Mind the gender gap at BVE

Last week I attended BVE, the expo where creative and tech professionals meet once a year and share the latest trends in the world of media and technology. BVE consists of three days of seminars and talks, which aim to facilitate innovation and support the growth of the industry.

Before diving into the key highlights, and with International Women’s Day coming up on Friday 8th March, I have done my maths and counted the number of speakers: a total of 161! That is a generous number. Out of the 161, only 22 were women, a very modest 13%.

It would be unfair to blame BVE for this number, as this is rather a reflection of a reality that needs to be urgently addressed in the industry. According to smallbiztrends, only 20% of tech jobs are held by women. So, we will do the same exercise next year and we look forward to seeing a more encouraging result. It is in our hands.

Having said that, here comes a round up of my key takeaways from BVE…

Understand your own capacity

BVE aims to serve as a platform where media professionals can come together and collaborate. Hence it is important to be aware of your own in-house capacity and be ready to team up internally and externally when appropriate.

Brands will be the next broadcasters

Video has evolved from ‘something nice to have’ to something crucial. According to Insivia, 95% of viewers retain communicated information through video, while only 10% retain information from reading it in text. Brands have realised that not only video makes information easier to digest but also reaches our emotions, and we are emotional creatures by nature.

Think about the audience

Brands are not the only ones producing content. By 2020, 84% of all web traffic will be video content (Cisco), and people are producing a good bunch of this content as well as setting up creative trends. For instance, the table has now turned and what’s happening in social media is driving what happens in TV.

The number of screens around us has also certainly increased. Consequently, we have a splendid opportunity to use channels of communication to both challenge and be challenged by the audience.