Spring town hall quarterly meeting held on April 17 addressed several topics impacting local DWD offices.

April 23 , 2007
Contact: communications@ihets.org

One goal of Commissioner Andrew Penca and Teresa Voors, Chief legal counsel & director of policy, for the meeting was to preview for staff the new Regional Integration Model that DWD plans to implement over the next year.  The new Regional Integration Model is an integrated approach to service delivery by local offices.  The goal is for customers to receive uniform, high quality service regardless of their funding stream.  This new approach will create a true one-stop-shopping service experience for Indiana citizens.

Other items on the meeting agenda were leadership development, power up—a health and wellness initiative, and rewards & recognition.  All were important topics in which the department sought to involve as many staff as possible.

“Previously meetings were held in-person with a conference call used for the remote offices to call in and listen.  Our agency commissioner, Andrew Penca, was looking for a better mechanism to reach our remotely located employees and our partners throughout the state,” Tim Loyd, Webmaster for DWD explained.  “We contacted the Indiana Office of Technology and were referred to IHETS.  George Khazal, Digital media services consultant, worked with Todd Glenn, Video/Communications manager at DWD to arrange streaming of the event.”

Loyd reported that, “This format allows all of our offices, partners, and invited guests to participate real time in an event that in some cases may be several hours away.  We were able to deliver a well received product that allowed the agency to deliver our message with graphics and videos.  While the primary audience was our agency staff, members of the general public were invited to the event and the town hall meting was viewed by approximately 1,000 people.”

IHETS utilized TriCaster Pro technology to simultaneously deliver the speakers' PowerPoint presentations, enriching the experience for the Web audience. The technology enabled the video and audio mixing, character generation, internet web casting, and recording for this event.

“Overall the feedback received was positive.  The staff liked the concept and the ability to view the meeting from their local offices.  We felt this was cost effective and within the budget and no special or additional equipment was required.”

Watch a recording of the town hall meeting.

IHETS has provided real-time and on-demand video streaming services to state government, higher education institutions, and public-sector partners for several years. IHETS offers a host of other services including IHETS Interactive, video conferencing, audio conferencing, and more.

To learn how your organization can use streaming to increase access, enhance information sharing, or improve community outreach, contact George Khazal, IHETS digital media services consultant, at gkhazal@ihets.org or 317.263.8870