Reaching people who missed a meeting
Recordings, slides and written reports extend a meeting beyond the people who attend. Speaker permission, accessible distribution and an archive allow others to use the material afterwards, while recordings can also let attendees concentrate on participating rather than taking notes.
Recording and sharing a chapter meeting
In November 2006, AMWA's Mid-Atlantic chapter recorded a plain-language presentation at a dinner meeting and posted it as a webcast to increase interest in its website and reach more members with news of chapter programmes. The speaker and professional videographer donated their services; a private restaurant room provided space for recording, and the taping did not disrupt the meeting. A $15 registration fee per person covered both the dinner and webcast because the restaurant was inexpensive and charged nothing extra for the room.
Website visits increased significantly in the month the webcast appeared compared with the previous month; the following month's visits exceeded twice the average monthly visits of the previous year. The chapter also posted a PDF of the slides, which initially attracted more attention than the video. This early result suggested that posting presentation slides might also increase chapter-website activity, although further analysis was needed to establish whether the trend would continue.
Speaker permission should be obtained before videotaping and posting the webcast. The chapter announced its webcast only after the meeting, both to avoid encouraging members to skip the event and to allow time to test the posted material. Promotion through another chapter's electronic newsletter followed only after local members had demonstrated that they could access it successfully.
Podcasts and repeat access
In 2011, AMWA's Indiana chapter recorded three interactive programmes as podcasts. Members unable to attend enjoyed listening, while attendees valued being able to participate fully without worrying about note-taking. Presenters appreciated the larger audience; one presenter's international employer posted his podcast on its website to market him and AMWA to clients, and the programme on trademarks, copyrights and contracts became an AMWA Pocket Training.
Podcasts remove time and place restrictions on presenting and listening: someone in Maine can listen whenever convenient to a programme held in Vermont or California, while an expert in Florida can record a presentation for a Northwest chapter when circumstances permit. A subscription can automatically deliver each new podcast, and a library could distribute chapter programmes centrally through an association website. In 2011, a proposed AMWA collection illustrated the potential scale: three podcasts annually from each of nineteen chapters would quickly produce a large and varied library.
An accessible archive
In 2008, AMWA posted streaming videos of its keynote and two award lectures for members who had missed the annual conference; its conference pages also linked to recorded addresses from conferences back to 2003.
By February 2024, EMWA's website had a dedicated archive of past webinars covering medical devices, drug development, professional techniques and changes in medical writing. The archive could serve as a reference collection for people seeking discussions of those topics.