Tom McGann Memorial Summit – Tackling skills shortages in the broadcast & media industry
Organised by IABM Educational Foundation, in conjunction with ABU and AIBD, the summit brought together representatives and leaders from companies in the technology supply chain, broadcasters, system integrators, education, government and broadcast and trade associations from the Asia-Pacific region with the aim of helping employers build the skills and people they need to be successful and effective in this sector. The summit immediately preceded the ABU 2017 Digital Broadcasting Symposium.
The Tom McGann Engineering the Future Summit worked with industry representatives and leaders to identify the skills shortages they struggle with, then more importantly what changes and initiatives are needed to improve things and what their organizations and businesses can do to bridge that gap. The Kuala Lumpur summit sought to extend and apply the actions developed at the previous summit held in Geneva (see below), identifying and assigning additional actions that are applicable.
The Score – 2017 worldwide benchmarking survey – Read the results here
The 2017 Tom McGann Memorial Summit was held in Kuala Lumpur. Read the full report here
About the Tom McGann Memorial Summit
Our industry faces an ongoing challenge attracting talented people to sustain and grow this exciting business. Every two years IABM stages the Tom McGann Memorial Summit to bring together all sides of the broadcast and media industry to find new ways to tackle technical skills shortages, determine future needs for engineering staff resources and address how they might be met.,
“We got into this industry because we love media. We need to take that, and use that passion for what we do to go out and make sure that the best and the brightest want to come into our industry. We need to provide them with a mechanism to come into this industry, and we need to ensure they are rewarded and engaged once they do.” 2014 Summit Chair, Niall Duffy.
The summit is themed “Engineering the Future” and is staged biennially in different geographical regions, bringing together students, academics and engineers from broadcasters, media organizations and their technology suppliers. Participants will tackle barriers to entry, career pathways, training needs and continuing professional development. Summit outcomes will be disseminated around the industry to build understanding, foster best practice and highlight issues that need to be addressed on an industry-wide basis.
The first event took place in association with the European Broadcasting Union and their Eurovision Academy in Geneva in November 2014. You can find out more about the 2014 Summit by clicking the link below.
2014 Tom McGann Summit Executive Summary
Tom McGann
Tom McGann OBE spent his career in the broadcast industry. He was one of the founders of IABM and Chairman for over 20 years, driving forward the interests of technologists, as well as its commercial status. During his time at IABM he played a pivotal role in the movement to transform IBC into the truly International annual convention that it is today.