1. Director of Communications
John White
Director of Communications

2. Working Together for Student Success
News Media
TV & Video
Content
Working Together for Student Success
Impact
School system TV & video production is considered in context with all communication vehicles.
TV & video is most frequently playing a supporting role, complementing other communications.
However, TV & video are used to increase impact by “humanizing” education programsj.
We use video to show our audience why, as much as tell why they should care.

3. Do More Than Tell Them Show Your Audience
Video has the unique ability to increase interest
We use video to show your audience the impact of your work
The Howard County Public School System operates a 24/7 cable television station on two cable TV systems – Comcast 95/Verizon 42
This is a huge resource to be used in a variety of ways to produce:
Board of Education meetings
Original programming
Events and graduation ceremonies, and
Produce video for online and social media channels
It allows us to tell and SHOW our story

4. HCPSS-TV HCPSS-TV uses its control room to produce:
Board of Education meetings, which also are live streamed on the school system website, and
Original programming in its studio
HCPSS-TV uses Swagit to provide live web streaming and 24/7 on demand archiving of all public BOE meetings (links 1 & 2).  Both live and on demand meetings can be viewed on a variety of media devices including desktops, tablets, smart phones, etc. 
Beginning in March 2016 Swagit began embedding closed captioning on all live and on demand playback of BOE meetings. The Howard County BOE uses our Swagit site as the official record of all meetings dating back to July 2009 when we began our foray into streaming and archiving BOE meetings.  All meetings on Swagit are streamed and archived at 720P (HD).

5. Engage Your Community
When creating original programs, HCPSS seeks ways to engage the community
Insight frequently includes a panel discussion, a small studio audience, and questions via and social media
DiscoverHCPSS are short videos generally filmed in the field and complemented by interviews at schools
PSAs are generally filmed in-studio.

6. Break Your Own News Create Your Own Coverage
HCPSS-TV covers all press conferences and major events, interviewing Board members, special guests, students, etc.
Staff produce 1-3 min video clips that can be distributed via social media, the Web, before the news cycle and used for a variety of other purposes including weekly “HCPSS News” to parents

7. Connect

8. Challenges How Do We Compete How Do We Know They’re Watching
Biggest challenge is how do grab peoples attention to watch school system TV
How Do We Know They’re Watching
No ratings or monitoring system
Use Web and social media channels to drive interest in HCPSS-TV
Timeliness and Staff Capacity
Balance short ”news” coverage of events the same day with programs that require longer production time
Other considerations:
Closed captioning – time and expense must be considered
Interns require an unfront investment, but can help with workload
Other local partners with broadcast media experience can be advisors
Demonstrate the value of your Board of Education/County Government investment or it can be a target for budget cuts

9. Thank you