Kerry Shearer is an extremely versatile communications professional, with skills ranging from issues management to crisis response, social media outreach, marketing campaigns, audio and video production, news reporting, broadcasting and webcasting. He thrives on helping communications colleagues develop their proficiency and expertise!
National Conference Presentations and Consulting on Social Media and Video
Kerry's expertise in social media and video use for public agencies and business has become nationally recognized. He has made presentations to the Albany, NY Center for Public Health Preparedness, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the California Department of Public Health, the U.C. Berkeley School of Public Health, the National Association of Clean Air Agencies, the U.S. EPA's National Air Quality Conference, the California Immunization Registry Annual Conference, and has provided counsel to dozens of organizations across the country.
Livestreaming
Kerry was a pioneer on Periscope, Twitter's live streaming service that launched in March, 2015. He gained thousands of followers as "The Periscope Expert", teaching livestreaming best practices and smartphone video production techniques to an eager live online audience. He is now known as "The Livestream Expert," incorporating livestreaming techniques for numerous popular platforms, including Facebook Live and YouTube.
Social Media
Kerry has been on the cutting edge of the online communications revolution, developing and implementing groundbreaking communications strategies for Sacramento County Public Health and others. He attracted national attention for Sacramento County Public Health through the innovative use of Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Skype during the H1N1 Flu Pandemic crisis in 2009/2010, and since that time has shared his expertise and experiences with other state and local agencies, helping them understand and participate in this most fundamental change in the way we communicate.
Video-for-Web
As a self-confessed technogeek, Kerry designed and built a small 3-camera web studio for Sacramento County Public Health that served as "home base" for shooting videos, podcasts, breaking health news updates and live interviews via Skype. The studio also became known as a perfect location for local TV reporters to shoot news interviews due to its colorful set and pre-installed e-studio lighting, which was much-appreciated by the growing numbers of "one-man-band" reporters who shoot, report, and edit their own stories. Kerry is active shooting and editing web videos for state and local businesses and agencies who realize the importance web video can play in communicating their message.
Corporate Communications
With wide-ranging experience at organizations such as Sacramento County Public Health, the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District, the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD), Bayside Church of Granite Bay, and the Sacramento County Environmental Management Department, Kerry has a wealth of hands-on issue management and media response expertise.
Audio-for-News
With his all-news radio reporting background serving as a guide, Kerry has garnered widespread airplay by creating ready-to-use audio cuts for radio newsrooms on a range of important health-related topics.
Radio Reporting
Kerry held a variety of progressively responsible positions as news writer, news editor, traffic reporter, reporter, weekend anchor and newsroom supervisor at Sacramento's NewsTalk 1530, KFBK. He served as a northern California news "stringer" (reporter) on stories of national or statewide interest for the CBS, NBC, Associated Press and Mutual radio networks, as well as KNX Newsradio 1070 in Los Angeles. He also served as backup airborne traffic reporter for KFBK's two pilot/reporters.
Television
No stranger to TV, Kerry has both technical and on-camera experience. At KVIE Channel 6 (PBS), he handled volunteer and on-call paid positions as video switcher, audio engineer, floor director, and camera operator. As on-camera talent, Kerry hosted live pledge drives, auctions, and public affairs programs.
Video Production
Kerry is an accomplished videographer and editor. He regularly uses the latest HD video cameras and computer editing software to produce web videos for a variety of business and government clients.
Emergency Response and Crisis Communications
Fires - floods - earthquakes - Kerry has covered them all, both as a reporter and as a corporate communications professional. He is well-versed in Emergency Operations Center procedures using SEMS and NIMS and has served on many crisis communications teams, both during actual events and during scores of drills and exercises. He is a team member of Media Survival Group, which trains persons serving as Public Information Officers to work together during emergencies. He has also provided media training to help public information personnel respond effectively to media inquiries.