By Chris Lee

Many organisations keen to exploit the potential of the Web to improve internal and external communications and run online events have been using Policy Review TV, an online conference and event communications site.

Policy Review TV utilises social media and digital technologies to help organisations engage with a growing number of online viewers. NMK spoke with Policy Review TV’s managing director Edward Gamble to understand how the site works.

Briefly introduce us to Policy Review TV.

The offering is centred on an extensive live - and then on-demand - service, ensuring that the viewers don’t miss a thing. Fully utilising the online platform, social media and bespoke technology, Policy Review TV creates real engagement with digital viewers as if they were attending the conference in person. The service transforms all types of meetings, reaching beyond the people in the room and taking the event to a worldwide audience at a much lower cost.

Who is using the service and how?

Policy Review TV is used by a variety of public sector companies and organisations that are conscious of keeping their expenditure low. They can do this by logging in to view events online without missing out on the interaction and networking opportunities that attending in person would bring. Integrating social media platforms such as Twitter and devising hash tags for specific events has made this possible. Viewers can also submit questions via the website, in a submission box located below the video player. This tracks all questions posed to speakers. Online viewers, speakers and conference delegates can therefore all engage and interact with one another.

When Cambridge Assessment held a Parliamentary research seminar, they decided that hosting a debate on the topic would be an ideal way to promote the key messages to the sector. They chose to use Policy Review TV in order to reach a wider audience and create a more open and frank debate. Delegates can often find it quite daunting to raise questions or challenge the speaker but social media has provided a solution to this problem as attendees both on and offline are able to tweet comments behind the shield of their Twitter ID and therefore remaining anonymous. This development certainly adds colour to the debate. It also ensures that the speakers tailor their content to include the online viewers in their respective regions.

What’s a great case study for how a Policy Review TV user has managed to improve processes by using Policy Review TV?

Looking to liven up its annual conference, David Finlay, Director of PFI Development at the National Audit Office (NAO), turned to Policy Review TV for the production of a video. The resulting film was used to give delegates a concise overview of key projects that would not have been possible via speeches and conventional presentation methods.

He said: “The film was helpful as it enabled us to cover in ten minutes two major pieces of work. By covering our reports concisely within a short film it freed up time and created a very good introduction to a panel discussion that would otherwise not have been possible due to time constraints. We’ve had positive feedback from the conference delegates who found the film interesting. There may be further opportunities to use the film at other events in the future. This has been a step forward for our events and now we’re looking to use more social and digital platforms at our events considering the great response from delegates.”

What have you got planned for the next twelve months?

In conjunction with the Budget announcement and spending cuts, we’re proud to be servicing the sector in these times of austerity and therefore will certainly see an increase in the number of delegates viewing conferences online for the cost savings it can bring. By integrating social media into our service it means a continued level of knowledge sharing, discussion and debate can take place whilst still being accessible to all. The service isn’t solely limited to the public sector and we expect to see the trend of online viewing and social media interaction grow within the private sector too as budgets come under increased scrutiny and our ongoing PR efforts will highlight this. In addition to hugely reducing conference attendance costs and saving valuable time, the environmental benefits are great too, and the ability to reach out to a truly worldwide audience is transformative.