I ran into a Coleman Insights client from the United States in the hall at the recent Radiodays Europe conference in Riga, Latvia. I asked him why he traveled all that way.
“There is a spirit of innovation and community here I needed to see for myself.”
For me, that spirit started early on Day 1 of the event. The first day of Radiodays Europe comprises individual summits covering topics such as AI, Inclusion, Kids, Programming, Sales and Monetization, and Podcasting. I was asked to participate as a facilitator at the Podcast Summit. Rather than the traditional speaker-on-stage format, we spent three hours in roundtable conversations, with participants rotating from table to table. A table attendee brought up a specific challenge they were facing in their business, and I facilitated a format involving asking clarifying questions and offering solutions. It was fresh, fun, actionable, and a nice blend of working, learning, and networking all at once.
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- One of the tables I facilitated at The Podcast Summit
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- The meeting hall at Radiodays Europe
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- The Podcast Summit at Radiodays Europe
There were some terrific sessions, including marketing expert Wade Kingsley’s “Have I Got Your Attention?”; an amazing conversation with Australian podcasters Toni & Ryan, who used to work in radio but now host their successful podcast full-time; an excellent talk from Stingray’s Steve Jones discussing radio’s evolving place in the entertainment landscape; and an interview with Christiana and Pollyanna from Flightstory, the company behind Steven Barlett’s massively popular “Diary of a CEO” podcast.
Mostly, it is a reminder of how much radio needs this. Attendees from over 50 countries found their way to Radiodays Europe. Every day at lunch, I’d walk up to a table, ask to join, and find myself talking with people from at least two or three of those countries. There is no shortage of welcoming, no shortage of ideas being shared.
This is what moving forward feels like.
