Conference theme: Are We Connected?

Are we connected to our audience the way we think we are? How well to serve their needs as a public broadcaster? How important are the cultural and language elements in that connection? How well to represent the communities living in our societies?
Selected experts, thinkers and observers of the media world and your pairs from regional broadcasting met for a two-day event rich in key talks, experience sharing and inspiring topics!

As always, the conference was also the moment to meet and get inspired by the winners of the Prix CIRCOM 2018!

Thursday, 24th May

Venue: Theater The Harmonie, Leeuwarden
Day 1 moderator: Carla Verhagen, Omroep Zeeland, The Netherlands

09:30 – 10:00 a.m. Opening Culture and Language
Word of welcome by Tone Kunst, President of CIRCOM Regional and Klaas Geert Bakker, Editor in Chief, Omrop Fryslân, The Netherlands

10:00 – 10:45 Questions are the New Comments
Janine Anderson (Hearken, USA) led the session Questions are the New Comments. Janine told how to really listen to your audiences and engage them as a story develops from pitch to publication. She presented how to get original, high-performing content along with valuable data and insights.

11.15 – 11.45 Pro-Kremlin Trolls and Fake News as Security Threat
In September 2014 Jessikka Aro, a Finnish journalist working for Yle, started a crowd-sourced series of stories about pro-Russia trolls, the info warriors distributing social media propaganda and influencing the Finnish people.
Instantly after publishing the first piece she was targeted by an international discrediting campaign. She received responses such as a phone call with the sound of a gun firing at the other end, as well as a cell phone text message claiming to be from her father (who died 20 years earlier). Jessikka told her story about dealing with fake news, Russian trolls and how coordinated social media propaganda-writers are twisting and manipulating the public debate outside of Russia.
*note: session not available online due to copyrights

11.45 – 12.00 Fake News on Social Media
Margot Verleg, former journalist and founder of TrusttheSource, fell for a story that was fake news in 2011. Trust is an important factor with regards to the connection with audiences. So offering fake news can undermine the relationship with your public. It causes a great amount of damage when people accuse you of spreading fake news or when you fall for fake news. Verleg presented examples that are very tricky to recognize and she offered ways of recognizing fake news, for instance by using a special app she developed.

12:00 – 12:30 Session with the Prix CIRCOM Winners 
Caroline Ní Dhubhchóin, TG4, Ireland, member of the Prix 2018 jury, presented two winners and a commended of the Prix CIRCOM 2018. They explained how they use social media to add strength to the impact of their award-winning programmes. The panellists were: Signe Kjær Lindboe (TV2 Fyn, Denmark – Winner, category News Stories For All); Jenny Widell (SVT Ost, Sweden – Winner, category Minorities in Society) and Claus Halbe-Piter (Omrop Fryslan, The Netherlands – Commended, category Entertainment and Drama). 
For those who wanted to see the programmes, Teletheque was available for private viewing of all Prix CIRCOM 2018 entries, whole day Thursday and Friday.

14:00 – 14:15 Instagram for Dummies and Managers
Instagram offers many opportunities to tell our stories. Do you know all the tips and tricks? Elkana Everhardus, online journalist at Omroep Gelderland, The Netherlands, gave a 10 minutes course on how to improve your Instagram stories.

14:15 – 15:00 Social Media Projects by Regional Broadcasters
Anthony Browne (Digital Lead, BBC Scotland) is one of the creators of BBC The Social, a digital content stream featuring content for and created by young people in Scotland. BBC The Social is commissioning young talents in Scotland to make social media content which they post on The Social's social media channels including Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. 

In 2017, RTBF launched the first fiction on Snapchat: PLS, the story of a young student and his friends during the first year of college. The idea was to engage a young audience (15-25) on a platform they are familiar with. Following the success of the first season, 20 new episodes are in production and will be available this Summer. François Jadoulle (project manager RTBF) presented the project and shared five secret ingredients that public broadcasters need to succeed with a Snapchat project.

How to transfer the local interaction from Facebook to a platform of SVT? This is a question Johan Everljung (Head of SVT Digital Local News and Minorities) answered. In March 2018 SVT Local News launched a pilot project Talk With Us. Based on the Scribble Live tool, they are now trying to create a direct dialogue through visible presence online and in broadcast, trying to change the traditions and heritage of the one-way communication in broadcasting.

