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Podcast University

Pascal Roobrouck, Project Manager at Alcatel-Lucent University - a training facility for the telecoms giant - shares some of his thoughts on the challenges and successes of its internal podcasting campaign.

Pascal Roobrouck, Project Manager at Alcatel-Lucent University - a training facility for the telecoms giant - shares some of his thoughts on the challenges and successes of its internal podcasting campaign.

Our media partners at the Corporate Podcasting Summit are conducting a series of Q&As with confirmed speakers. The first is an interview with communications providers Alcatel-Lucent, who in late 2006 started an internal corporate podcast intended for its employees. Podcasting for employee training and communication is just one of the many ways organisations are adapting the podcast platform to meet their needs.

1. What is your role within Alcatel-Lucent?

I am responsible for learning methodology and tools. I listen to my internal and external customers to see if we can improve our learning services by using new or different learning methods. This includes of course e-learning, and so we have designed several e-learning solutions, implemented them and my team is also operating them daily.

2. What has been the most satisfying and/or successful aspect of the Alcatel-Lucent's internal corporate podCast?

We live in a world which is very much focused on 'visual' and 'interactive', compared to that, a podcast seems to be a rather old-fashioned passive audio-only experience. That said, the most satisfying aspect of our podcasts stems from these ‘audio limitations', because of them the impact of our podcasts seem to be much stronger and they yield much more effect on listeners. It is like performing a song with just one acoustic instrument, rather than using a full orchestra…

3. What do you believe are the major roadblocks for corporate podcasting both internally to Alcatel-Lucent and externally in the market place?

My biggest roadblock is finding people that will contribute content to the podcasts. Everyone is willing to listen, but only very few people realise that everyone has to tell a story. To design a podcast program is a one-time effort and is quite fun to do. To collect the content is a returning effort. We need to find some solutions for that.

4. How are you measuring the impact and effectiveness of your podcast campaign?

We measure this both in quantity and quality:
1. For quantity, we closely monitor the number of downloads, listeners and subscribers to learn which is the most convenient way to bring the podcast to our listeners; which is the best time to post a new edition and other trends.
2. For quality, we encourage people to give us feedback about what they liked (and what they did not like) about existing podcasts. This way we are building up experience about which topics people need and what level of detail and overall style we should offer.

5. What one piece of advice would you give to a company or organisation that is beginning a podcast campaign with a blank sheet of paper?

I would advise to follow a similar process as we did for the design and to assign as a minimum a dedicated number of people for collecting content once you are 'on air'.

Pascal Roobrouck works for Alcatel-Lucent University, the corporate training center of the major telecoms company formed through a merger in November 2006. He is responsible for technology-supported learning. In this position, he has built learning solutions using all kinds of media and technology. This way, he and his team realise over 40,000 learner-hours per year, reaching an audience of thousands of employees across the world. In 2006, Pascal developed and implemented a corporate 'learning' podcast called 'radar'.

At the Corporate Podcasting Summit, Pascal is giving a case study on the Alcatel-Lucent Podcasting for employee training and communication experience. NMK readers can claim a gold pass at £795 and receive a £100 discount off not-for-profit and SME passes. Just quote NMK in the discount code box at http://www.podcast-summit.com/europe/register.shtml