VIENNA — “The World is Listening” is the theme for this year’s Radiodays Europe conference, which opened on Sunday in the Austrian capital.
Reflecting this, the first day saw a range of masterclasses featuring speakers from around the world. These included “Ask Elvis” with Elvis Duran, morning show host for Z100 in New York; voice training with Spain’s Emma Rodero; and “Peak Performance: Working with talent” with Travis Kemp, a consulting, coaching and organisational psychologist from Australia.
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Alongside this, the “Fast and Curious” networking session brought together 10 topics, hosted on 10 tables, for 10 minutes each on key issues in the world of radio. The topics included smart speakers, hosted by Tom Webster, senior vice president at Edison Research; radio in the car with Nick Piggott, project office manager for RadioDNS; and podcasting hosted by Mitch Secrett from Omny.
This year also saw the launch of an initiative to create greater connections for women attending Radiodays, with a special session on Sunday afternoon bringing together both women and men to discuss issues of gender equality and to network. The session was introduced by Marja Keskitalo, head of radio at Yle in Finland, and hosted by Cheyenne Mackay from the sonOhr Radio and Podcast Festival in Switzerland.
Sunday’s opening night reception took place in the appropriate setting of Vienna’s Haus der Muzik (The Sound Museum). It was hosted by ORF, the Austrian public broadcaster, and VÖP, the Association of Commercial Broadcasters in Austria.
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Across the three days of Radiodays Europe 2018, more than 120 speakers are taking part in over 50 sessions, at the Austria Center in Vienna.
