  The point here was how key a well-connected producer and logistical-coordinator were, not the expense of the technology and other aspects of “video production.”

Finally, she showed a new website that she has created as an example of how easy it is to do man/woman-on-the-street interviews on a Flip Cam, along with Flickr to host picture slide shows.  She also talked about the social networking aspect (in this case Facebook) of quickly building an audience when you have simple but compelling content.  This is the site (which is based on a $69 template) that she used as an example: http://www.dapperq.com/

As we opened the conversation up to the group, I added a few thoughts of my own.  First, I made the point that, while everyone wants to produce a “message” video that is witty and gets people’s attention so much so that it goes VIRAL and everyone is convinced of your point, there are lots of other possible uses of video.

This is a classic example of a “message” video (we didn’t show it at the meeting because the video didn’t show well on the projection screen): Lost Generation http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42E2fAWM6rA&feature=player_embedded

But you can do lots of other stuff with videos and other forms of multi-media, like…

–Highlighting organizational programs showing the programs in action.  Here’s a great teaser from the Anaheim Ballet that meeting participants loved: Anaheim Ballet http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2XmRzaCFFY&feature=player_embedded  This is obviously great for arts organizations, but you can do it with panel discussions and other events relevant to policy-related organizations.

–Using multi-media to extend the reach of conferences/panel discussions, etc. (i.e. Philanthromedia’s work on Comnet09, Public Agenda’s policy breakfast series online videos, TED Talks)  Here is one example of a Public Agenda video highlighting programming: America\’s Financial Future http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mapR6TK8_Fo&feature=player_embedded

– To tell an organization’s history (for fundraising purposes)

– To take on powerful interests, critique leaders in a witty way

This is one that participant Michael Falco of Pro-Media Communications offered: ABA Showdown http://www.youtube.com/user/ABAShowdown  It is a great example of “taking it to the streets” and then taking the street online to spread virally.  It got a lot of hits.

– “instructional” : telling people what you want them to do and how to do it, for example: The World Sucks: Help it Suck Less http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeAUQslfFP4&feature=player_embedded

– To recruit volunteers For example: Into Darfur: A Young American\’s Journey http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BQcSyG7bOQ&feature=player_embedded

– To sell a policy direction For example: A New Sound: Green For All http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNszFwmSg2Y&feature=player_embedded

The conversation ranged over a lot of territory after that and people talked about their own experiences producing multi-media, including best ways to produce slideshows.  Fenton Communications’ Lisa Witter offered that the organization Duarte is amazing at producing such multi-media slide shows and maintains a blog called “Slide:ology” at http://blog.duarte.com/

She also shared this very inexpensive, provocative video called Milking Cancer http://vimeo.com/6675967 It was produced for $5,000 – which included the actors and editor.

It was noted by several participants that every organization should have a YouTube channel by now, but that Vimeo is also quite valuable because of the cleanliness of the presentation.

Lots of folks offered other examples.  I apologize that I didn’t catch who offered what.  This one is a good example of using lots of forms of media capture and putting it all together on one cohesive piece: MQ2 http://mq2.org/

The conversation ranged across many of the challenges of utilizing multi-media, but several themes kept reoccurring:

1. The importance of investing wisely in human resources, and knowing what you can do in-house and what you need to pay an expert for.

2. The ultimate fact that you need to start with interesting content or a compelling story.  You can throw lots of stuff up on a website, but if it isn’t witty or emotionally compelling, no one is going to watch it.

3. Dissemination is not to be overlooked.  We only touched on this topic, which should perhaps be revisited in a future session.  But we did talk about how the first step of getting something to “go viral” (after producing something interesting) is to start with your core audience and creating incentives for them to re-post and share through social networking sites.

I hope these notes are helpful.  They capture only a small part of what I learned from my colleagues at the session.  Another thing I learned is that I need to have someone dedicated to taking notes at the session.  Next time.

Over the course of late 2008 and the first half of 2009, PPC-NYC bloomed and its networking and discussions of key communications topics went deeper than even I expected.  We were meeting every other month and seemed to be building a strong community of shared learning.  But our planned summer hiatus extended through the fall when we lost our donated space in The New York Times building.

I am very excited to announce that the Ford Foundation, with its beautiful, centrally located facilities, has stepped up and offered to host the PPC-NYC brown bag lunch series starting this January.

Here is the information on the next PPC-NYC meeting:

What:               Brown-bag lunch (that means bring your own lunch!)

When:              Thursday, January 21, 2010 12:00 – 2:00 p.m.
(informal networking from 12:00-12:30, program begins at 12:30)

Where:            Ford Foundation – 320 East 43^rd Street (between 1^st & 2^nd Ave), New York, NY

Topic:              Utilizing low-cost multi-media in creative ways to maximize communications impact. Susan Herr of Philanthromedia will lead off the discussion.

RSVP:             Space is limited.  Please let me know that you are coming by emailing me at mremaley at ppcnyc dot org

I would like to thank the Ford Foundation – and especially PPC-NYC regular attendees Fiona Guthrie and Alfred Ironside — for helping make this learning series happen.  They’ve been exceptionally supportive and we are extremely grateful. Also, the Communications Network’s Bruce Trachtenberg has been essential to this organization’s success from the very beginning.

I hope to see you on January 21.

1. The next topic for the January 21 brown-bag lunch of Public Policy Communicators NYC is “using low-cost multi-media to maximal effect” and this seems like a great example. I don’t know how expensive the animation is, but the video is basically a short lecture presented in an especially engaging way.

2. While the message is delivered in somewhat pedantic terms, it is nonetheless concise and compelling.  The video summarizes the core messages of a book that further substantiates the message and a larger website with lots more information on the topic.

3. I think it is worth wondering, however, if 20 minutes is too long for such a piece.  I watched the whole thing through because I was interested in commenting on this here.  But normally I would not take the time to watch an entire 20 minute video on my computer.

I am interested in hearing what others think of this video, both in terms of the content and the utility of the medium.  I look forward to your comments here or when we meet on January 21.