sounddelivery podcasts

Family Holiday Association short film

What's so special about someone's holiday movie?

Celia, two grandchildren, Angel and Ama, and their aunt Sally are a bit special. For a start, the family have never had a holiday away together.  The Family Holiday Association helps hundreds of families every year to get away and have a break where they can recharge their batteries and simply spend time together without the stresses of everyday life.  

Angel and Ama both live in busy, noisy central London.  Angel lives with her grandmother and has never been away on a family holiday before.  The short film follows them as they set out from Paddington station in London to see the sea at Butlins in Minehead. 

Download FHA_family_Butlins_ISTS_v2

This short film also features on a new website called www.isawthesea.com which is a not for profit service developed by Steve and Paul Walsh, the founders of the popular hotel booking service Laterooms.com.They aim to raise money to support people to take holidays by using the hotel booking fee you normally pay.

SMEX09 Podcast

On June 1st, we held The Social Media Exchange for Cultural and Heritage Sectors, focusing on helping those working in the cultural and heritage sectors to gain a better understanding of of social media and how it can benefit them and their organisation.

During the day, delegates were shown how to take advantage of podcasting, Twitter, Flickr, blogging and lots more besides. They were encouraged to raise question, debate and discuss issues and to consider which type of social media would best suit their organisation.

During the day, we spoke to the delegates and masterclass leaders about their thoughts on social media, and the day as a whole.

Download SMEX09 Podcast

For more information about the work of sounddelivery, please click here

Ken Loach at the Social Media Exchange

What does Ken Loach have to say about the rise of social media and its impact on social change?  Well the great filmmaker may not be up to speed with the likes of twitter or wordpress, but he can definitely see the value in sharing ideas and collaborative working.

At the recent Social Media Exchange, Ken explained how he goes about starting a new project, how its the story that matters most, and how we can all learn from each other.

He spoke to Jude Habib and took questions from a hall of more than 150 delegates.

Download Smex_Ken_Loach_podcast

For more information about the work of sounddelivery, please click here

You can see pictures from Ken's Q&A session here and find out more about Ken Loach's current projects here 

The sounddelivery year 2008

Festive Greetings from sounddelivery!

2008 has been a great year for sounddelivery: in the last year we've trained nearly 300 people in podcasting and social media techniques. Our production portfolio includes over 50 audio features and podcasts, 10 videos and audio slideshows. 

In this special end of year podcast we want to share with you some of the best work we have done, and hopefully give you inspiration for 2009...

Download The_sounddelivery_year_2008

This podcast includes audio profiles and case studies that sounddelivery has produced for: the Family Holiday Association, The Blue Cross, the Guardian, the RNIB, the Scouts, YHA, the Museum of London and Youth Action Network.

For more information about the work of sounddelivery or to find out more about this podcast please follow the link below:

www.sounddelivery.org.uk

CharityComms Goes Live

Our latest sounddelivery podcast highlights the work we do for other organisation.  This episode shows how you can capture an event - whether conference or seminar using audio. CharityComms held their October seminar at NCVO, London.  Over 100 people attended the event which included presentations from Tom Pey, Director of External Affairs at Guide Dogs who shared his organisation's experience in establishing Guide Dogs as a leading voice for mobility and access with blind and visually impaired people.  And John Grounds, Communications Director at the NSPCC, who discussed the importance of having a communication strategy. However due to limited capacity at the event many people were unable to attend.  So sounddelivery recorded highlights of the seminar for those who missed it.  The podcast is presented by our very own Mark Ellis.

Download charity_comms_podcast_october_2008.mp3

If you want more information about the work of sounddelivery go to www.sounddelivery.org.uk

Museum of London

One of sounddelivery's most interesting recent projects has been working with the Museum of London to create a series of podcasts for visually impaired people.  Run as part of the Museum's social inclusion programme of projects, Podcasts from the Past worked one day a week for 8 weeks with a small group of adults who are currently long-term unemployed. The participants were a range of ages, with a rich variety of backgrounds and life stories, but came together to work as a team to realize their abilities and gain news skills and experience they could use in their futures. 

