P.s. We’ve made some changes to our Positive Speakers program
LPV’s Positive Speakers program has undergone several updates this March, including a new name, new digital content, and a refreshed online presence.
Previously known as the Positive Speakers Bureau (PSB), the program is now simply called Positive Speakers (PS). The change follows consultation with community members who felt the word “bureau” sounded overly governmental and did not reflect the breadth and accessibility of the program. The new name better represents the range of talks and conversations delivered by speakers who share their lived experience of HIV.
Over the past several months, members of the Positive Speakers program have recorded a series of short video interviews that will be published on the LPV website and our dedicated YouTube channel, Poslink+ Watch. Some of the videos are already available to watch. The interviews showcase the faces and voices of several members of the program and offer insight into why people choose to share their lived experience of HIV.
Alongside this, the Positive Speakers webpages are currently being refreshed. The updated pages will place a stronger emphasis on imagery and visual information to showcase what the program delivers, while reducing the amount of text and making the content easier to engage with.
David O’Keeffe, Coordinator of the Positive Speakers program, said the changes reflect how the program and its membership have evolved.
“We’ve made changes to the program to ensure it’s more responsive, effective, and aligned with the needs of our community. For quite a while now the Positive Speakers program was not reflective of the changes in membership the program has seen in the past seven years.
We’ve gone from a program that was predominantly older, white and male to one where 45% of speakers are migrants or people from multicultural backgrounds. We needed to reflect that diversity in what was on the website and make the program relevant into the future, meeting the needs of all who wish to share their stories.”
If you are interested in joining the Positive Speakers program, contact David O’Keeffe at dokeeffe@lpv.org.au or see more here.