News Department pioneers a Virtual Workshop format to ensure ALL Members can access training

With Asiavision’s Training Strategy and its plan for In Country Training and Regional Workshops on hold for the duration of the COVID-19 emergency, the News Department developed an initiative called Let’s Get Digital featuring Virtual Workshops for participants to access when they have time.

With countries locked down, borders closed and many newsrooms frantically working-from-home, appointment training was difficult to commit to. Limited bandwidth for home internet was another reason why webinars were not ideal. A further consideration was the 11-hour time difference between Asiavision’s Members, from east to west. The low-tech solution? Virtual Workshops based on video tutorials that participants can view offline on Asiavision‘s YouTube channel when they have time. Each one comes with an assignment, between three days and a week to complete it, and personal feedback from the trainer by email or FB Messenger.

The Virtual Workshops have been a hit with 107 people from 21 countries signing up for a five-week series on Script Writing: Creativity Meets Innovation. It is the skill that most Asiavision Members say they want training in. Trainer Pratibha Tuladhar took participants through their paces in April and May, focusing on script writing to pictures/moving images.

The next set of Virtual Workshops – a four-part series called Versatile Videos – focused on improving video content when working-from-home. Of course, the skills are transferable to any newsroom and especially to Mobile Journalism (Mojo) reporting.

These workshops started in May with GO LIVE! Anytime, Anywhere featuring well-known Malaysian television, radio and digital entrepreneur Kartini Ariffin sharing her expertise, teaching how to report news on Facebook Live with confidence.

A total of 77 participants from 10 countries signed up for this series which also includes Creative Videos from Home with video-journalist and trainer Hashim Hakeem showing how to take visuals to the next level: Professional PTCs, Adding Overlay and Verifying Video.

And the verdict? From Myanmar: “Thank you Asiavision, our trainer Pratibha Tuladhar and all responsible officials for this Virtual Workshop [on Script Writing]. These 5 weekends were enjoyable weekends for me and I really love it.”

From Singapore: “[The] Workshop has helped me focus my scriptwriting and writing in a more structured and engaging way.”