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The Social Highlight Reel From #WWRS2017
May 9, 2017
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Radio colleagues that weren't able to attend the seventh annual Worldwide Radio Summit last week have been asking how it went.
While insightful and inspiring are among the sentiments that apply, it's not easy to capture the spirit of what it's like to be at these events.
Running into old friends or getting to meet colleagues you've "known of" for years, face to face is uplifting - good for the soul.
We've been banged around a bit in our industry - watching some friends lose gigs as well as others bouncing back into even better jobs. We've also lost some friends in the past few years which make these industry events serve as a reminder of the importance of catching up with each other when we can.
So I'll do my best to pull you in the only way that "Merge" could do it - using the socially savvy attendees who (unknowingly) became "citizen journalists" to tell you a bit of the story.
Worldwide Radio Summit used the hashtag#WWRS2017 to organize what people were saying, as well as help everyone capture what was happening.
Captured socially - this is a very small fraction of the takeaways and camaraderie experienced.
It's important for our industry to hold this event. It's equally important for the industry to support it.
We get to talk with each other, learn and grow as a business. Many times you find it's the smallest things that resonate with you to take away and apply to your brand(s) and reputation (and maybe even yourself) to refine and reset.
There's also nothing better than reconnecting with the friends who have cared along the way.
WWRS2017 even showed off its Snapchat filter:
L to R: All Access President/Founder, Joel Denver and me.
SummitMedia/Greenville OM Mike Klein; me; iHeart Media's Toby Knapp.There was also the annual Industry Awards Luncheon - where peers vote for their favorites in various categories.
(Thank you for acknowledging me as the industry's "Online Executive of the Year.")
Thank you, Joel Denver, Sat Bisla and Monte Malone. The time and toll it takes on you and your respective teams to get our industry together for a couple days is appreciated.
Perhaps Tony Coles, EVP iHeart Media, sums the event up best:
It's truly a gathering not to miss. Hope you will make plans to attend #WWRS2018!
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Please enjoy MERGE archives here.