Bronwyn Allan takes over this episode of theMediaPod and interviews Ross Monaghan about the use of podcasting in education.

Bronwyn is a year 12 student at Tintern Girls Grammar School in Ringwood, Victoria, and is writing an essay on “the potential benefits and problems of Podcasts in tertiary education”. She approached theMediaPod as part of her research into the topic and decided to podcast the interview as part of the experience (with permission from her parents and teachers).

It’s a great example of how to use technology creatively in education. Rather than just sharing information with just a one, or a small number of people, podcasting research and school work (with permission of course) allows a greater number from around the world to access the information. It also adds a new dimension to study. Rather than just writing about podcasting, using the technology, Bronwyn has actually produced a podcast, and had some fun along the way. Ross and Bronwyn hope you enjoy this special episode.

If you’re an educator or student who has had a similar experience, why not leave us a comment? We’d love to hear from you.

Technorati Tags: public relations, education, podcasting, Tintern

The mass media has changed, so public affairs practitioners must too. That’s the message from David Jones, the head of public affairs for the country’s second largest health insurer, MBF.

The changes don’t only need to be taken into account by practitioners working with an external audience, according David. Employee Communication practitioners also need to heed the change.

“Gone are the days when the media paid little attention to what happened inside the corporate world,” David said.

“Generally (in the past) the media thrived on a diet of crime and politics, but business was always left to the back of the paper. But more and more, the business world is now under scrutiny from the media.

“You can have a major development happening within a company, but unless you get your internal communication right, you could wake up with the problem of your staff are reading about major developments in their company in the morning newspaper rather than hearing it first from managers within their own company,” David said.

David also points out that the world is becoming ever more complex, so making sure employees understand company direction is absolutely vital.

This is a great conversation from a very experience practitioner. Students, and practitioners alike will benefit from David’s insights. I hope you enjoy this podcast from Lee Hopkins and David Jones.

Lee Hopkins talks with David Jones

“Professor” Lee Hopkins (of the unofficially recognised University of Better Communication Results, Adelaide Hills Campus) has delivered another gem of an interview. Continuing with his series of interviews on employee communication, Lee speaks with communication and social media expert Shel Holtz, ABC (Accredited Business Communicator). Shel is also a blogger, consultant and author. He is a generous contributor to the world of “communication thinking”, and is always willing to share his thoughts and ideas, and help advance the profession.

In this podcast, Shel explains how he started in employee communication with a chip on his shoulder, but quickly realised effective communication is an essential element of successful organisations.

He shares some of his successes and thoughts on how new social media and traditional forms of employee communication can be used within an organisational context.

See Shel:

• For Immediate Release - Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson’s “twice weekly commentary on public relations and new technology”. This is a “must subscribe to” podcast for anyone who is serious about public relations and interested in the impact ICT is having on the industry.
• A Shel of my former self - Shel’s blog “at the intersection of communication & technology”. Shel says he began in corporate communication in the mid-1970s, has been online since the mid 1980s, and been on the net since 1990. He wrote “Public Relations on the Net,” among other books, manuals and articles. He consults, he speaks, he writes - and he provides a wealth of information on his blog for free! Check out the great archives section too.
• See what people are saying about Shel at Technorati.
• Shel’s webinars for Ragan Communications
• Shel’s bio from the Podcast & Portable Media Expo
• Why Lee Hopkins is a Shelaholic.
• (One of) Shel’s books mentioned in this podcast. Amazon. Emporium Books.

theMediaPod interview with Shel Holtz

In this double MediaPodcast, Lee Hopkins talks with Amy Gooen who is Manager, Global Internal Communication for VeriSign, a world-wide internet security company. Lee also talks with Catriona Byrne who is a Director at SageCo, a company that looks at “demographic management within workforces”.

theMediaPod interview with Amy Gooen

theMediaPod interview with Catriona Byrne

Too many organisations treat their people as production units. They do so at their peril. Organisations aren’t a collection of offices, factories and sales outlets, they are a group of people working towards the same goal. Success isn’t dependent on the assets an organisation has, it’s what people decide to do with those assets, and how they use them, that brings about success. So effective communication is vital. No one understands this more than one of Australia’s leading communicators, Meryl David.

Meryl is the Internal Communication Manager for Zurich Financial Services in Australia. She is based in Sydney.
She describes her role as helping managers communicate effectively with people across the organisation.

“I think my job is to connect people with each other, and people with the company,” Meryl says.

That might seem like a simple explanation of her job role, but it also says much more about Meryl and her approach to communication. She connects people, not employees. The difference is more than semantic. The difference is in her attitude.

Apart from being a leading business communicator, Meryl is also a long-time member of the International Association of Business Communicators, and former Asia Pacific Director of that organisation. Few, if any, people around the world have done more to progress the interests and professionalism of business communication.

