During the start of the pandemic, South Florida PBS launched a series of virtual town halls to connect with the community and shed light on resonating and educational topics. I had the opportunity to produce two live discussions that were streamed on Facebook and YouTube.
My main role was to:
-Research the topic and find relevant experts
-Reach out to those experts and conduct pre-interviews
-Write the script
-Assemble broll clips and additional packages
-Feed questions from Facebook and YouTube viewers to the host during the live
HARBOR FROM THE HOLOCAUST
The first Town Hall I produced was a virtual screening of the documentary called "Harbor From the Holocaust", a film following Shanghai's role in helping save the lives of more that 20,000 Jewish refugees during World War II. This screening was accompanied by a panel discussion with host Pam Giganti, including director Violet Feng and Holocaust survivors, Gary Naftaniel. For this town hall, I edited a promo and created supplemental content for the town hall. This content included an opening sequence, broll clips and a profile video on Holocaust survivor Erica Spindel, who could not be a part of the live discussion.
One of the main challenges during this town hall was the digital divide - many Holocaust survivors required additional technical assistance to log onto the virtual platform. This taught me how to simplify complex technical advice and create an environment that prioritized the comfort of our guests and did not discourage them.
STARGAZERS VIRTUAL EVENT: TO THE MOON AND BEYOND
I also produced a StarGazers Virtual Event: To the Moon and Beyond, a live discussion hosted by Trace Dominguez on how the moon came to be, what lies on its surface and what the next moon landing could mean for planetary exploration. This town hall had an amazing panel for the discussion:
-Dr. Ata Sarajedini, FAU Professor and Bjorn Lamborn Endowed Chair in Astrophysics
-Raquel Nuno, MSc, Planetary Scientist
-Dr. Georgiana Kramer, Senior Research Scientist at the Planetary Science Institute
-Dr. Jacob Bleacher, Chief Exploration Scientist at NASA
One main challenge during this town hall was finding a representative from NASA to speak about ARTEMIS program in such a short turnaround. Through much determination, I was able to reach the Moon and Mars department and invite Dr. Jacob Bleacher to the program. For this town hall, I had pre-interviews with each guest and assembled the broll for each segment.
