MS Australia
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The Case Name: Gill DeCis Organisation: MS Australia Position: National Operations Manager Industry: Association The Challenge: To find new and innovative ways to get people involved The Solution: Redback Webcast Events
The introduction of the internet and ereaders has meant that the traditional hard copy book has taken a bit of a back seat. With the MS Readathon in its 33rd year, National Operations Manager, Gill DeCis had to find a new and exciting way to reach an entirely new generation. Here’s her story… Why webcast? The MS Readathon is a reading-based fundraiser run by Multiple Sclerosis Limited (MSL), which encourages children and adults of all ages, to read books, learn about multiple sclerosis (MS), whilst raising funds to help people living with this mysterious disease. For 33 years the MS Readathon program has been promoted by MS Readathon representatives visiting schools across Australia and talking to students and teachers. However, this year the organisations National Operations Manager, Gill DeCis decided to look for alternative ways to promote the fundraiser, get people involved and cut down on costs. “We were looking for new and innovative ways to encourage schools to participate. Travelling to schools to meet with students and teachers to promote the MS Readathon in person is a vital component when engaging students to get involved. It was however, becoming quite time consuming and costly. We suddenly thought, what if we could reduce the number of schools that we had to physically visit, yet increase the total number of schools we were actually able to reach and share information with about the program?” How it worked… After some research Gill decided to host an ondemand webcast, which took place live from Sydney Grammar School, Edgecliff Preparatory School, one of the programs top fundraising schools. Schools were able to ‘log in’ to view the presentation live, and see the same presentation as was being provided to a small number of school students by
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way of the MS Readathon representatives. “Last year we reached 93 schools, so far this year we have reached just over 178…” The virtual presentation also acted as the official launch of the program, hosted by Jennifer Byrne, host of the First Tuesday Book Club, publisher and journalist who encouraged schools to support the program and their students to register. The live presentation was also interactive, providing teachers with the opportunity to ask questions and make comments throughout the event. “For us it was all about encouraging children and schools to get involved and participate in the easiest way possible. We were fortunate enough to have Jennifer Byrne present the event, the recording of which was then made available online, allowing schools to access the presentation at their own convenience and from the comfort of their own computers.” The result… While the webcast is still being hosted as on-demand content, Gill says that so far the decision to webcast the presentation has already proved to be a success. “Last year we reached 93 schools, so far this year we have reached just over 178. This shows us that introducing a webcast as part of our strategic plan has meant that we have been able to provide a high quality, more flexible product with a consistent message to more schools than ever before in the programs 33 year history, which is quite an achievement”.
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