Lee Hopkins spoke with Meryl about communication and its importance to organisations. It’s a conversation that I’m sure both skilled communicators and students will get a lot out of.

There is another interesting interview with Meryl on the Ragan Postcard blog too.

Digging deeper

• If you’re interested in how internal communication plays a role in people interpreting organisational mission statements, you might like to read: Whitbred, R. (2005). They don’t see things like we do: A simultaneous analysis of the influence of formal organisational, emergent, and individual factors on emergent patterns of perceptions of organisational mission. Available at: http://praxis.massey.ac.nz
• If you’re interested in learning how to write content for newsletters, podcasts and other tactics that will keep people coming back for more, have a listen to Donna Papacosta’s Trafcom News Podcast #37.
  
• Shel Holtz has a good “rant” about internal communication in the September 11 edition of For Immediate Release.
  
• For a great overview of internal communication you can’t go past our own Lee Hopkin’s post What is internal communication? It’s cross posted from the very fine Forward blog

theMediaPod interview with Meryl David

A collection of dolphins is described as a pod, so when theMediaPod went looking for someone to talk about political communication, who better to ask than South Australia’s own parliamentary dolphin, Isobel Redmond.

Wikipedia details how Mrs Redmond, the Liberal Member for Heysen, whilst working as a solicitor on a native title land claim was bestowed the Aboriginal name Joondinya, meaning dolphin. In this MediaPodcast Mrs Redmond talks with Lee Hopkins about that experience, her thoughts on electronic communication, and how she communicates with her constituents. It’s a warm, funny and very informative interview that we’re sure you’ll enjoy (and recommend to your interested colleagues).

For more information about political communication you may like to read:

Davis, A. (2002), Public relations democracy, public relations, politics and the mass media in Britain, Manchester University Press.

McNair, B. (2003) ‘Party political communication II: political public relations’ in Introduction to political communication London: Routledge,

Stockwell, S. (2002), ‘Taxonomy of the political campaign’ paper to the Australian and New Zealand Communication Association conference 2002.

Stockwell, S. (2004), ‘Public Relations in Government’ in, Public relations, theory and practice. Jane Johnson, and Clara Zawawi, (Eds.) Crows Nest: Allen & Unwin, 2004.

Wring, D. (2005), ‘The public relations state’ in Politics of marketing the labour party Houndsmill: Palgrave Macmillan.

Young, S. (2004), ‘The pr state’ in Persuaders, inside the hidden machine of political advertising North Melbourne: Pluto Press.

Interview with Isobel Redmond

In this mediapodcast Lee Hopkins talks about employee communication with popular Canadian PR podcaster Donna Papacosta. She shares some great insights into employee communication, based on her 20 years experience as a business communicator.

Donna, an IABC member, owns Trafalgar Communications, a consultancy that specialises in helping clients communicate better using both traditional and new media. Trafalgar’s website is jam-packed with practical tips for communicators (or anyone interested in improving their communications skills for that matter). In addition, Donna writes an excellent blog, and produces one of my favourite podcasts, Trafcom News.

Donna’s professional and generous attitude to sharing information is so typical of the spirit that I find in IABC members - which is why I’m a member, and recommend membership to anyone with an interest in business communications.

As Donna says, “hat-tip” to Lee Hopkins for another great interview.

Lee interviews Donna Papacosta

In this episode of theMediaPod, guest MediaPodcaster Lee Hopkins talks with Allan Jenkins, a Danish-based business communicator, blogger and podcaster.

Although this mediapodcast focuses on employee communication, Allan consults to organisations on both internal and external communication.

Allan argues that employee communication is a critical part on the overall communication mix or an organisation. “If employees don’t understand what you’re about as a company, they’re going to have a very hard time interacting properly with customers, suppliers and the rest of the world,” Allan says.
Face-to-face communication is usually the right way to communicate according to Allan, but choosing the right vehicle for other forms of communication is vital. “Say for example if you have a distributed workforce in several different countries, you might use a blog to communicate with them, or you could use a podcast. It all depends on who you are communicating with, what they need to know and the message that you are trying to get across.”

Lee and Allan also talk about the International Association of Business Communicators in this “must hear” discussion about employee communication.

Interview with Allan Jenkins

In the first of our weekly Semester two podcasts, Lee Hopkins talks to Stuart Symons from Santos. Lee took over the Santos boardroom and interviewed him for over an hour, grilling him to exhaustion and tears over the intricacies of internal communications at a major Australian company.

Along the way you’ll get to hear Stuart’s views on internal comms, where they fit into the total comms matrix, why print won’t die, the challenge of branding within internal comms, who Santos is, what resources any communicator can and should tap into, and what advice he would give to a student of employee communications and those interested in the art and science of internal comms.

A fascinating interview and a must-listen-to with pen and paper with which to take notes.

Lee interviews Stuart Symons