Stanford University School of Medicine
The “Shoestring” Award
Silver
The Internal Communications team at Stanford Medicine’s Office of Communications built on the success of an employee engagement tactic called Pass the Tiny Mic, a video series with specific themes intended to shine a light on members of the Stanford Medicine community: faculty, staff, doctors, researchers, students and all essential health care workers. We reimagined this video series by shifting to a quiz format tied to topical events or themes relevant to Stanford Medicine and called it “Tiny Mic Trivia.”
Our Tiny Mic reporters selected diverse participants from those who left comments on the pages of our original Tiny Mic series. Using just iPhones and a tiny microphone, we recorded these participants answering designated questions aligned with that month’s theme. For the series, we made sure to interview members from all entities of Stanford Medicine. The video clips are edited together with humorous captions, images, sound effects and gifs to set a fun and light-hearted tone. We promote each video exclusively on StanfordMed Pulse, our internal employee newsletter and engagement platform.
We produced three episodes of Tiny Mic Trivia in FY24, averaging 1,500+ views, 17 likes, and 11+ comments.
What was the most impactful part of your entry?
This entry was the overwhelming sense of connectedness and pride that our community continued to express after engaging with Tiny Mic Trivia on our internal channels. We wanted these fun videos to increase employee engagement on our internal platforms, build connections with members of our community and create moments of delight. The feedback we received has validated our ongoing internal-first strategy for internal communications.
What challenge did you overcome?
The most engaging content on our internal channels doesn’t have to be highly produced or technical, or involve expensive technology. Using a tiny microphone remains a fun way to put people at ease while quizzing them about a specific theme. The format gives the videos a lighthearted and fun feel that consistently resonates with and delights our community. Interviewing community members for these videos has reaped many benefits, including 1) generating other ideas for engagement tactics; 2) providing insights into our community’s habits of and preferences for consuming internal content; and 3) broadening our awareness and understanding of the people and places of Stanford Medicine.
Contact:
Alison Peterson
medawards@stanford.edu