Communications by the ECF Board using You Tube

[Andrew Martin]

Ben Edgell made a very good suggestion over at the other forum:

( I wouldn't mind if something like the YouTube interview became a regular thing. A livestream for half an hour each month, for example, with one of the ECF officials answering questions, passing on ECF news etc.)

This excellent idea would be simple to effect and keep us all updated. As the ECF has a You Tube channel,why not use it regularly?.

[Carl Hibbard]

An utter waste of time since you already have two forums and ECF officials mainly cannot be bothered.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Would such YouTube uploads be accessible for the deaf and hard of hearing? i.e. provided with a transcript and/or subtitles? I might eventually get round to asking the same thing about chess DVDs and so on (e.g. YouTube Chess Instructions transmitted by, er, Andrew Martin! ).

[Andrew Martin]

I'm sure the Manager of Disabled Chess could arrange to have transcripts provided.

I don't agree that this type of thing is ' an utter waste of time' . It would bring ECF officials closer to the members and if pitched right, would make a very good impression to potential sponsors, which is what the English game so badly needs.

Where are our chess sponsors? Not many around, in contrast to plenty of other countries. Why is that?

[LawrenceCooper]

I'm sure the Manager of Disabled Chess could arrange to have transcripts provided.

I don't agree that this type of thing is ' an utter waste of time' . It would bring ECF officials closer to the members and if pitched right, would make a very good impression to potential sponsors, which is what the English game so badly needs.

Where are our chess sponsors? Not many around, in contrast to plenty of other countries. Why is that?

It could be positive but you would also need to convince the ECF board. During my time as director it was made clear that they didn't want me to accept an offer to write about junior chess for one of England's most established chess magazines or use social media or this forum even though I saw it as a key way of doing my job. In fact I was told (although when challenged this was amended to being asked) that the ECF website and forum were the only ways in which ECF officials, both managers and directors, should be communicating.

[Andrew Martin]

The point is that the ECF has its own You Tube Channel lying in mothballs waiting for the next British at present. Why not use it to improve the image of the Federation?

[Kevin Thurlow]

"The point is that the ECF has its own You Tube Channel lying in mothballs waiting for the next British at present. Why not use it to improve the image of the Federation?"

Why not indeed. I always think that if these people don't want to communicate, they have something to hide.

"During my time as director it was made clear that they didn't want me to accept an offer to write about junior chess for one of England's most established chess magazines or use social media or this forum even though I saw it as a key way of doing my job. In fact I was told (although when challenged this was amended to being asked) that the ECF website and forum were the only ways in which ECF officials, both managers and directors, should be communicating."

Insane. I fail to see how writing about junior chess would conflict with the directorship (as long as you didn't criticise selection policy etc.)

[Jonathan Bryant]

The point is that the ECF has its own You Tube Channel lying in mothballs waiting for the next British at present. Why not use it to improve the image of the Federation?

I sense the objection is not to the You Tube Channel idea per se. The question seems to be, "Why would the You Tube Channel be used when other vehicles for communication that also currently exist are not used?"

The ECF twitter feed is very good, I think. In other regards, though, I don’t think the ECF’s communication strategy can be considered a roaring success. That said, if use of You Tube did prove to be different for some reason I’d be all for it. I suspect other contributors to this thread would be too.

FWIW I rather suspect the problems the ECF have with communication are not related to finding the medium for what they want to say.

[Roger de Coverly]

FWIW I rather suspect the problems the ECF have with communication are not related to finding the medium for what they want to say.

Is it not reasonable obvious that they would prefer to say nothing?

There's the old chestnut that debates and apparent squabbling are inimical to sponsorship, but an ECF that sits quietly in the corner is easily dismissed as an irrelevance.

[Jonathan Bryant]

FWIW I rather suspect the problems the ECF have with communication are not related to finding the medium for what they want to say.

Is it not reasonable obvious that they would prefer to say nothing?

Well, I would certainly agree that one of the problems the ECF has with communication is that it does rather look like this at times. Lawrence Cooper would know better than I whether it really is like that or not. He was, after all, in the middle of it whereas I’m an outside observer.

I do think that communication isn’t easy in general and difficult for organisations like the ECF in particular - and that’s got nothing to do with the particular people involved. However, I also feel that improvements simply must be possible.

An example:
Whether it be via Youtube or on the website or that forum or this one or wherever, I’m rather mystified that there seemed to have been no thing said or down to publicise the discussions and/or any decisions of the multi-day strategy meeting.

Was this because the ECF would prefer to say nothing or because the mechanisms aren’t in place to convey the information? I don’t know the answer to that one. I do know it’s a problem, though.

And viz a viz this thread, it’s not entirely clear to me why the availability of a YouTube channel would make a difference.