I chatted with Hilary Knight, Seb Chan, and Aled John to hear a bit more about what they'll be talking about at this month's Digital Works Conference as well as what they're looking forward to.
We looked at the potential of informal networking, discussing how tea break chats can lead to new ideas and fortify the cultural community. The lessons that the Financial Times' strategic pivot to digital could hold for the cultural sector, and the value of international collaboration and discussion.
I chatted with Hilary Knight, Seb Chan, and Aled John to hear a bit more about what they'll be talking about at this month's Digital Works Conference as well as what they're looking forward to.
We looked at the potential of informal networking, discussing how tea break chats can lead to new ideas and fortify the cultural community. The lessons that the Financial Times' strategic pivot to digital could hold for the cultural sector, and the value of international collaboration and discussion.
Hello and welcome to the Digital Works podcast, the podcast about digital stuff in the cultural sector. My name's Ash and today's episode of the podcast episode 47, is a special Digital Works Conference preview episode of Bytes. I spoke to three of our speakers Hilary Knight, Seb Chan and Aled John to hear a bit more about what they're going to focus on in their sessions and also what they're looking forward to at the conference more generally. Enjoy, generally Enjoy. You have just come back from South by Southwest.
Speaker 1:You are quite jet lagged, so we will start with my second question first, which is we've got a two-day conference in Leeds looking at digital stuff in the cultural sector. What are you looking forward to about the Digital Works Conference?
Speaker 2:There's lots I'm looking forward to. I have to confess, generally when I come to conferences, the main thing I'm looking forward to is the tea breaks, and that's not because I'm a slacker, that's because usually where the most useful conversations happen, that's when you connect with the people that you come there to see and you can follow up with speakers and you can discuss what you've all just heard and you hear everybody's reflections and you hear what everybody else is up to, and you know that's quite often some of the most inspiring and stimulating kind of conversations happen over a coffee or, frankly, at the bar. And I have to say it was the same at South by Southwest. So I've got great hopes for digital works.
Speaker 2:Having said that, of course, there are lots and lots of sessions that I'm really looking forward to. Loads of brilliant speakers are coming. I suppose, just really rolling my eyes down the schedule really fast, I'm really struck by how many smart women are going to be speaking, which I'm always delighted to see, and I'm especially looking forward to people like hearing from Carty Price and Anna Rafferty and Claire Reddington. They're always really intelligent and insightful discussions and I learn something from them every time they speak. But also, on a personal note, I've never seen Seb Chan speak in person and I'm really looking forward to that. Hey, seb, I'm looking forward to meeting you. But yeah, you can tell I'm jet-lagged, I'm slightly overhyped.
Speaker 1:I may have overdone the caffeine this morning, sorry that's fine, because it's 10 am in the UK at the moment.
Speaker 1:Your body thinks it's about three o'clock in the morning, so caffeine is completely acceptable in massive quantities necessary absolutely but I do think it's interesting that you sort of you identified the tea breaks, the coffee breaks because Digital Works sort of grew out of my experience of all of the best conversations I'd had at conferences were over lunch, they were in a coffee break, they were traveling from one session to another session, they were at the social thing in the evening, and that has always been something we've tried to sort of hold space for in our Digital Works events, and that's certainly true of the conference.
Speaker 1:There are lots of coffee breaks. We've got a proper lunch break, we've got a social organised. You know, and I think, as you've said, events like this in-person events it's as much about the other people in the audience as it is what's happening on the stage. And you know it's really exciting to see the breadth of people that are booking tickets. You know the way that we're setting up the space. You won't all be sat in rows, you will be sat around tables so you'll be able to have conversations with more than just the people sat to your left and your right. And you know that's what I'm really looking forward to is to see what happens in the month, six months, 12 months after this conference. That's sort of catalyzed by conversations that happen at the Leeds City Museum.
Speaker 2:Right, exactly Because those kinds of connections also you know it's ultimately everybody is network building. I mean, networking is this slightly icky thing but through those conversations quite naturally sort of building and strengthening an ecosystem of people who are all working in this space and sharing knowledge and sharing skills, and that can only be a good thing absolutely and more specifically, you are going to be one of those things happening on stage.
