Yesterday I got to experience the home of golf for the first time, and it didn’t disappoint. Golf has been played at St Andrews for 600 years. It is the most stunning location. Truly good for the soul. This year’s The R&A AIGWO Women in Sport Summit was themed “The power of communities”. A great subject to kick around with other panellists: Jenny Brown Sarah Stirk Amir Malik Chris Hedderman Beatrice Cornacchia Maggie Alphonsi MBE Annika Sorenstam Over the past year, “Community” has become a real buzz word in women’s sport. It’s such an interesting subject, primarily because it means such different things to different people. For some it’s simply about geography, for others it means social impact, grassroots or volunteerism. Some discuss community as a means of talking about diversity, but for others it’s about fan segmentation, activation and monetisation. Is community about distributing revenue, or is it about accumulating it? Or should it be both? I’m wondering if by understanding what community means to us, we can get a sense of what sort of women’s sport industry we are in the process of building? And there in lies the question that I’ve discussed with many of you this past year … how do we balance commercialisation and inclusion? How do we grow and professionalise, yet keep the wonderous spirit of London2012? How do we mitigate the risk that women’s sport could become exclusive? How do we keep the doors open so everyone can belong, authentically? The general consensus - at the moment anyway - is that women’s sport needs to get better at understanding our audience, improving fan segmentation, understanding digital engagement, paying attention to the consumer journey, etc… etc. That’s a lot to do. And not an easy task. No wonder you’re exhausted. The first line of WST’s mission statement is: “Sport is one of the most important public arenas we have – which means that sport has a responsibility to reflect the best version of society.” So perhaps - as we commercialise and build these new “women’s sport communities” - a way of mitigating the risk is to just keep asking a few questions that bring us back to the bigger picture at play… > How inclusive is this thing that I am building? > How can I make this experience better for the people I serve? Would genuinely love to hear your thoughts.
It was a wonderful summit. I do think we need to look at menstrual and menopausal health edication and support for all communities, including those in sport. Is everyone doing their best in this space?
Jane Gotts
3w
I really enjoyed listening to you yesterday Tammy Parlour MBE . Glad you enjoyed the event.
Experienced Communications and Content Leader successfully working at the apex of the sports industry in 25+ countries since 2000.
3wYou've outlined something really key: the differences. Even within different 'segments', every individual has their own needs and wants. Around 2016 when I was at FIFA we organised a fan forum, and determined different topics we wanted to explore & asked fans for their ideas/wish lists. This evolved into a group that became regularly consulted online/via focus groups, guided decisions & became advocates in their own networks/countries. They were positively staggered we cared. A big first lesson. Real people, with real voices also helped cut through the many theoretical models...and crucially added credibility to what we then implemented.