Download MuseumofLondon_podcast.mp3

Over the course of eight weeks the group, many of who had not set foot in the Museum before, received audio-description training and learnt more about visually impaired people through workshops with  Vocaleyes, had tours in the galleries with curators, spent time researching the objects chosen for the podcasts and then wrote and edited the scripts. The final three weeks of the project saw them bring the scripts to life by recording, producing and editing through workshops with sounddelivery.  The guys were paired up and worked as either reporter or producer to make sure they got the best quality recording.

Learning point:

These workshops created great material for the museum, but were also a fantastic way of reaching a new audience and helping inspire and motivate people.

Links:

http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/English/Collections/Prehistoric1700/PodcastsfromPast.htm

Media Tips from Experts

In this crowded marketplace of charity communications how do you get your voice heard and your stories read, watched and listened to by your target audience?  Who better to ask than leading professionals working in the field.  At a recent Charity Communications conference a host of experts working in the media (we're talking BBC Radio 4, Sky News and The Times) were brought together to pass on their words of wisdom.  sounddelivery was there too, and managed to ask them a few pertinent questions as well as getting a flavour of the concerns and challenges facing the sector today.

Download CharityCommunications08_podcast.mp3

In this month's podcast you'll hear from Andy Smith, the editor of BBC Radio 4's You and Yours; Sara ward, the assistant editor of Take A Break magazine; Emma Tucker, the editor of Times 2: the features section of The Times newspaper; and Vicki Cook, the head of planning at Sky News.

Links:

http://www.charitycommunications.co.uk/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/youandyours/
http://www.takeabreak.co.uk/
http://www.timesonline.co.uk
http://news.sky.com/skynews/home

Empowerment

This month's podcast comes live and direct from the Empowering Me, Empowering You conference that was held just outside Cambridge at the end of February.  The event was organised by Inspire East and was aimed at organisations in the east of England working with community groups.  Sound delivery ran 2 workshops as part of the conference, and while we were there we took the opportunity to get some interviews in the can and record our podcast!  You'll hear how delegates define Empowerment, and we've  included some of the interviews and features recorded at projects we've done in recent months that connect to the theme...

Download SD_Empowerment_podcast.mp3

Rebecca's story may be familiar to some of you, but its a great example of 'citizen journalism' or empowerment in action.   Rebecca had never used recording equipment, and never really been asked to talk about herself or where she lived.  Its a great example of being surprised and inspired by someone's voice and perspective.  And its great to hear from the pupils of Sir James Barrie school.  Listening to their definitions of community definitely makes me feel like I've become far too cynical about the world!

Learning point:

The examples we've included in this month's podcast really illustrate how effective this kind of audio work can be.  Surprising,  inspiring,  heart-warming in some areas.  These are people who you really don't hear from in the mainstream media: and they're literally doing the recording themselves in their own words, without any interference from a reporter or anyone else.

Links:

http://www.inspire-east.org.uk
http://www.wcen.org.uk

Live from CharityComms

Welcome to a new year, and a new look to the sounddelivery podcasts.  We want to share with you the work we've been doing and give you some tips and advice on how to make the most of your audio and your podcasts.  This first podcast of the year was recorded live at a Charitycomms seminar where we interviewed a host of delegates about their experiences of podcasting and how their organisations could use audio and sound to reach new audiences.

Download soundedelivery_podcast01.mp3

Norma Johnston of CharityComms and Jim Raymond of Baigent share their tips on an effective communications strategy.  We also hear an audio tribute to  Patrick Laurence, the founder of the Family Holiday Association, who sadly passed away earlier this year.

Learning Point:

What's important to remember is storing your audio, as you never know when it could be useful in the future.  An interview with a case study will often have timeless qualities that can be used many times.  You'll also find that you may collect sound effects and wildtrack from different locations that have many uses.  In the Patrick Laurence feature we used the sounds of waves to give a sense of the seaside, the waves also helped us move between speakers and tie the whole piece together.

Links:

http://www.charitycomms.org.uk/

http://www.fhaonline.org.uk/

A Taste of Africa

The material in this week's podcast is a bit of a cheat - it was collected on trip to Africa for a BBC project a couple of years ago.  What it shows though is different ways of telling stories - and using sounds from a place to transport the listener to another country.
The aim of the BBC project was to dispel some myths about Africa. So often we only get to see the lives of African people when there is natural disaster (a flood, an earthquake), or through the need for handouts and aid.  What this project was all about was focussing on the lives of ordinary people: taxi drivers, IT workers, radio presenters (if they can ever be called ordinary in any country!)
What you will hear is a number of different profiles and some of my tips for creating compelling content..

