SVG Europe Women’s leadership workshop, which took place at the Football Summit on 26 February, was a resounding success, with over 50 guests in attendance.
At Everton’s Hill Dickinson Stadium in Liverpool, SVG Europe Women’s workshop, titled ‘Developing female leaders in sports broadcasting’, saw senior female executives and mentors from Sky Sports, Premier League Productions, and FilmNova talking about their own experiences as leaders as well as listening to and advising guests in three separate, simultaneous discussions.
In the packed room, the workshop explored leadership pathways in sports broadcasting to equip participants with the skills to grow into senior roles, as well as providing a sounding board for ideas and challenges around the area.
Speakers Lowri Davies, Premier League Productions’ director of broadcast services, Nia Wyn Thomas, Sky Sports’ football senior producer, and Alison Lombardi, FilmNova’s head of production and executive producer, each took a group of participants to talk in a relaxed and informal environment.
Each group spent time with each speaker in turn, listening to the speaker’s own experiences and views on leadership, with the discussion then opening up to the group. After 20 minutes the speakers rotated, giving each group time to talk with each speaker.
Rebecca Jackson, Caretta Research’s business development manager, said of the workshop: “I wanted to let you know how incredibly valuable I found the session on developing female leaders in sports. Thank you so much for facilitating such an excellent discussion, I took a lot away from it.”
Later in the day, guests were able to watch FilmNova’s Lombardi on stage discussing the production company’s new vision for coverage of the Women’s FA Cup for Channel 4. From editorial philosophy to production execution, Lombardi explored how this broadcast is being built, what it takes to engage new and existing audiences, and how progressive production choices can help accelerate growth and visibility for the women’s game.
