The Fundamental Power of Relationships – Meet Your Industry Online

Today, we’re honored and delighted to welcome Janet Greco, Founder&CEO at Broadcast Projects to the show. Janet is a US native with exceptional international experience across the pan-European media landscape with a 20+ year track record of entrepreneurial success. Janet is known as the founder of an early TV metadata startup where she pioneered the online delivery of TV metadata to electronic program guides. After her exit from this venture, she established Broadcast Projects in 2004, where she now provides board-level executive support to the entrepreneurs and CEOs of small to mid-size digital media and TV technology companies to help them develop, grow and scale.

She is a subject matter expert and frequent conference moderator and speaker on AI/ML-powered TV content discovery developments and challenges. Janet sits on the Executive Committee of the Institute of Engineering and Technology Media Technical Network (IET Media). She is a regular attendee and supporter of the EBU MDN, focused on AI/ML-driven innovation in TV metadata. She has worked as an Expert Evaluator to the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 and Creative Europe MEDIA Investment programs. She is the Creator and Executive Producer of Media Meet & Greet, which facilitates metadata-driven networking for the TV industry, an ongoing event series that she launched in late 2020.

What was your motivation while building Media Meet&Greet, and what does it bring to the event industry?

I have been doing a TV event hub that aggregates all the media industry events for many years. The idea of Media Meet&Greet events came about a year ago when the pandemic hit. I found a well-known platform for pitching events called Deal Room where investors would meet startups by using this platform to identify relevant companies for doing business. It reminded me of a metadata game where it’s all about relevance matching and about helping people find each other. 

What are the challenges for small companies in the media business?

I think there is a tendency to underestimate the value of relationships. You can mitigate that by having more experienced advisors around you, people who know people. Frequently it’s easy to come up with an innovative idea while executing is a bit more challenging, especially when you don’t know anybody in the business. And I have some companies coming to me with brilliant ideas, but they don’t know who to ask and connect with. So that’s the major challenge that I help to solve – connecting people with the relevant businesses.

Do you feel that more people are engaging in virtual events since the COVID 19 pandemic?

Whereas there’s no possibility of attending trade shows, more people are using event tech platforms to make new interactions and for relevance matching. The great benefit of our hybrid events is that you can have a physical meeting and still use the platform to meet people. During Media Meet&Greet events, we ask you a few onboarding questions and structure them to enable people to meet each other more straightforwardly, to make relevant matches. In our hybrid events, we combine a webinar with group conversations and one-on-one networking. 

Do you have any insights for the next generation of entrepreneurs who are specifically working in the media and telecom space?

The main message would be to get some trusted advisors and build relationships. There is a lot of overreliance on lead generation and sales qualification processes that are not 100% appropriate to the media industry, especially for startups. When people are inexperienced and don’t know the business, they don’t know who the players are, it’s challenging to make a judgment call. For example, the TV technology companies I’m working with do not sell $99 subscriptions to software solutions. They’re selling costly systems, and you don’t do those deals online with a young person who’s qualified you and taking you through the first demo call. 

What constitutes success for Media Meet&Greet? 

For Media Meet&Greet, success is scaling up the event in attendance and getting the word out there. Numbers are the essential thing in terms of my measuring stick; I want people to participate. I want people to attend the webinar section. I really want them to take advantage of the possibilities for one-on-one networking. The group conversations are always tremendous fun. 

Where can our listeners find the information about the upcoming Media Meet&Greet events?

My website is www.broadcastprojects.com. Inside the website, you’ll see a distinctive navigation bar called Media Meet&Greet. There you can find all the information about the next event. You can also find the link to sign up for the next event to get on the waiting list for announcements. 

Thank you so much for coming to the show, Janet. It’s been a great pleasure.

Stay tuned for more great interviews coming your way!