Download Africa_Podcast.mp3

Learning point: These case studies really underline the strength of using stories of 'ordinary people' to illustrate a point.  The passion and personalities really come through.  In the piece about HIV we kept the interviews as straight as possible: music and sound effects just weren't needed.  Whereas in the other pieces, using the sounds of the street and the atmosphere really brings us a flavour of life in Africa.

Links
http://www.bbc.co.uk/africabeyond/

http://www.zambia.co.zm/

If you are creating audio content from Africa we'd love to hear it. 

If you want more information about the work we do go to www.sounddelivery.org.uk

Thames Reach - Giving Trevor Real Opportunities for Work

Hi and welcome to another sounddelivery podcast. 

Sounddelivery was commissioned to record a series of  audio interview with trainees and Thames Reach staff as part of a web based ‘tool-kit’ to share ideas with other like-minded organisation.  Giving Real Opportunities for Work (GROW) is an innovative project run by Thames Reach a London-based homelessness charity.  It’s a one year training and development programme to enable former homeless people to get a job within the sector.  They earn their own income, become financially independent and in turn, help and support  other homeless people.   This is Trevor's Story

Download Trevor_Shaw_Podcast.mp3

Learning Point:  Be patient, some of the best radio/audio moments come to people who wait.

Broadcast media and other websites might also be interested in your content.  Through sounddelivery contacts this audio content was picked up by BBC London and Guardian Unlimited and used on their websites.

Links
Thames Reach   BBC London  Guardian Unlimited

Sounddelivery Facebook Group

Do let us know what you think about our podcasts or if there is something you want us to feature in the future.

Until next time

Jude, Mark and Steven - the sounddelivery team

Case Study: Can you create a podcast in one day?

sounddelivery runs regular courses in podcasting and new media.  Our Power of Sound training course is a hands-on workshop giving trainees the skills to become fully fledged audio-gatherers.  Delegates gain practical experiences in collecting audio, simple editing, creating mp3 files, uploading audio to a website and setting up a regular podcast.  Here's a selection of some of the podcasts created on our course.

Download Workshop_trainees_podcast.mp3

Learning point: What this podcast really shows it that with just a small amount of training and preparation you can create work to be proud of.  The trainees who put theses reports together had never used the equipment, carried out interviews, or used the editing software before  the day of their workshop.

Case Study - Peabody Trust

Giving a Voice to Young People

sounddelivery works with a range of charities and community groups to help them tell their stories.  We worked with 7 young people to record their views of life on 3 different Peabody housing estates.  Their interviews were then used as part of an annual Resident's Conference which, this year, was entitled Embrace Your Space. 

Download peabody_podcast.mp3

Learning Point:  We think this is a great way of giving young people the opportunity to have their say, even if it's sometimes what people don't want to hear.  We travelled to three different estates and then trained some of the teenagers to use the audio equipment.  They picked up the technology really quickly and then went off around the estate to speak to some of the other residents to get some answers. Let us know what you think and what you are doing in your own organisation.

Programme Notes:

http://www.peabody.org.uk

If you are a graduate of our sounddelivery training do join us on Facebook and continue the conversation

Until next time...

the sounddelivery team

Web 2.0 Event - slides from Professor Clive Holtham

Download Web2.0CharityHandout.pdf

Web 2.0 event podcast

sounddelivery recently hosted a one-off evening event, in partnership with the Cass Centre for Charity Effectiveness, to explore the role Web 2.0 is playing in the way charities communicate with their audiences.

The evening explored the world of blogging, podcasting, viral videos, social networking and social bookmarking in the context of the third sector.  Speakers included:  Steven Buckley, the Head of Information and International Communications at Christian Aid; Kate Fox of Mersey Basin Campaign; Kat Arney from Cancer Research UK; and Clive Holtham, Professor of information Management at the Cass Business School.

Download web_2.0 event podcast.mp3

The event aimed to lift the lid on Web 2.0, and explain how charities can make the most of what's on offer. This podcast offers a shapshot of the event, with a flavour of the views and opinions of the main speakers.

