I am extremely pleased again to be involved with BlueLightCamp for its second year. Once again, I will be helping to bring BlueLightCamp to a wider world. BlueLightCamp is a fabulous event, bringing together people working in emergency services with an interest in how to use social media and new technologies to improve their work. And this year it’s even bigger as it’s morphed into a two-day event which adds a hackday to last year’s unconference.

JPBluelightcamp12

I’ll be convering BlueLightCamp 2013 thanks to the sponsorship of British APCO, the industry body for public safety communications. And I will also be covering the 2-day BAPCO event which follows BlueLightCamp.

As always, I’ll be aiming to open up the event to the outside world, expand the audience, and invite people outside the venue to participate in it. I’ll be looking to ensure that the messages of the event are broadcast to a wide audience and those outside looking in are able to contribute to the debate. I’ll also be helping organisations represented, sponsoring and exhibiting to reach out to to customers, partners and potential clients.

The age of widespread digital literacy, internet use, and the rising tide of Social Media means that even small organisations, if they get their message right, can have a much wider impact than they might ever have thought possible in the past. Pictures and videos tell much more powerful stories than text, and the Internet means that content can reach much wider audiences than printed material ever did.

Similarly, the digital age means that there is no need only to talk to the people in the room at any event. Social media tools mean we can open the event up to the world, via live streamed video and audio, live blogging, instant feedback via Twitter and otherwise. Social Media means even the smallest event can become a global phenomenon.

For BlueLightCamp 2013 and British APCO 2013 we will do this through a combination of techniques, including:

  • live video streaming event sessions
  • video and audio interviews of speakers, participants, exhibitors and delegates
  • Photography
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Google Plus
  • Linkedin

All material will be disseminated through social media channels, including Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus and Linkedin so they are instantly available to audiences on all these platforms. Live video will go out to the world instantly and video and audio interviews will be done on a “minimal editing” basis so they can be uploaded as quickly as possible. “Embed codes” from the live video will be available so it can be incorporated into websites and blog sites. Similarly recorded videos and audio links can be embedded also. Photography will be uploaded to Flickr, Facebook and other sites, and will be available for use on websites and blogs.

Promotion will be via all the social media channels identified above. Hashtags (#ukblc13 and #bapco13) will allow for the tracking of all social media content and links will be tweeted from accounts of a variety of those present. We will also be looking to target prominent journalists and relevant policy makers in the field, so they can promote through their own networks and use material in articles etc.

John PophamAfter the event material will be collated and archived for permanent availability on the web using tools such as Storify, Netvibes and blog posts.

John Popham
Facilitator
johnpopham.com

Bringing BlueLightCamp and British APCO 2013 to the world
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