The Business of Sport International Sports Convention

Hilary Wells - Chief HR Officer, Chief HR Officer, Sony Sports Businesses, Hawk-Eye Innovations Ltd, Beyond Sports & Pulselive
 
Hilary on ED&I: 

“ED&I is huge on our agenda, not only for me and my team from an HR perspective, but its an expectation from the employment market that we are “on point” when it comes to ED&I, as well as sustainability, environment, community – all those social impact aspects that are really important to us.

There’s more work to do, but we have done quite a lot of work already, ensuring that we have got ED&I in our job descriptions to make sure that we are attracting the right balance, making sure that we are not being discriminatory and having unconscious biases.”
Hilary on Sports Integrity:

“It is a huge responsibility for our business, that puts ourselves up as the lead in sports tech for officiating purposes. For us, we just do what we need to do in order to make sure that the data that’s provided to our partners is 100% accurate and then do what we can to ensure that data is used as effectively and professionally as it possibly can be.
We want to be the Good Guys in sport. I think we are. It’s a big responsibility, but it’s what we do.”
Hilary on being part of Sony.

“Being part of the Sony Company is extremely valuable to us. Not only is it a quality guarantee, it also allows us access to different investments, it allows us to think bigger than we might do if we were an independent business.

Our challenge is how we make sure we can exist within the Eco System of Sony, but also ensure that we are an innovations business. 

We have sort of got the best of both worlds really – the opportunity of a major corporation, as well as being able to operate in the way which we need to.” 

Eric Stark is a co-founder and President of Slate, a US-based company that simplifies social content creation for brands, making the process much faster.
Winners of the 2022 ISC Sports Tech Company of the Year, they've been in business now for almost five years.
Eric makes no secret of the fact that his business journey began as an NFL fan first and foremost. He rose through the NFL to become Director of International Marketing and Content Stratgey and also, Manager of International Content Strategy.
His CV includes time with the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs.
But having worked for multiple teams, along with a business partner, he spotted a gap in the market and Slate was born.
Eric gained a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Film & Media studies from UC Santa Barbara in 2012.
 
Eric Stark on getting into the Digital Sports Media Industry: "My first role out of college was with the NFL in a digital media capacity. I will say I joined the company and was interested in the role because of the NFL side not because of the digital media side and it was a good pairing because I quickly fell in love with the digital media side and specifically, how digital media and sports come together and that started my career. I have been in the digital media and sports world ever since, but really, I was just an NFL fan who had a best friend in college with a sister who worked at the NFL and I wouldn't stop bugging her, every other week, to say in touch and then an internship opened up and I got an interview and the rest went from there!"
 
Eric Stark on Slate's USP: When we started, it was about speed for sure. We started as a mobile editing tool only, and it really was about speed of turnaround, especially when you are in person at an event. But there is a need for all social teams across industries to just be more nimble. Yes, speed is part of that, but really it's just about being able to have an idea and to easily execute it and create content.
There's a higher volume of social content that every brand needs to create and there are more platforms than ever that these brands need to create content for. That's only increasing and the need for short-form video content is only increasing and it's not easy to create this content. Teams have to use several different editing tools currently, like Premier and we are trying to make it easier for those teams to create that content without it having to pass through so many hands."
 
Eric Stark on where Slate goes in the future:
"We are starting to grow more with college athletics in the US. A lot of universities are using Slate for their athletic programmes and a lot of them that aren't, I think will start using it eventually.
Outside the US, we do have some Premier League Clubs and some other international football clubs and rugby and other sports that are popular in Europe and elsewhere, but there is still a lot of room for us to grow.
I am getting more interested in Premier League and international soccer and did a lot of work there when I worked at the NFL with different teams in the Premier League and I think that sport continues to have a really bright future in the US and we are seeing it grow more and more. With the Premier League on NBC and the World Cup coming soon and I live in Portland, Oregon right now, a city which really cares about it's MLS team, so that sport continues to interest me and it's something I will follow."

