Our man in Brechin, Derek, was thinking of a way to share a local community perspective on what was going on in Brechin, Edzell and the Glens. He wanted to listen and learn from the community and share information in an accessible way so everyone could take part.
Building on digital experience
Derek was well aware that it wasn’t going to be “perfect” the first time round but adopted the approach that he would learn by “doing”. His desire to learn new ways of communicating gave him the confidence to take the plunge and just “give it a go”.
Derek previously worked for Eden Project Communities as a Community Net Developer for Scotland. He drew from this, his experience as a hospital radio DJ in Arbroath in the 90’s and recent training he’d had on using video. As the Eden Project is based down in Cornwall, he couldn’t physically be everywhere at once, so Derek considered how he could best engage people and dabbled in FB Live. This had positive impacts, as he mentored 2 people who have since ended up creating their own social enterprises.
Community Connections Live
Our first Community Connections FB Live stream was broadcast on the 23rd of April. Derek spent the afternoon preparing the content. Alas, a few technical issues cropped up typically during the live session. However, the trooper that he is, Derek carried on regardless!
He had planned on the audience seeing himself at his screen showing a Powerpoint presentation. However, the connection on the monitor turned out to be dodgy despite an earlier test run working fine. Derek reflects that it was good that it happened like that as he was able to learn from it and deal with the glitches at an early stage. Derek said, “You shouldn’t fear failing because it’s learning”. To improve things for his next broadcast, Derek used Youtube and talked to friends to find solutions.
During the livestream, Derek wanted to connect initially by sharing his own health and well-being journey as he felt his lived experiences might help inspire other people in developing resilience. He also imparted the latest from the Scottish Government website about what might lie ahead and what people can do in terms of helping others and looking after their own physical, mental and emotional well-being. You can watch the video of the livestream on Community Connections’ Facebook page. The stream had 265 views and Derek has since been building on his initial success to see what can be achieved next.