BBC Installs SMART Board Interactive Whiteboards
SMART product enables creativity and collaboration at the BBC
Calgary, AB – April 19, 2004 – SMART Technologies Inc. announces the installation of SMART Board™ interactive whiteboards at the BBC’s national center for best practice, the Sharing Opportunities Across the Nations & Regions (SON&R) Centre, in Bristol, UK. The SON&R Centre uses SMART Board interactive whiteboards, installed by SMART reseller Clockwork Capital, to conduct best practice programs that include master classes, inspirational speakers, discussions on future strategy and interactive breakout sessions. More than 2,000 BBC employees are expected to go through best practice training at the SON&R Centre every year. Trainees include journalists, meteorologists, broadcasting assistants, producers and program directors.
The BBC decided to install SMART Board interactive whiteboards at the SON&R Centre because they met the organization's need to train employees to work more collaboratively and creatively, and circulate trainees’ ideas to BBC employees around the world. Instead of using a traditional whiteboard, trainers now simply touch the interactive whiteboard’s large, interactive display to operate computer applications and access the Internet and files on the BBC's LAN. Trainers can also write notes in digital ink over presentations and save their notes for future reference. These notes are sent to any trainee unable to attend a session and also stored in a digital training archive for staff who want to access its wealth of information at their leisure.
“SMART Board interactive whiteboards are ideal for creative environments,” says Nancy Knowlton, president and co-CEO of SMART. “SMART products facilitate collaboration and learning, and lend themselves perfectly to the imaginative work and brainstorming done by BBC staff at the SON&R Centre.”
“The core aim of SON&R is to inspire and stimulate staff,” says Gerald Hine-Haycock, head of the SON&R Centre. “The interactivity of SMART Board interactive whiteboards means that we can explain best practice concepts easily. The powerful presence of SMART Board interactive whiteboards, and the fact that we can make notes during presentations and brainstorming sessions, encourages employees to contribute to the workshops with their own views and ideas.”
About SMART Board interactive whiteboards
More than 160,000 SMART Board interactive whiteboards are in use in classrooms, briefing rooms and boardrooms around the world. Whether people are in the same room or at remote locations, they can use SMART Board interactive whiteboards to enhance collaboration, creativity and productivity. Hooked up to a computer and data projector, the industry-leading, SMART Board interactive whiteboard becomes a giant computer screen that users can simply touch to operate. Users can access any computer application, including the Internet and CD-ROMs. With award-winning SMART Board software, they can also write over applications in digital ink, and then edit, save, print or post their notes in HTML for future reference.
About the BBC
The BBC provides a wide range of distinctive programs and services including television, radio, national, local, children’s, educational, language and other services for key interest groups.
BBC services are very popular and used by over 90 percent of the UK population every week. The BBC also runs orchestras, actively develops new talent and supports training and production skills for the British broadcasting, music, drama and film industries.
The BBC is financed by a TV license paid by households in the UK.
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For more information, please contact:
Public Relations
SMART Technologies Inc.
300, 1207 - 11th Avenue SW
Calgary, AB CANADA T3C 0M5
Phone +1.403.802.3337 Fax +1.403.228.2500
pr@smarttech.com
Please note that SMART is written in all capital letters.