Niall Couper is the Chief Executive Officer of Fair Game, a fast-growing collaboration of professional football clubs campaigning to improve football governance.
With the support of more than forty world-renowned academics and a growing band of politicians, Fair Game, an ISC Season-Ticket holder, is committed to providing realistic and sustainable solutions to the challenges facing football.
Having recently signed an alliance with the Union of European Football clubs, Fair Game's influence in football globally is growing and Niall Couper, a key player in the re-birth of AFC Wimbledon, is the man leading the charge, on behalf of clubs facing the same kind of difficulties encountered by the former FA Cup winners.
 
 

Gabby  is the Senior Strategic Partner Manager for International Sports Convention Season Ticket holder, Greenfly, a digital platform seeking to maximise fan engagement opportunities for sports, clubs and leagues globally. Greenfly enables organisations to capture, distribute and organise content. They have become established as part of the short-form content infrastructure.
Gabby previously spent four years working for Meta in a Partnerships role and had a brief spell as New Media Partnerships Director for Copa 90. Gabby also includes Google among her previous employers and she has a First Class honours degree in International Business Management from Newcastle University.
Gabby on the evolution of short-form content: "When you look at the way short-form content has evolved  over the last few years, it's been pretty astronomical. You've had the introduction of social media platforms like Tik-Tok for instance, but equally, existing social media platforms, whether it's Instagram or You Tube have evolved their platforms to keep up with this shift in consumer trends.
Gabby on globalisation of content: "Because it is short, short-form content can translate into different interests and cultures. You can make that much more accessible to fans who don't have to sit there for several minutes. You can consume a good variety of short-form content in a short space of time and I think as long as the quality is there, you can translate and make short-form content appealing to all kinds of people. 
I think that although that kind of content appeals to sports fans, it also appeals to casual fans. So you don't have to be hardcore fans of tennis or F1, to watch that content. I do believe if the content is engaging and entertaining, you will get an audience. We try and show our clients that yes, you are a sports entity, but you have to be in entertainment too."
Gabby on User-Generated content: "USG is a really powerful tool to enable fans to be brought closer to the action. It makes content a lot more relatable to see yourself represented in that and touching on the diversity point of view, whether you are a league, a team, or a federation, you are able to represent the diversity of your fanbase and give them the microphone to tell their own stories and how they perceive the club and how they enjoy following the journey from their own perspective."
 

James Dobbs is the Managing Director of Sports News TV (SNTV), the world's leading sports news video agency. Working with over 200 rights holders globally, SNTV produces and distributes exclusive content every day to more than 1200 broadcast, digital and social media companies.

SNTV specialises in the production and distribution of branded content, as well as optimisation and monetisation of content across social media channels.

Anzhela Fokina is the Chief Executive officer of the Kateryna Biloruska Foundation, a charitable organisation established in 2019 to promote Health and Wellbeing in Ukranian communities through Education and Sports Participation for everyone.  

Anzhela has over 15 years experience in the Charitable and Social sector, having graduated from the Donetsk Institute of Economics and Humanities, with a Masters Degree in International Economics and Relations. 

She previously worked for the agricultural giant Syngenta, running their Corporate Social Responsibility operation across almost 100 countries worldwide. 

Anzhela co-ordinates the programme of activities for the KB Foundation, in spirts, education and mental health provision. 

Her responsibilities also include developing and expanding partnerships with the non-profit sector and public organisations across Europe and in the Ukraine. 

Anzhela on working with key partners: “Our owners and board members want to make a huge positive impact on society. If companies want to make a big impact on a community, they will do it. We don’t have a big team, but we try to involve sports ambassadors using teachers. Also, we involve government because we can do things for 20, or 2,000 people. But the government cover the whole territory of the Ukraine and so we can multi-applicate our efforts and what we are doing, on a government level. When government and businesses co-operate with us, we can make good results in a short period of time.” 

Anzhela on the challenges of working in the Ukraine currently: “It I really difficult, but now there are a lot of international projects working in Ukraine, but also our local operations too, because more and more people need support. Everyday it becomes more important because of the war and this conflict that we do things to help people with their health and mental health. That is more important than ever.” 

Anzhela on the future ambitions of the Kateryna Biloruska Foundation: “We have now reached a very difficult task where we need to increase external funding through some donors and grants. We are facing a very difficult period of reconstructing Ukraine and that’s why we need to increase assistance and at the end of the conflict, for at least 10 or 15 years, we will work with the consequences, which will primarily effect physical and mental health. It is a very big amount of people who would need this support.”