While most people were lounging on the beach over summer, the CMTO were hard at work organising some of the first roundtables planned for 2012. Held in Sydney and Melbourne in January , the first roundtable conversations looked at Mulitplatform Broadcasting and Production.

So what do we mean when we use the term “multiplatform”?

In many ways community broadcasters have always utilised mulitplatforms to get their content out to communities. We started with cassettes and CDs, We also got our message across through t-shirts, caps, cups and posters. Now we use online, mobile apps, digital and analogue radio to broadcast.

The roundtables brought together program makers from across a range of stations to talk about new ideas which are truly multiplatform. The CMTO has compiled a video of some of these presentations and we will be putting it online soon.

Some of the things we have learnt so far:

• You need more than one person to do a muliplatform program. You need a team!
• You can use online tools to really organise a team.
• There are heaps of ways of putting content online and it is definitely not as simple as just taking what you did on air and making it available online.
• Online tools are cool for interacting with your audience.
• Your audience is a source of content and can provide everything from photos, stories and video
• Your program page (even if it is just facebook) can be used all week to talk with your audience.

The CMTO is planning roundtables across the country stay tuned for our call for expression of interest for sessions during the year.