The Next... NEXTRAD.IO

Some  media / radio conferences can be a bit dull.

Especially if you wonder into a session that, according to the description, sounds pretty good... but after 5 minutes you realise the speaker hasn’t prepared or rehearsed very well, has exceptionally bland slides just crammed full of text, and is doing the topic a real injustice. Then you’re potentially stuck there... for an hour.

I’m obviously far too polite to walk out of someone’s session mid-flow... although there was one time, (not in band camp) but in a very small breakout session, with about 20 people in it, where I faked receiving a phone call and ran from the room like an expectant father, never to return. At that point, I felt my life was not long enough to listen to this particular producer's “inspirational music” for any longer than necessary. For all I know, some people are still trapped in that dark room in Copenhagen trying to escape.

Anyway – if you like the sound of those type of sessions, then stay away from ‘NEXTRAD.IO’!

Yes – the conference for those who make radio and care about content is back for another year, making a welcome return. Last year there was a great line-up of interesting speakers, of which I was pleased to be one. In a ‘tip of the hat’ to TED, we all had 9 or 18 minutes to say something relevant and engaging.

I think it was Churchill (or someone similarly great) who said that “it’s easy to make a speech for 2 hours... but for 10 minutes... that takes some preparation!”. So focusing everything down was a really good exercise to do. ‘Less is More’... and all that.

So – the organisers, Matt Deegan and JamesCridland, are looking for suggestions of who should speak this year, which is a nice touch. So if you have any thoughts, let them know. Likewise if you want to sign up to attend, you can do that too.

‘Being inspired’ is an essential part of our work like. We all need to be inspired on a regular basis. The results are always positive, as it fuels your creativity and desire to do better work, which can’t be a bad thing... can it?

So, if you fancy being inspired... you could do worse that go along for the day.

To get a flavour of nextradio, all the videos are now online. Here’s mine...