NEXT RADIO 2017 LONDON

On Monday , I attended the Next Radio Conference in London. The event brings many speakers from all over the world to share their ideas to help radio to continue to reinvent and adapt..... The curators / hosts were Creative Director- New Media & Radio Consultancy ,Matt Deegan and Radio Futurologist, speaker, writer, James Cridland.Well impressed with their whole presentation and definitely brought a fresh new appeal to the world of radio.

After a morning coffee and croissant with my colleague, we took the tube to Piccadilly Circus and arrived at the Royal Institution in Mayfair. The place was flooded with all types of people in the industry, soaking in the atmosphere! It was a radio networking paradise , alive with radio enthusiasts taking notes and spreading the word through social media.

The Speakers came from all corners of the world covering many topics in media including Podcasting, Commercial Inspiration, Journalism News Reporting BFBS -The Forces Network. I loved Sindhu Vee speaking about Asian Network Comedy. Each one of them brought something different to the table.

My Top Speakers-

Sam Walker - What Radio can Learn from Horror Movies - I instantly loved Sam's positive, powerful ,dramatic energy and vibrant personality! She drew me right in and captured my attention. She played around with the horror theme, putting it into everyday radio shows, showing how the right elements can evoke any atmosphere and demonstrating how telling stories on radio in a really engaging connecting way is so effective. Music, sound effects, Putting the audience /viewer there in the story, creating that emotion, The whole theatre of the mind! Everything on air is a story! @walkersam . whatgoesonmedia.co.uk

Nails Mahoney - Why Radio Sucks - When Radio Coach, Nails came on, he just had that unique presence about him ...Straight away he won the audience over with his comical presentation and instantly had them laughing!. Totally connected with us and just loved his brutally honest opinion on radio. Nails’ “Gremlins in the System” animation created such a wonderful response; and the Hozier audio was hilarious! His comparison to radio ; past and present makes so much sense. You can stay stuck in the past, going nowhere and complaining that radio is not the same as it was in the good old days or YOU can do something about it! Well done, Nails Mahoney! You definitely flew the flag , not just for Ireland, but the whole radio industry! @nailsonair onaircoach.net facebook.com/onaircoach.net

James Cridland - Live Vs On Demand - Another speaker who really stood out for me was James Cridland. . His straight to the point futurologist look at radio fascinated me and gripped the whole audience. This man knows his stuff! Did you know 9 out 10 people still listen to radio? That's incredible! But radio isn't just the one you turn on and tune in. It's multi-platform now. Interesting look at demographics. The MIDAS Rajar figures reveal who is listening and what they are listening with. The Next Radio App is well worth a download. Really enjoyable and educational talk, James! Most definitely found it useful and helpful! @jamescridland james@crid.land

Matt Richardson and Kate Lawler announced the 2017's ARIAS Nominations live from NEXTRadio .Was happy to see Iain Lee in there for Best Speech Presenter – Non Breakfast and Jack FM ,Oxfordshire up for station of the year and best music presenter, Breakfast. The ARIAS take place next month in Leeds.

So, plenty of radio talk in the conference and outside. Some nice coffee and food too, even catering for us, vegetarians! That was nice of them! Lots of networking going on, swapping ideas and business cards, meeting new faces and of course the old familiar ones. That six degrees of separation theory really exists in the land of radio ; everyone knows everyone. Met up with a few myself including ,Programming consultant, Paul Easton , who recently worked at one of my favourite radio stations, Jack FM and also held some senior/management positions with several leading radio stations, including London’s Capital Radio and LBC, as well as BRMB (Birmingham) and Music Choice Europe. Met him the night before for drinks and the next day he surprised me with a tub of Jack FM happy pills.. which really put a smile at my face! Such a fan!! Check out his book too ; Programming Points

During the break, Nails Mahoney chatted to me about my new venture, Female On air Coaching. Why just females,? Well there seems to be many Males coaching but apparently nowhere to be found in Ireland and specifically concentrating on females on air. In life women talk to women , we empower each other, laugh , cry with..nothing like a good girlie chat. Men can relate to that lol..So I just said, why not!! Let's do this! traceyleemedia@gmail.com

A very inspiring and influential woman in radio that I had the pleasure of meeting was the lovely, Kate Cocker who's done a lot in her 15yrs, Kate's a Radio Coach, was a Radio Manager & Producer (BBC and Commercial) . I heard about Kate before I met her , watched her videos and read her work . One thing I love about her is her ethos "My mission is to help you to put your creativity, personality, and authenticity into your product, to enable you to create a meaningful and lasting connection with your audience". Here she is chatting to Nails Mahoney at the conference..

While I was in London, popped in to see Paul Hayes in Magic FM. He was telling us about his new venture ,voicetrackerhub . If you're a presenter or a programmer, see how voicetrackerhub can work for you! Great idea, Paul and best of luck with it!

So, overall a thoroughly good time in London! The party didn't stop after the Next Radio conference. We all packed ( and I mean packed lol) into The King's Head to have some bevies and of course more radio talk. I'd recommend the Next Radio event to anyone in radio, whether you're just starting off in radio to running the show as PD. The conference has something for everyone in the industry. James and Matt, well done and looking forward to Next Radio 2018.

Author - Tracey Lee