BBC Academy's Expert Women's Day in Scotland

The BBC Academy - in conjunction with BBC Scotland - is holding a free introduction to the world of broadcasting on Wednesday, 28th of August, to help recognised female experts feel comfortable appearing on television, radio and online as contributors or presenters.

They are looking for female experts with recognised expertise in the following key subject areas:

Cultural Commentary – is your expertise in popular entertainment, the arts or in areas like social policy or national identity?

History – The First World War or modern Britain, which period are you passionate about? Are you an academic, custodian, auctioneer or museum curator?

Art History & Curating – whether in an art school, gallery, museum, sale room, historic house or the street – is your enthusiasm for art infectious?

Natural History – have you got a wealth of knowledge, gained in a university, museum, national park or field centre, and a talent for talking about flora and fauna?

Sport – as a pundit, player, administrator or coach?

Political Analysis – in the academic or private sector, for example as an analyst or consultant?

GPs and Medicine – are you a medical practitioner and/or a leader in primary, secondary or tertiary care?

Science – do you have expertise in a subject – from maths to forensics or biology - recognised in the academic, research or commercial world?

The closing date for applications is 11.59pm Tuesday 25th June 2013.

Please only apply if you are able to be in BBC Scotland, Pacific Quay, Glasgow G51 1DA on Wednesday 28th August 2013.

For information on how to apply, go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/academy/news/view/bbc_expert_women_scotland

NOMINATE THE EXPERT WHO INSPIRES YOU FOR A YEAR'S FREE MEMBERSHIP ON FINDATVEXPERT.COM

Who inspired you the most this year or made a difference to your life: your university lecturer? Your personal trainer? Your business mentor? Your marine biologist friend who followed their dream and encouraged you to follow yours? That doctor/dentist/designer/chef/astrologer/explorer/vet/physicist who gave a talk at an event you attended recently? Your boss? A work colleague?

Could their knowledge, expertise and passion inspire other people? And do you think they’d be great on TV?

If your answer’s yes, www.findaTVexpert.com, the online database of experts for TV and the Media, is giving you the chance to nominate them for a year’s free membership (worth £175) on findaTVexpert.com.

Simply email the following to info@findatvexpert.com by 6.00pm on Monday, 31^st of December 2012*:

1. A couple of paragraphs explaining how the expert you’re nominating has inspired you or changed your life – and why you think they could inspire others and be great on TV.

2. A copy of your nominated expert’s CV.  Or a link to their professional online profile. (The expert you nominate must have the skills, qualifications, training and experience to prove they’re an expert in their field of business.)

3. Your contact number – and a contact number for the expert you’re nominating.

The nominations will be judged by Claire Richmond, TV producer and founder of findaTVexpert.com and the winner will be announced w/c Monday, 7^th of January 2013.

Terms and conditions:

1. The competition closes at 6.00pm on Monday, 31^st December. Nominations received after that time will not be considered. 
2. To be eligible, the expert you nominate must be an expert in their field of business with the skills, training and qualifications to prove it; over 18 and a UK resident. And they must not have any previous criminal convictions.
3. Proof of age and eligibility of the expert you nominate may be required.
4. All eligible nominations must be received via email and contain a couple of paragraphs explaining how the expert you’re nominating has inspired you or changed your life; why you think they could inspire others and be great on TV; your contact number; a contact number for the expert you’ve nominated and a copy of their CV which outlines their employment history and the training/qualifications that prove they’re an expert in their field of business (or a link to their professional online profile which has the same information)
5. One nominated expert will be chosen as the winner by findaTVexpert.com founder Claire Richmond and contacted w/c 7 January 2013.
6. If the nominated expert accepts the prize, his or her details will be announced w/c 7 January 2013 on the findaTVexpert twitter page (http://twitter.com/findatvexpert); the findaTVexpert blog (http://findatvexpert.blogspot.com); the findaTVexpert facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/findaTVexpert/169485362343?ref=hl) and other online media.
7. findaTVexpert bears no responsibility for entries which don’t make it into the competition because they’ve been blocked or identified as junk email, spam, etc.
8. findaTVexpert will not acknowledge receipt of any nomination that is sent in and will only contact the winning expert.
9. Nominations that fail to meet the eligibility criteria or otherwise fail to meet these terms and conditions will not be entered into the competition.
10. The prize is a year’s free membership on findaTVexpert.com, which gives the nominated expert the chance to create a searchable Profile & CV and be promoted to the TV industry.
11. The winner will have until the 31^st of January to register their details on www.findaTVexpert.com. Failure to do so will result in forfeiture of the prize and findaTVexpert reserves the right to award the prize to the runner up.
12. There is no alternative prize or cash equivalent and the prize is non-changeable and non-transferable.  
13. By entering this competition you agree to comply with these terms and conditions.

BBC Academy, Broadcast & FindaTVexpert

I'm delighted be involved with this project as my mission is to bridge the gap between the professionals and the programme makers - and help get new & inspiring faces on TV. Click here for the full story.

If you're a female scientist, historian, politician, engineer or business women, scroll to the post below and send in your application.

And if your expertise is in another area - please help us spread the word to colleagues and friends who are in history, science, politics, business and engineering. Because if this first training day is an overwhelming success,  hopefully more will follow. 

TV Training for New TV Experts

I wrote a comment piece for Broadcast magazine recently regarding the importance of briefing experts before they're live on TV. It was in response to Broadcast's campaign to get more female experts on TV.

If you read the article - click here - you'll see that I made a committment to offer free, online How to Shine on TV seminars for new experts. And I've kept it.

So in addition to the already popular 'Could you be a TV Expert' seminars, I'm now presenting 'How to Shine on TV' seminars and 'Understanding the TV Programme Making Process' seminars.

I'll be doing one of each every month - and I've just confirmed the April dates.

For more information and to reserve your free place, click here.

More Female Experts on TV

Broadcast magazine is the TV industry's bible. It comes out every Thursday and everyone who's anyone in TV reads it. I've been trying to get into Broadcast ever since I set up findaTVexpert in 2008 because it provides such great exposure for the business - which benefits all the experts on it.

But as I'm not a TV production company or a channel, it's not easy. So I've had a couple of mentions, but nothing major. However, Broadcast launched a campaign to get more female experts on TV in February and I've been in touch with the deputy news editor ever since.

We finally met up last Friday and she asked me if I'd like to write a 500 word opinion piece for today's issue. I jumped at the opportunity and, as a result, I'm in today's print and online issue.

Click here to read the article.

Most articles can only be read if you're a subscriber but mine is 'free' and with any luck it will be read by thousands of key decision makers within the TV industry, which will put findaTVexpert even more firmly on the map.

So this is a great day for me (because I've been trying to get coverage in Broadcast for so long), for the business - and for you all the experts on findaTVexpert (male and female!)