Rise Women In Broadcast Launch Panel+

Rise Women in Broadcast, the award-winning global advocacy group for gender diversity in the broadcast media technology sector, has launched Panel+ at IBC2025.

Panel+ is a new initiative designed to encourage greater balance and inclusion on industry panels, helping organisers, speakers, and participants ensure that women’s voices are represented in key conversations.

At its heart, Panel+ has three aims:

• Encourage gender balance - every panel is stronger when it includes a mix of perspectives.

• Create advocacy – supporters are invited to take the Panel+ Pledge, showing their support by encouraging the inclusion of women when invited to panels.

• Connect organisers to speakers - Rise is building a speaker pool of women experts across broadcast, media, and technology, making it easier for organisers to find diverse voices.

Sadie Groom, Founder and CEO of Rise, said: "Panel+ is about encouragement, not criticism. We know how powerful panels can be in shaping the conversation, and we want to make it as easy as possible for organisers and speakers to include women's voices. When panels bring together a wider range of perspectives, the conversations are better, the debates are richer, and the audience is more engaged. It also builds greater credibility, showing a real commitment to diversity and inclusion."

Panel+ also recognises the unseen barriers that prevent many women from attending or speaking at events. Whether it’s a male boss taking the speaking slot, or family responsibilities like childcare, women are often left out of the conversation before it even begins. That’s why Rise is calling on event organisers to take practical steps such as giving more notice, offering expense support, and broadening their search criteria beyond just C-suite titles to ensure a wider pool of women can take part.

Charlotte Wheeler, Director, Media Production & Technology Show stated: "At MPTS, diversity isn’t a box to tick - it's the foundation of meaningful conversation. Our seminar programme brings together a broad spectrum of voices, perspectives, and experiences, ensuring that every discussion reflects the richness of our industry and the audiences we serve."

Organisers are also encouraged to think beyond tokenism: true inclusion means more than just adding a woman as a moderator. Panel+ is here to help organisers build balanced, representative, and meaningful discussions.

IBC2025 visitors can find out more at the Rise stand in Hall 8, stand 8.A23, where supporters can sign up as Panel+ advocates, collect their digital social media badge, and women can register as speakers for the database.

risewib.com