Speaker 1:you're taking part in a panel with nick sherrod and helen page and fran sanderson looking at funding and partnerships and specifically how digital maybe opens up new opportunities or different ways of entering those conversations, sort of from your AEA perspective, what are you hoping that that conversation will touch on and look at?
Speaker 2:I'm really looking forward to this conversation because I'm hoping it's one of the conversations I'm going to learn from while I'm actually in it. We're doing a lot of thinking about business model innovation and this speaks exactly to that this panel. It's not going to surprise anyone. We all know the funding environment is incredibly difficult here in the UK, but funding for arts and culture around the world, and certainly the Western world, is shifting. Public funding is in decline and certainly in the UK has been for over a decade now.
Speaker 2:But also, looking at grants and foundations and philanthropic funding, their focus has changed as well and what they're ready and willing and interested in funding, what their priorities are, has changed. So cultural institutions, how they are funded and how they generate income whether that's contributed or earned income has to adapt and has to change. And that's post-COVID thing, it's also an inflation thing, it's also a big macroeconomic thing and there are lots of different ways of approaching this problem and discussing it and I'm really hoping that we'll be able to get through those in the time that we have on stage. You know thinking about from the role of digital in generating more contributed income to how organisations can think about their business model and innovating their business model to create more earned income opportunities to corporate and foundation-based partnerships, and working in partnership with other organisations, and particularly the corporate space.
Speaker 1:You know there are lots and lots of different ways of approaching it, so I'm hoping that's what we're going to dig into and that's what I'm hoping to hear more about myself yeah, and I think you know, one of the exciting things for me is the conversation about money, particularly in the UK at the moment is, you know, if it's not first on the agenda, it's second on the agenda, and what I'm really looking forward to is we've got all of those different perspectives in the room. We've got funders, we've got people from corporates, we've got people from technology partners, we've got people from consultancies like AEA, we've got people from cultural organizations and also we've got perspectives from other countries. You know, people from the Netherlands and Canada and the US and Sweden and Denmark and France and Australia and Hong Kong will all be in the room and I think it's really interesting to have these types of conversations with perspectives from lots of different countries and different funding models.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and there's a ton to learn from that kind of breadth of perspective. And you know, this is something that the sector as a whole is grappling with. So there's always going to be something to learn from other people. But also, I think, there's something that comes out of discussing it in a more discursive space. We're back to the tea breaks, because what we're talking about is how we adapt business models and operating models, how organizations are going to have to change how they do things and why they do things and how they approach the things to kind of adapt to this. But it's important. Money is always going to be the top concern, because without it you can't do any of the things that we all want to do and that we're all set up to do. And it's that kind of business model adaptation and operating model adaptation I'm especially interested in, obviously, because that's kind of what we do at AEA.
Speaker 1:Brilliant. Well, thanks so much, hilary. I'll see you in Leeds Pleasure, looking forward to it. Before we talk about what you're looking forward to, seb, what are you going to be talking about when you give your keynote at the end of day one? It's a very good question.
Speaker 4:I think you know I'm going to be talking a lot about where we are in the landscape of technology and media as cultural orgs now, where we've come from and how the moment has changed and we need to ensure that we don't lose sight of what we want to make possible and for whom and how, and that that is perhaps quite different to how we might have thought about things five years ago, 10 years ago and certainly at the end of last century.
Speaker 4:And I think that optimism that we had, and for many of us and many of the people who are speaking at the conference, that optimism has soured in the last five to 10 years and that has become now a souring across, across our communities at large, but that we do need to ensure that we do have an ongoing curiosity about what technology makes possible, but also how that might manifest in how leadership of cultural orgs imagine and then lead into that curiosity so that our organizations are able to engage with and deliver the kinds of things that our constituents, our citizens, our audiences, our artists and creators that we work with expect and need us to do. And I'll be drawing a lot on the lessons learned, I guess, over the last little while in my various roles, but also throughout the programs that I've been running with cultural leaders around Australia and the Pacific, but also in discussions with many others around the world around how do we move the sector forward but also not always be a follower of the?
