LAUSANNE, Switzerland – SportAccord the leading annual global gathering for sporting leaders involved in the business of sport, today confirmed its MediaAccord conference programme: Media’s Ever Important Role and Contribution to Sport and Society, taking place on Thursday 9 May 2019 in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.

‘The rate of change in women’s sports is one of the most exciting trends in the sports industry,’ ran the headline in a recent Nielsen Sports Women’s Sports research report (2018) which covered 8 markets including Australia and New Zealand.

However, normalising sports for every woman and girl is still a big challenge for many countries around the world.

Jennah Wootten, General Manager Partnerships and Communications, Sport New Zealand said:

“Sport New Zealand is leading our sector’s response to a new central government strategy designed to empower women and girls to reach their potential through sport and active recreation. 

“Like many other countries we have concerning underrepresentation of women and girls being physically active, occupying leadership roles and lagging behind men in terms of value and visibility. 

“This new strategy has energised the sector and builds on recent successes such as securing the hosting rights for International Working Group on Women in Sport Conference 2022. It is an exciting time to be a female working in sport within New Zealand.” 

During her MediaAccord case study, Jennah will share details of the new government strategy for New Zealand, its fresh initiatives and how the sport and recreation sector has responded to them, as well as the hardest obstacles to overcome in the future.

In the last few years, increasing numbers of professional leagues can now be found worldwide, and in Australia, women’s leagues such as the Rebel Women’s Big Bash and the Women’s Australian Rules Football League (AFLW), are attracting large audiences, stand-alone sponsorships and broadcast revenue.

While coverage of female athletes and women’s sport have increased considerably, there are still challenges for women working, or hoping to work, in sports media. What can be done to help create positive media guidelines with regard to gender equality in competition schedules and coverage? 

What are some pro-active steps for ensuring better female representation within written, tv and photographer media circles? What is the media’s role in how female athletes are/should be portrayed? And, how can sports media best engage the public to promote a healthier, more active society?

A panel session discussing Women in Sport Media will address these challenges. Panellists taking part include: Clare Briegal, Chief Executive Officer, International Netball Federation; Belinda Clarke AO, Interim Executive General Manager Team Performance Cricket Australia; Tracey Holmes, Senior Reporter/Presenter, News Radio ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation); and Jennah Wootten.

This will follow with a debate on Major Event Bidding and Media and discuss how cities can get the public onboard with: Alain Mercier, Editor in Chief, Francs Jeux; Philip Pope, General Manager Communications, Queensland Rugby Union; Wayne Smith, Senior Sport Writer, The Australian. 

MediaAccord will conclude with the Case Study: Brand Architecture and Social Media Monetisation for federations and athletes presented by Ben Parsons, Founder, Ministry of Sport & Playa Power.

In addition to MediaAccord moderated by James Pearce, Sports Broadcaster, BBC, a full conference programme will take place across the week with 4 additional conference streams: SportAccord Summit, LawAccord, CityAccord and HealthAccord.

Organisations can register for SportAccord and attend conference sessions as well as the many networking opportunities offered within the Official Schedule during the World Sport & Business Summit.

To become an Exhibitor or Partner contact the sales team: sales@sportaccord.com or phone +41 21 612 3070. To register as a delegate and 

Follow developments and updates via Twitter @sportaccord using #SA2019, or keep up-to-date via LinkedIn and Facebook. 

For media enquiries, email the Media Relations Officer: jenny.edmondson@sportaccord.com

SportAccord

SportAccord brings together international sports federations and organisations involved in the business of sport. The annual World Sport & Business Summit is a six-day event attended by leaders of the global sports community. It engages international sports federations, athletes, industry, rights holders, organising committees, cities, government, agencies, media, technology, legal teams, medical professionals, inventors, and subject matter experts – represented at the highest levels.

SportAccord is the only global sports business event attended by all the international sports federations and their stakeholders, who host their Annual General Assemblies during SportAccord.

These stakeholders include: ASOIF (Association of Summer Olympic International Federations), AIOWF (Association of International Olympic Winter Sports Federations), ARISF (Association of IOC Recognised International Sports Federations), AIMS (Alliance of Independent Recognised Members of Sport), GAISF (Global Association of International Sports Federations) and Associate Members. SportAccord receives the full support of the International Olympic Committee.

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Jennah Wootten

Jennah Wootten is the General Manager of Partnerships & Communications at Sport NZ. She joined the organisation in June 2018 and leads teams responsible for managing relationships with the organisation’s investment partners. This includes improving their organisational capability in response to recent athlete welfare reviews, together with marketing, digital, communications and commercial, and working with national sporting organisations to secure major events and deliver new high-performance facilities. She is also leading Sport’s NZ approach to Diversity and Inclusion including the organisation’s response to the Women and Girls in Sport and Active Recreation Strategy launched in October 2018.

Ms Wootten was previously Chief Executive of the hugely successful World Masters Games 2017 – a major event involving more than 28,000 participants from over 100 countries, competing across 28 sports that exceeded all KPIs and generated a surplus of $831,000 which has now been returned to amateur sport.

Her earlier roles include General Manager – Destination at ATEED, leading a team of more than 40 responsible for major events, business events and tourism. This followed success in senior roles in major events at ATEED, Auckland City Council and North Shore City Council.