RF Taylor & Company
Helping Hilton executives improve communication with employees
Discovering Visual Communicator
Founded in 1995, RF Taylor & Company provides management services to organizations and individuals in both the private and public sectors. Always looking to provide value-added services to customers, the company's founder, Bob Taylor, came across Visual Communicator® software. Having no prior video experience, Liz Castellaw, director of communication and technology, found Visual Communicator to be very simple to use with a straightforward interface.
Castellaw saw the company's first opportunity to use Visual Communicator as a way to enhance employee communications for Hilton Hotels Corporation's senior vice president, Jim Hartigan. "Mr. Hartigan has over 200 employees in five different departments that are spread out, so we put a communication plan together that recommended he create monthly employee communication videos that would update his employees on department initiatives, goals, and accomplishments." Castellaw puts together all the necessary elements for Mr. Hartigan's video, including PowerPoint slides, graphics, music, and the script prior to going to Mr. Hartigan's office. With the video presentation ready to go, all Mr. Hartigan had to do was sit in front of the camera, rehearse the script a few times, and then record the final presentation in Visual Communicator.
A win-win situation
Using Visual Communicator has been a win-win situation for both RF Taylor & Company and Hilton Hotels Corporation. For Hartigan, Visual Communicator has helped increase his visibility, loyalty, and credibility with his employees. According to Taylor: "Watching a video is more interactive for his (Hartigan's) employees, they are more likely to sit down and watch a video then they are to read something, which makes it more likely they will retain the information. And he can reach employees when they are out of the office by sending links to the videos. We also archive the videos so they can be watched over and over again."
The response that Mr. Hartigan has received from employees about the videos has been very positive. For Castellaw and RF Taylor & Company, Visual Communicator has been a value-added service that for a small investment has paid for itself. "The return on investment that we get by using Visual Communicator is amazing. We created one video and Visual Communicator was paid for," says Castellaw.
Since using Visual Communicator, Castellaw sees a lot of flexibility in what her company can do. In addition to the employee communication they have been doing for Hilton, they have also created eLearning videos. Going forward, Castellaw can see the company creating video resumes, sales pitches, and corporate training. "Visual Communicator is so flexible that you can customize the video for a variety of uses," says Castellaw. "It has really opened up a world of possibilities that will continue to help us increase our revenue."
