As a social media volunteer for the CBA, my task was to create a buzz around the event by updating Twitter users on what was happening and initiating debate. By using Twitter we had an extra layer of conversation going on even when a panel was in session or a speaker was at the podium. One international delegate though, has seen how it can go much, much further. Richard Uku from The Commonwealth Secretariat in London believes it can even change society.  I was keen to hear his story. In January 2011, Richard was in Tunisia working for the African Development Bank. “The Arab Spring came about because of social media,” he declares. “Before January 2011, Tunisia was a different place. It was very autocratic, but it was when young people stood up and spoke out, when they went onto the streets in Tunis and other parts of the country calling for change, that’s when things started happening.” According to Richard Uku, the Arab Spring was precipitated by high unemployment, particularly among the young, lack of transparency and government corruption. He told me how Twitter and Facebook were used to organise meetings and peaceful demonstrations as well as track changes in the region. This was citizen journalism at work. “The government tried to clamp down and they used the traditional media to put forward their propaganda,” he said. “But people could see what was happening before their very eyes on the pages of Facebook and on Twitter. It was like a mushroom cloud.” Sixteen months later he’s here in Brisbane discussing emergency, crisis and disaster with broadcasting professionals. “We’ve seen that social media has a place,” he says, “in terms of what people can do, report and learn in emergencies. I think it’s here to stay.”

They’ve been stand-out moments, most of them captured by heart-breaking audio and footage. One broadcaster from Japan even described how his station, NHK, kept on asking themselves after last year’s tsunami, “Could we have done more to save lives?” The audience felt sad and reflective,  but it drove home the relevance of PSBs. You had the sense that those broadcasters who hadn’t been through the kind of traumas experienced in Japan, Thailand, New Zealand and Indonesia for example, were thinking how lucky they were, quickly followed by a key question: “If something like that happened to us, would we be prepared?”

Crisis is an all-encompassing term and so some speakers adapted it to what’s troubling them most at the moment. Joyce Mhaville from ITV Tanzania spoke forcefully. “It’s an open secret that most of the world covers Africa negatively, but there are a lot of positive stories in most African countries,” she said.  Responding to her point, another African delegate alerted colleagues to the skewed relationship that can occur when two well-intentioned PSBs form a partnership, with the poorer one coming off worse, he says.  We could have had an entirely separate session based on their points.

Outside the conference hall we’ve experienced a rich mix of serious moments and some lighter ones. Here’s a taste: a moving Aboriginal blessing performed at our opening ceremony; affectionate words from The Governor of Queensland about the Commonwealth; an ABC foreign correspondent describing her rucksack stuffed with satellite broadcasting gear and undies (“I’ve probably got radioactive knickers,” she said cheerfully); and a former Wallaby rugby star entertaining us with his fantasy rugby team which includes Pope John Paul II, Meat Loaf and Mussolini. To round it off, we took a trip down river to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. Along the way we saw tall posts reaching high into the sky, hammered into the muddy river banks. Visible lines at the top of the posts showed us just how high the water rose during the Brisbane floods of 2011. A gentle reminder of why it was a good place to come for our conversations about crisis, disaster and emergency.

Being there for Canadians, even in the most remote and far-flung places,  is at the heart of CBC according to Mr Lacroix, “The biggest promise of public broadcasters is to be there for their citizens: a promise to deliver where others cannot or will not.” But how exactly, when CBC is facing, what its leader is calling, a “financial crisis”? Working with less money (partly due to the global economic downturn which reduced the amount of advertising coming CBC’s way) it meant 800 jobs went in 2009/2010.

As for the future, it looks very tough indeed. “On March 29^th our government confirmed that CBC/Radio-Canada  funding would be reduced by $115 million as of the 1^st of April, 2014”. Measures to work around this include cutting more jobs, hundreds of them; increasing advertising minutes; introducing ads to some radio networks that have been ad-free; shutting down 620 analogue television transmitters, and discontinuing the shortwave transmission of their international radio service.  “As painful as these decisions are, they need to be made in order for us to move forward and continue to be there for Canadians.” As soon as he finished at the podium, Hubert Lacroix said his goodbyes, grabbed his wheeled suitcase and went straight to the airport to travel home to Montreal. Talks with the Unions couldn’t be delayed any longer.

As well as our tweeters we had student photographers on hand, taking pictures of speakers at the podium, but also those more informal moments “off-stage”, when face-to-face conversations lead to lasting friendships and partnerships. You can see a selection on our Flickr page.

So thank you to Mikaela Aitken, Kathryn Louise Geels, Amanda Khoo, Nick Lewis, Kimberley Vlasic and Pak Wayne Yiu. In his blog,  Pak described the days with us as “exhausting, yet fulfilling” even “inspiring”. Amanda said she had “spoken to highly influential and interesting people” and thanked CBA for “trusting me to be a part of the social media team and allowing me to apply the skills I’ve learnt in university. I am now even more excited to graduate in December and embark on a (hopefully) successful career.” We hope so too, and they have our full support.

