SVG Europe Women Scotland: Connecting with the Community success in Glasgow

At SVG Europe Women Scotland’s third event, host of the evneing, presenter and broadcaster Alison Walker, welcomes the crowd

SVG Europe Women Scotland’s latest event in Glasgow, Connecting with the Community, held in association with independent technical services provider QTV, was its biggest yet with around 70 guests crowding into the atmospheric Poetry Club.

The packed venue saw attendees from across Scotland and the North of England gather for an evening of networking and discussion, much of which was fuelled by the issues facing the integration and fostering of new talent in the region, with calls to action from many of the high profile speakers on stage.

Taking place on Thursday 21 March, the theme of ‘connecting with the community’ looked into how the entire sports broadcasting community can bring in, make space for and nurture young talent.

The evening began with an introduction from the host for the evening, Scottish broadcast and sports journalist, Alison Walker. She was followed by a welcome from head of SVG Europe Women and SVG Europe editor, Heather McLean, and then an introduction from QTV founder and CEO, Jack McGill.

The first panel of the evening was titled Nurturing the sports broadcasting ecosystem. [Left to right]
chair Alison Walker, QTV chief technology officer Gareth Gordon, Heather Andrews, freelance sound designer and engineer, EMG UK sales director Angela Gibbons and Tom Giles, IMG Studios’ vice president, director of engineering

Our speakers were Tom Giles, IMG Studios’ vice president, director of engineering, EMG UK sales director Angela Gibbons, Heather Andrews, freelance sound designer and engineer, and QTV chief technology officer Gareth Gordon. They discussed how OB firms, broadcasters and production companies from Scotland and England need to encourage, support, mentor and utilise newer people post-learning who are moving into the Scottish freelance community, ultimately for the growth of the region’s ecosystem.

The panel was challenged by chair, Walker, on how they could strive to create opportunities for young people coming into the sports broadcasting industry. Giles set the scene: “In 15 years I’d say that there hasn’t been an influx of people in this industry; 15 years ago I came up here, and again in 2024 many of the people that were working back then are still here.”

Gordon agreed: “Vision engineers who have been retired for 20 years are still coming back to work. These guys have seen it all from black and white,” he added, to laughter from the audience. “But that’s who you want on your job, with someone new sitting alongside.”

One of the major issues for getting younger people the experience they need in sports broadcasting in Scotland is the lack of regular work up here, noted Gordon, which makes that scenario of the experienced training up the inexperienced difficult. “The reality of Scotland is there is not the consistency of work to get the regular call to work,” he said. He continued: “Asking the freelance community to train people [while they’re working] is really difficult.”

To this, Andrews said: “I don’t know how many times I’ve turned up to a job and been told, “look after these trainees” but I’d like to be asked first and told what I’m supposed to be doing with them.”

She added that for freelancers there is also, “some nervousness [in training up a new generation because] is someone here going to take my job?”

Timi Adegunwa, founder and chair of Black & Scot, a dynamic organisation committed to elevating black excellence in Scotland and beyond, and EMG’s group environmental, social and governance director Rohan Mitchell, discussing inclusion in the session titled, Mind the gap: Fostering diversity and equality

This was followed by Timi Adegunwa, founder and chair of Black & Scot, a dynamic organisation committed to elevating black excellence in Scotland and beyond, and EMG’s group environmental, social and governance director Rohan Mitchell, discussing inclusion in the session titled, Mind the gap: Fostering diversity and equality.

Adegunwa and Mitchell spoke about how an inclusive and equitable workforce not only makes business sense, but can be achieved for the Scottish sports broadcasting industry by tapping into local communities to create a diverse workforce.

Mitchell commented that changing technologies have amalgamated and evolved roles in sports broadcasting over recent years, and EMG is aware it needs to do more to bring up the next generation of crew that can handle these new technologies: “Across our whole business we probably have 3,000 to 4,000 freelancers. From our perspective, we’ve really got to train our own talent going forwards. We’re looking for a diverse workforce… and we have to be conscious of offering the most support we can.”

Adegunwa stated that there are two key things that are creating barriers for a more diverse workforce in sports broadcasting, with the first that for people outside of this industry looking in that, “sometimes it’s that you’re not knowing where to look, that there are opportunities, so the first thing we need to do is create awareness.”

She added: “Also you need to see people that look like you; you need to see people on screen.”

The evening continued once the panels were over with excitement and plans to make change, with networking and socialising over food and drink.

SVG Europe Women strives to bring women in sports broadcasting together to create new contacts and relationships that will grow and empower the current and future generations of women in this exciting industry.

Recordings of the two panels from Connecting with the Community will be available on demand next week.

At SVG Europe Women Scotland’s third event, QTV CEO Jack McGill talks freelancers and challenges