This is a guest blog from the team at GTA University Centre, Guernsey who have been live-streaming RSA events and lectures on a regular basis.
Many of the RSA events are live-streamed, aiming to reach those unable to make the regular trip to London. A great example of an organisation that uses this feature is the GTA University Centre, a not-for-profit training provider based in Guernsey, who regularly overcome the distance barrier and bring the RSA to their local community. Marketing Manager, Duncan Spencer, tells us about his experience.
“Guernsey may be a small island but it has a diverse economy and does business on an international scale, and we have found that there is a real desire to hear the latest ideas in business, technology and societal development.”
GTA began hosting livestream events from the RSA at the beginning of this year as a means of introducing new ideas to the Island’s community. We aim to provide opportunities for Guernsey audiences to listen to high quality, innovative and educational speakers and participate in a lively discussion on the subject, but with a local focus. RSA livestream programmes are available to all online, but we believe we can add extra value by bringing people together to share the experience and enjoy a stimulating debate and discussion prompted by the RSA speaker and the Q&As.
We try to find a local representative who is well-known and respected to facilitate our discussions and then match the local expert to the event. So for example, it was natural for us to turn to the Business Editor of our local newspaper, the Guernsey Press, when we wanted a facilitator for ‘Does the news do us any good?’ and ‘Rolling News – the backbone of a digital future’.
Our format is simple. We set up a computer with projector and speaker to show the talk and display the RSA Twitter hashtag specific to the event. In this way our audience can enjoy the lecture and debate in London and join in the online conversation at the same time.
These lectures are becoming increasingly popular and the exciting thing for us is that they attract a diverse range of people from all areas of society. We look forward to hosting future events and sharing these events with a still wider audience in Guernsey, and in doing so, further develop our collaboration with the RSA.
These events are provided free of charge as part of our remit to support learning and development for local individuals and organisations. We have a growing list of regular attendees and we advertise the events on our website and via social media, but news of interesting events like these are soon spread by ‘word of mouth’, which is the way most ‘hot’ news travels in Guernsey.
Duncan Spencer
Marketing Manager
GTA University Centre
[email protected]
Not only do we Livestream events at the RSA, we also audio record them and the mp3 audio files are available free to download a few days after the event. For information on how to watch RSA events live visit http://www.thersa.org/events/watch-live
If you have experience of organising the live-streaming of an RSA event, get in touch with [email protected] and share your story.