NHK in Japan has made 2 major changes to the way it operates since last year’s tsunami. Firstly, it doesn’t rely too heavily on weather predictions, and secondly the traditionally calm and dispassionate newsreaders are now trained to deliver a message much more boldly. Rather than advising people politely to leave their homes in an emergency, they’re now getting to the point: “Just run away from tsunami NOW!” NHK’s Yuji Inou said with a sad smile, “I’ve seen my colleagues practise shouting that!” In contrast to Japan’s hi-tech, almost instantaneous tsunami warnings, Tonga’s Nanise Fifita,  described how her small team have to deal with the basics such as making sure their generator is maintained and there’s enough fuel. No BBC-like “gold, silver and bronze” emergency plan for self funded, Tonga Broadcasting Commission.

The reason why professional broadcasters are gathered together in Brisbane really hit home when Radio New Zealand International played an interview recorded in Samoa when a tsunami struck in 2009. A woman described in a quaky voice, sometimes close to tears, how her neighbour was swept out to sea. Although he picked up his baby just in time, they both died. Then her husband grabbed the neighbour’s two remaining children and ran. A wave ripped one of them from his arms, but he managed to throw the other one onto high ground: to just land where it fell.  The child and the woman’s husband survived. They’d made it.

Many of the broadcasting professionals she was addressing had their iPads, laptops and Smartphones in front of them and were making full use of the free Wi-Fi, but she reminded them that “the internet is not ubiquitous” and “connectivity is complicated”.  In first-world Brisbane, the host city of the CBA conference, getting online content is cheap and easy, but in India, for example, where there are 850 million mobile phones (but not Smartphones) you need to go to the “media man”. For a nominal fee, he’ll sell a “weekend package” which includes lots entertainment, including   Bollywood content. It might not stick to copyright rules, but it shows how one way or another, content will always be circulated.

Sometimes it seems that everyone, wherever you go, is plugged in, but Genevieve Bell described how being disconnected is now extremely valuable and aspirational. We’re familiar with mobile-free train carriages, but what about “black hole resorts” recently advertised in a Qantas travel magazine? Being ‘uncontactable’ is a selling point, and as we buy more gadgets we’re starting to question where we should use them (iPads in bed?). There’s one piece of technology though that Dr. Bell’s research seems to suggest is exempt from all this. It’s the old fashioned radio: accepted everywhere, all the time.

Thanks to Pak Wayne Yiu for the photographs including the one above of Genevieve Bell.

This year’s conference, with delegates from Botswana, Canada, India, Pakistan, Thailand and Tonga, to name just a few countries represented, is focusing on crisis, disaster and emergency, and the host city knows what that’s like only too well. “Nobody imagined that the chosen venue for the conference, the city of Brisbane, would become a case study of just how important a public broadcaster is in times of disaster and emergency. That’s when people need a trusted source of reliable and accurate information,” said Penelope Wensley. Thankfully it hasn’t taken too long for Brisbane to recover from the floods of 2011. “I’m delighted that a year after that “summer of disasters”, or as it‘s now termed “our summer of sorrows”, you’re able to see Brisbane restored,” she said.

One of the key discussions throughout the next few days will focus on how public service broadcasters can improve on what they offer at times of crisis. According to Penelope Wensley, “The CBA conference is a perfect expression of that spirit and resolve to find better ways of doing things: in this case, in the challenging domain of managing and responding to emergencies, crisis and disasters. Not only you, the participants, but governments and communities all around the world have an interest and stake in the outcomes of this Conference.”

As the Secretariat team walked along the river front this evening, with the stunning Brisbane skyline lit up in front of us, it was difficult to believe that after more than a year of planning the CBA General Conference 2012 is about to open! We are really looking forward to welcoming delegates as they start to arrive. The DG of GBC Ghana, Mr Berifi Apenteng was the first to fly in…he’s also probably had farthest to travel.

Just under a year ago I visited Brisbane on my first recce. Then it was a city in shock following the devastating floods of early spring 2011 but even so you could see the shoots of recovery. Now the city is quite literally blooming again with a wonderful riverside area full of rich and colourful gardens and a newly restored public beach. The Convention Centre will provide a stunning contemporary venue for the conference sessions and delegates will have a chance to tour what is almost certainly the newest purpose built broadcasting centre in the world. ABC’s new Brisbane centre opened just yesterday evening.

Supported by SBS, the CBA are hosting a unique dinner on the evening of Monday 23rd April.
The dinner will take place at the Metricon Stadium, a premier sporting location on Queensland’s popular Gold Coast. The Metricon Stadium the official venue for the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Delegates will be travel by private train from South Brisbane station directly to the Gold Coast. Once at the stadium, they will be treated to a specially prepared meal culminating in an after dinner speech from Australian Masterchef personality, Peter Kuruvita. Mr Kuruvita is a highly regarded and experienced member of the Australian food scene and has been the Executive Chef of Sydney’s award-winning Flying Fish Restaurant for the past 8 years.

Delegates attending the Pop-Up dinner should meet outside South Brisbane train station (which is right next to the BCEC conference venue on Grey Street) at 6.30pm sharp. The dress code for the evening is smart casual.

Available for download is a Brisbane map with the key conference locations marked out. Locations and further information about the events and programme can be found on the programme page.

We have also added to the website biographies of the conference speakers, which are available to read here.