Speaker 1:latest tech hype. Yeah, and I think you know, when we've talked about this session and we've talked on the podcast, that idea of imagining different possible futures feels increasingly sort of urgent, given all the various challenges the sectors in all countries is facing. It's so critical.
Speaker 4:You know, I think it's such a critical thing and I think that's really what I'm excited to be in Leeds for is actually to connect again with heaps of these folks who I've known, some for nearly 20 years and others I'll be meeting for the first time, but that sort of sense of that.
Speaker 4:There are a lot of really shared challenges here, but we all have slightly different contexts we operate in and there's a lot we can learn from each other around the contextual specificities that make some things possible in some organizations, some things impossible in some organizations and some things just hard. But some of the things that are hard are really worth persisting with and I think also some of the methodologies we use are very transportable across different domains, and I guess that's really the thing that I've realized more over my career obviously having feet in lots of different parts of well, I have lots of feet, it turns out, but many arms, many tentacles in lots of pies, or whatever the terrible metaphor might be. There's lots of lessons across different types of cultural practice, different organizational sizes and scales and different networked technologies have had the effect of connecting us up better, but not necessarily enabling us to collaborate better. Despite all, the collaborate differently is probably a better way of saying it.
Speaker 1:Great Well, Seb, safe travels and we'll see you in Leeds. You will indeed. Hello alid.
Speaker 3:I'm looking forward to having a quick chat with you about this conference that we are both involved with.
Speaker 1:I'm really looking forward to it as well. So ft strategies are sponsoring the event and you are actually speaking in two sessions. You're moderating a panel session and you're also giving one of the keynotes on Wednesday, the 24th, in the morning, so maybe we'll start with the keynote. What are you going to be talking about? What are you going to be looking at? What are you going to be discussing?
Speaker 3:Sure, well, first of all, thank you for having me. I'm really looking forward to the conference because I'll tell the attendees, I guess, a little bit about FT strategies, but really the main focus is how the FT, the Financial Times, transformed itself and its fortunes, I guess, and its ability to sustain itself over a number of years. And I guess the lessons that can be extrapolated from that are quite important and they're very useful and very practical and relevant for other sectors, in particular ones which are, I guess, as many are exposed to structural or existential challenges to do with changes in consumer behavior, the impact of technology, the challenges of capabilities in the organizations, et cetera, et cetera. So, yeah, I think there's an incredibly interesting story to tell there for the Financial Times, where I work, and how to innovate through those challenges and what it takes for a big legacy organization to do so. I think that's the healthy dose of pragmatism and reality, hopefully, that I can bring, but really looking forward to the event, yeah, and I'm interested.
Speaker 1:One of the reasons I asked you to speak is because it does feel that the FT's digital transformation has been a genuine transformation. It's not just about having a nicer website or offering a bit of digital stuff. It feels like the organization has completely changed from top to bottom culturally, mindset, business model, you know, editorial model all of these things have transformed yeah, they have, and there's still work to be done, right.
Speaker 3:But I guess what is interesting about the financial times is from an external perspective. It is one of the most well-established heritage brands, if you like, in the news publishing space, but but also just full stop in the uk media market, and it is seen as both a almost a cultural institution as much as as it is, a provider of incredibly trustworthy news and opinion and commentary and everything else. I guess there is a benefit to having a real burning platform underneath you, which is you need to make decisions pretty bloody quickly to change your organization, and the FTE is placed some very extraordinary and well-foresighted bets, if you like, on where they thought the business needed to get to, and in truth, I think their hands were slightly tied right. They knew they had to change because if they didn't, the economics around their business would not allow it to sustain itself. That's not a new story.
Speaker 3:In many ways, I think what's interesting about the FT is it is a heritage brand, it's a legacy that's been around for a very long time and probably one which you wouldn't necessarily associate with kind of top to bottom, nose to tail, digital transformation and, as you say, there are many parallels that could be deduced from that, if you like, to arts and culture.
