Vision+Media, Screen Yorkshire and Northern Film and Media linked up for the first time ever on Thursday 18th February for a live that event that was beamed across the North using the latest technology courtesy of NorthernNet, which is a high speed, secure network connecting the North.
Three simultaneous events took place in Leeds, Newcastle and Salford with over one hundred people attending. The NorthernNet technology enabled the audience and speakers to see, hear and interact with each other across the three regions.
The event was ‘Inspirational Women’ and it looked at the personal experiences of the four speakers in the media industry and how they’ve built their successful companies. Those women are:
- Lou Cordwell MD, magneticNorth speaking from Salford
- Dianne Nelmes, MD Liberty Bell and Eileen Gallagher Chief Exec of Shed Productions speaking in Newcastle
- Kaye Elling Chair of the Women in Games Conference speaking in Leeds
Lynne McCadden, Director of Vision+Media showcases the NorthernNet technology and explains some of the stats behind the myths about women working in the digital and creative industries...
Lou Cordwell started her career working for a number of large multinational ad agencies before founding interactive design company, magneticNorth, in the summer of 2000. She has since led the business from its original team of four to a now internationally renowned business and brand with a multi-award winning portfolio of work, a blue chip client list that includes Kellogg's, Coca-Cola, BBC and Marketing Manchester as well as a range of home-grown digital products.
Lou was winner of 'Manchester’s Young Director of the Year 2009.
Dianne Nelmes joined Liberty Bell in October 2008 after a long and award winning career with Granada Television and ITV, where she was Controller of Factual Programming and subsequently Director of Daytime and Lifestyle Programming. From journalist and on-screen reporter at the BBC to executive producer on World in Action - the first and only woman to hold the post – Dianne is now one of Britain’s leading lifestyle television creators. She has launched numerous award winning programmes, including a major expose of child poverty in Britain and was the first Controller of Daytime television at ITV where she revamped the schedule and created Loose Women. Diane has been dubbed “the queen of daytime TV” by the press; she started This Morning 20 years ago by plucking Richard and Judy from the newsroom and she is credited with creating the concept of a mainstream daytime schedule at ITV, which was subsequently copied by the BBC.
Prior to co-founding Shed Productions in 1998, Eileen Gallagher was Managing Director of LWT (London Weekend Television) and deputy Managing Director of Granada Broadcasting. She founded Shed Productions in 1998 which first found success in producing glossy dramas such as Footballers Wives and Bad Girls and now produces Waterloo Road, Who Do You Think You Are? and Supernanny. Shed Media Group is one of the most successful UK independent producers with offices in London, Brighton and Glasgow and a thriving US base.
The discussion in Newcastle was chaired by Agnes Wilkie, Creative Industry Director of Northern Film and Media ...
Kaye Elling has worked in games development since 1996 as an artist for Infogrames, Sony, and Acclaim. Her title history includes diverse titles such as GTA2 (Take 2), the Premier Manager series (Gremlin), Colony Wars: Red Sun (Sony) and Formula 1 (Sony). Kaye worked on the popular Bratz titles which she describes as “Extreme Barbie”. It was at this point in her career that Kaye began to realise the potential for developing games targeted at women. She has a keen interest in the subject of Women in Games: including women as gamers, women as game developers and the portrayal of women in computer games. She is an active campaigner for the recruitment of more women into technology and media careers and has spoken at numerous U.K. universities on the subjects of gender-inclusive games design and games industry recruitment. Kaye is now a lecturer at Bradford University where is the Course Tutor on both the BSc course in Interactive Systems & Video Game Design and the BA course in Graphics for Games ( aka Design for Computer Games).
What the audience said about the event:
"Absolutely crucial. Lou was fantastic, refreshing to hear someone be so honest. Her input was invaluable"
"New starter at beginning of a journey. Highly inspirational to find out how women break into and stay in creative industry"
"Lou Cordwell. Doesn't sugar the pill. An Inspiration!"
"Thank you for allowing me to share the knowledge of such high calibre professionals ... I liked the high-tech character of this event"
"Great concept the pan-Northern thing – more please!"
"I found the fact that all the speakers have been so driven and refused to let anything stop them, very inspiring"
"Eileen Gallegher and Diane Nelms gave me a new perspective and made me realise that my dreams are not unreachable"
"I felt this seminar was a fantastic opportunity to be in the presence of such influential women in the media"
"Diane and Eileen – plain and simple speaking, very good"
"Kaye Elling inspired and reassured me about my own position in games"
"Kaye gave a nice little summary of the games industry (I liked her humour and honesty)"
Inspirational Women, Dianne Nelmes & Eileen Gallagher from Vision+Media on Vimeo.