Programme Notes:

Click here to read the live blog that was created on the night.
Want to stay up to date with sounddelivery training and events? Join our Facebook group for more links and top tips.

Case Study - Rebecca's Story

Wandsworth Community Empowerment Network (WCEN) aims to bring together a range of community and voluntary sector organisations in Wandsworth and support their involvement in local decision making.  They have an ongoing campaign against gang, gun and knife crime entitled ‘There is an Alternative’. sounddelivery ran an audio training workshop for single mothers living on the estates around Battersea. 

Download sounddelivery_rebecca_podcast.mp3

The aim of the workshop was to enable them to tell their stories in their own way and in their own words.   We spent time listening to audio content, trained them to use recording equipment and then sent them out to record a short 5 minute feature on something that mattered to them.   In this podcast Rebecca paints a picture of her life on the the Savona Estate.

Learning Point:  We think this is a great way of challenging stereotypes and preconceived ideas.  Rebecca recorded this feature after less than an hour of training on recording equipment and after an hour of discussing and listening to audio content.  It shows what can be done in a short space of time.  Giving people who don't usually get the opportunity to have their say does make compelling content.    Let us know what you think and what you are doing in your own organisation.

Programme Notes:

www.wcenlive.com

If you are a graduate of our sounddelivery training do join us on Facebook and continue the conversation

Until next time...

Web 2.0 The What? The Why? The How?

sounddelivery is organising a one-off evening event, in partnership with the Cass Centre for Charity Effectiveness, to explore the role Web 2.0 is playing in the way charities communicate with their audiences.

Download soundelivery_web2.0_podvert.mp3

More and more organisations are taking the plunge into the world of Web 2.0.  While it may seem everyone has gone YouTube/MySpace/Facebook crazy, the Third sector is experiencing a mild flurry of excitement.

This event aims to lift the lid on Web 2.0, and explain how charities can make the most of what's on offer.  The event will provide a true Web 2.0 experience with live blogging, a podcast and a host of surprises.

Confirmed speakers include: Steven Buckley, Head of Information and International Communications at Christian Aid; Kate Fox of Mersey Basin Campaign; Kat Arney from Cancer Research UK; and Jude Habib of sounddelivery.

Programme Notes:

Click here to book tickets
Click here to find out more

Are you a graduate of sounddelivery training? Join our Facebook group for more links and top tips. 

Case Study - UK Patent Office

Now here's a question for you.   How can organisations produce engaging content on a subject area which, from the outside, might seem lets just say not particularly exciting/interesting/sexy? For example, how can you make the issues surrounding intellectual property engaging for young people?

Download Simon_Woodroffe_UK_Patent_Office.mp3

Sounddelivery was recently commissioned by the UK Patent Office to produce a series of audio features to support their Think Kit schools project.

Think Kit is a free educational resource aimed at key stage 4 students, although it can also be used for other age groups. The resource highlights the four areas of Intellectual Property (IP) - Copyright, Designs, Patents and Trade marks - using case studies of well-known individuals and organisations. It looks at IP in real-life scenarios by relating real stories about people and their journey to success.

In this audio feature we interviewed Simon Woodroffe the brains behind Yo Sushi.  He was a dream interterviewee. A perfect example of someone who is engaging, passionate about an issue and knowlegeable.  He really brought to life issues surrounding IP.  It only took 15 minutes to get all the material needed to create the final podcast.  He even gave us the music to use which, as you will hear, is extremely appropriate.   

The final series of interviews we produced have been incorporated into a DVD and has been sent to over 20,000 schools around the country.

Key Learning: Whatever issue/cause/subject you are working on we believe there is always a way of getting the message across in an engaging way. Scratch the surface and the stories will find a way out.

Using high profile individuals can be a really positive experience or a nightmare so really think about why you want to use a particular person.   In the last few months we've worked with a range of celebrities for different projects.  Most recently we recorded Simon Cowell and Ant and Dec on behalf of Childline.   These were turned into ringtones which are now available to download online  http://gringtones.co.uk

Programme Notes:

• UK Patent Office Think Kit
• Gringtones
• Are you a graduate of sounddelivery audio training? Join us on Facebook for more links and top tips.

Let us know what you think!

Until next time...