15:30 – 16:30 Events, the Culture of the Region
Friesland has a long and strong tradition of cultural events. Omrôp Fryslân reports on these events in several ways, including live reports on radio and TV, but also via Facebook live and other social media. These programmes are highly popular and offer a lot of opportunities for the audience to participate. Jacqueline Spendel talked about two small Omrop Fryslân projects through wich she found a new way of connecting with the audience. Both projects are parts of bigger events of Leeuwarden-Fryslân Cultural Capital of Europe 2018.
Besides Omrop Fryslân (The Netherlands), TPA Asturias (Spain) and Omroep Gelderland (The Netherlands) presented their examples of appealing events as part of their regional culture as well as the relevance for regional broadcasters.

9:00 - 15:30 Meet the Prix CIRCOM 2018 Winners  (near the entrance in the conference room)

All day: Teletheque, private viewing of all Prix CIRCOM 2018 entries

20:30 – 22:00 Prix CIRCOM Regional Gala Awards
Venue: Theater The Harmonie, Leeuwarden

Friday, 25th May

Venue: Theater The Harmonie, Leeuwarden
Day 2 moderator: Jyri Kataja-Rahko, Yle, Finland

09:30 – 10:15 New Media Landscape and Roles in Transition: Public Service, Commercial Media and Social Networks 
We are witnessing a massive change in the media, affecting not only the media landscape, but also distribution and consumer behaviour. What will be the role of various media players and especially that of social media platforms? Is this an opportunity or a moment of great threat to public services? Lauri Kivinen, CEO of Yle, shared his personal perspective.

10:15 – 10.45 A Journalist’s Guide to the Smartphone Galaxy
Björn Stasschen (NDR/ARD) and Wytse Vellinga (Omrop Fryslân) offered a quick look in the bag of Mojo reporters, with the newest equipment, for reporting, filming, storytelling, live broadcasting and 360 degrees filming.

11:15 – 11:45 Mojo
Mojo is here to stay. Mattias Sandberg proves it with his Mojo reports. He works for SVT Sport covering, with the use of his mobile phone, big sport events: the World Championships in Orienteering, The Open Championships in Golf and the Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang. The latter with his mobile phone and a small camera. Are you in any doubt that Mojo can be used to cover sports events? You are not anymore after Mattias' presentation!

BNT reporters successfully contribute to the news content with live broadcasts and by sending video material from all over the World. Alexander Markov and Peter Georgiev presented some examples - such as a story about the lack of qualified drivers in transport sector BNT broadcasted live from a truck on the road - from the perspective of a journalist and that of a producer.

11:45 – 12:30 New Formats for Storytelling 
Guillaume Kuster trains students and professionals in Mojo and Storytelling all over the world. He opened this session presenting the new formats used by TV stations to shift from a linear television model to an all-platforms media organization. After Guillaume's presentation, the trainees of the CIRCOM workshop New Formats for Storytelling presented their examples of new formats. They shown the items they have produced for Snapchat, Instagram and other media at the workshop led prior to the conference.

12.30– 12:45 Meet the Grand Prix 2018 Winner
David Lowen interviewed Vilde Bratland Erikstad, the winner of the Grand Prix CIRCOM 2018.

12.45 - 13.00 - Closing Ceremony

9:00 - 12:45 Meet the Prix CIRCOM 2018 Winners  (near the entrance in the conference room)

All day: Teletheque, private viewing of all Prix CIRCOM 2018 entries

The host broadcaster: Omrop Fryslân

Omrop Fryslân is the public media service broadcaster for radio and television for the province of Fryslân, situated in the most northern province of the Netherland. Omrop Fryslân is also hosting the only professional website in the Frisian language, with news, audio and video. The station is broadcasting radio 24 hours a day, regional television 1 hour a day, and producing weekly TV documentary in Frisian language on NPO2 nationwide. Omrop Fryslân employs permanently about 100 people.

Welcome to Leeuwarden

Leeuwarden, or Ljouwert as it’s called in Frisian language, is the Capital of the province of Fryslân. This hospitable Frisian city, situated in green surroundings with lakes and recreation areas, is Cultural Capital of Europe in 2018, together with Valletta, Malta.

The Frisian capital is a true royal residence with a beautiful land historic city centre, a wealth of nationally listed buildings, surprising shops and nice cafés. At the same time, it has the most modern facilities for residents, students and entrepreneurs. Leeuwarden is a city of modern paradoxes. Apparent contradictions go together perfectly in Leeuwarden. It is a city that invests in its past as well as in research development, ICT and a high level of facilities. A city in the countryside where students, the elderly and families feel at home, but companies are given opportunities as well. In addition, Leeuwarden is one of the cleanest and most sustainable municipalities in the country. The city centre is compact and well-organized. This combination is one of the most attractive elements of Leeuwarden. The shops, the nightlife and many hotels are within a few miles, walking or cycling distance from each other.