Speaker 3:We at FT Strategies take some of those lived lessons to organisations in the cultural space. There's also many other differences, right, it's not the case that many arts organizations can completely upend their business model to be fully focused on digital and not that the FT is, by the way, because print and live experiences and convening forums and events and otherwise are all very much part of the mix. But I guess what it realized was getting closer to an understanding of customer need, user need, the benefits of a scalable business model which didn't rely solely on in-person or physical assets like a print distribution, had a lot of opportunity for the FT, I guess. So the organization took many years to kind of shift the tanker, if you like. I guess, where we come from FT Strategies, that is, we extract that and we take it to other organisations so they can learn from it and hopefully do it in a much quicker way. What was 20 years for the FT can be a lot quicker for organisations that the FT supports now. But I think it's a very interesting story to tell.
Speaker 1:You're also chairing a panel discussion in the afternoon of day one, so we'll also be hearing from Oliver from the audience agency, we'll be hearing from Christina, who works at the Royal Opera House, and Katie, who's at the People's History Museum, and that session is focused on data. You know, working digitally gives you a mountain of data, a mountain of potential insights, but you know, we hear all the time cultural organisations often struggle to know where to start to actually make use of all of that stuff, and that's what your afternoon session will be focused on. What particular areas are you interested in digging into in that chat?
Speaker 3:it's such an interesting topic because it befuddles a lot of people and, depending on the organization you're in, there are different views as to the utility of quote-unquote data to To some people it's a massive enabler and, to be fair, I think most people and most leaders grasp that.
Speaker 3:But looking through the soup of data that any activity frankly, physical or digital that is created and digital does give you the opportunity to see so much more is one of the biggest challenges of the time, in a way, and extracting, to put it in a, I guess, quite a boring way, the metrics that matter to any organization and all the data that underpins those metrics, and really simplifying it so that it's actionable, again focusing on the practicalities and the pragmatism that's required to make it actionable.
Speaker 3:That in itself is a really interesting challenge for any organization to grapple with. So simplifying it, making, making it understandable, how you then disseminate it and make it actionable and consistent and consistently applied is a really interesting and important challenge to solve for, and it's one that the ft has done a lot of work on, as you can appreciate, and with any kind of editorial or creatively driven organization and it's definitely fair to say, the newsroom is, you know, the driving force of the ft- as it is with many media organizations, and same would be said, I'd imagine, of cultural institutions and the creative force within them.
Speaker 3:How you take into consideration data, into decisions that editorial or creatively driven orgs have to make, is an ongoing opportunity and challenge, I think, for any player in the space. So, yeah, I would love to get into all of that with those incredible panelists that you've got on the panel, ash.
Speaker 1:Fantastic and away from your sessions. What else are you looking forward to at the conference? Are there other speakers you're particularly interested to hear from, or you know just the fact that there's two days, several hundred digital professionals all coming together to be together in a museum in leeds?
Speaker 3:well, that is also great and genuinely. Actually, that's probably the key point for me, which is, I think many industries do their best work when they try to take into consideration external stimulus and lessons and best practice from other areas, and so there's some incredible attendees and speakers across the conference. So, whether it's from a funding perspective and understanding how the funding models are adjusting or how digital is being adopted in different spaces entirely like we have a speaker from the Lego group that is, for me, going to be particularly exciting because there will be ripe opportunity to share useful insights. The main thing for me is making sure it is a, as I said you've heard the word a few times a really practical couple of days where people can walk away with very clear ideas to how to improve or evolve their businesses. But yeah, it will be a, as we say in the trade, a learning experience, because that's why I'm there to learn from many others and hopefully share a few ideas of my own Brilliant.
Speaker 3:Wow, I there to learn from many others and hopefully share a few ideas of my own.
Speaker 1:Brilliant well, I'll see you in leeds, can't wait. Thanks for listening to this episode of bytes. You can find all episodes of the podcast on our website at the digital dot works, where you can also find more information about our events and sign up to the newsletter. Our theme tune is Vienna, beat by Blue Dot Sessions. And, last but not least, thanks to Mark Cotton for his editing support on this episode. See you again soon.