Case Study: The Family Holiday Association

This week's Sounddelivery podcast is an audio diary produced on behalf of the Family Holiday Association (FHA).  The audio was recorded on location by Conor and Kirstie-Mae, aged 12, and Sounddelivery produced and mixed the episode.

Download Belgium_Audio_Diary.mp3

The mission of the FHA is to improve the quality of family life for those parents and children who experience disadvantage, by providing grants for and promoting access to holidays and other recreational activities. While the majority of these trips are in the UK, last year they sent some families to Flanders in Belgium as part of a pilot project with other European agencies.      

This was the first time Conor and Kirstie-Mae had been away to Flanders. We spent just over an hour with them teaching them to use an Edirol R09 recorder and a Bayer dynamic microphone. We talked them through ideas for the kind of diary material they might collect and also put together a CD of audio examples that they could listen to during the trip in order to get more ideas.

And then we left the rest up to them!

When you are using other people to record an audio diary you never know what the result is going to be. The material we got back was of an extremely high quality and very personal. We'd emphasised that  the girls shouldn't record more than 20 minutes a day which they stuck to, but a minor problem was that some of the material was slightly distorted in places. The final edit - listening back to material, logging and editing the clips took just over a day. 

So if you work directly with beneficiaries, remember that audio diaries can be a powerful and cost effective part of your communications mix. We've been working with the FHA to produce audio case studies that have been used for key presentations, a Big Lottery Bid, and for use on their website.

So listen in and let us know what you think!

Programme Notes:

• The Family Holiday Association
• Sounddelivery website
• Are you a graduate of sounddelivery audio training? Join us on Facebook for more links and top tips.

Until next time...

Case Study: The Blue Cross

SoundDelivery were recently asked to revamp audio ‘Petcasts’ for The Blue Cross - Britain's pet charity. The organisation provides practical support, information and advice for pet and horse owners.  The Blue Cross were already using podcasts but until Sounddelivery got involved, the podcasts were using telephone interviews with celebrities - each 10-12 minutes long.

Download blue_cross_petcast.mp3

Sounddelivery worked closely with the website team to look at how we could engage listeners in new ways. We opted to record at different Blue Cross centres and used frontline staff as the key interviewees and voices for the features.  These were edited to approximately 6 minutes in length and the whole production (including scripting, recording and mixing) took approximately 3 days. 

It's clear that Blue Cross staff are passionate about their work.  Ryan, the key interview in the petcast supporting Take Your Dog to Work Day started off as a Blue Cross volunteer at the age of 13  and has now been working for the organisation for 18 years.  We think that by utilizing the stories of service users and staff, a charity's podcasts will often have a much greater impact.  If you're a member of the Sounddelivery Facebook group leave us a wall message and let us know what you think, or leave a comment here.

Programme Notes:

• Blue Cross petcasts
• Take Your Dog to Work Day microsite
• Take Your Dog to Work Day press release
• Sounddelivery website
• Are you a graduate of sounddelivery audio training? Join us on Facebook for more links and top tips.

Until next time...

sounddelivery and the YHA

Breaks4Kids is a YHA led initiative to encourage young people from disadvantaged areas to have the opportunity of their first trip away from home. The YHA asked sounddelivery to record the children's' trip to show to corporate sponsors the difference a break away can make.

Download YHA_Break4Kids_Final_July07.mp3 

For many of the children of New Road Primary School in Chatham it was their first opportunity of being away from home.  Jude spent two days with the teachers and students to record the audio; a group of 34 young people and 7 teachers and a parent governor. Jude even trained three of the young people to record audio themselves - and a couple of the clips are used here.

But two days away didn't mean the microphone was out all of the time. When working with groups, young and vulnerable people it's very important to gain the trust of all involved before beginning to record. In the end, Jude only had to record 1.5 hours of material.

The audio was edited by Mark at sounddelivery using Adobe CoolEdit, though the same programme could have been delivered using Audacity. Mark was able to pull together the programme you hear here in under three hours. Key to achieving this was a proper audio log of the gathered audio, an appropriate amount of source material and a script prepared for the edit.

Programme Links:

• Youth Hostel Association
• Breaks4Kids
• New Road School

Are you a graduate of sounddelivery audio training? Join us on Facebook for more links and top tips.

Until next time...