The injazz team’s conference tips
26 June 2020
Our team has worked many hours to organize the first ever online edition of inJazz. But, what are their favourite conference sessions? What are they looking forward to when they’re not working behind the scenes? Let our team guide you through the online conference programme. You can still register and join 300+ international professionals.
Meeting and sharing our passion for jazz
Some of us work at inJazz for years, others are relatively new. For example: Ikaros (general director) and Patrick (content manager) both have been part of the organization since 2008 (second edition) whereas Marnix (festival programmer) joined the team in 2019. One thing’s for sure: we run like a well-oiled machine! Ikaros: “When it comes to the conference, the matchmaking sessions are by far my favourite part. Meeting new people and sharing our passion for jazz.” Patrick agrees: “This year, we facilitate 140 sessions in a private online room. For many it’s the perfect opportunity to get to speak that busy and sought-after professional. Also, these meetings often lead to business.”
International cooperation and exchange
Mark (conference programmer): “My favourite conference talks – I say this beforehand – are the ones about international cooperation and exchange, both large (Europe Jazz Network and Jazz Promotion Network on Thursday) and small (Irene Reig & Kika Sprangers, and the Sound Out recap on Friday), but frankly I am curious about all of the talks – that’s why I set them up!”
Crisis in club land
Romy (customer relations & hospitality manager) is excited to experience the conference programme in general. Romy: “I had a big part in onboarding our online seating system as well as shifting the entire programme from offline to online. The past months it’s been a whole lot of finetuning the online infrastructure and customizing every little setting. I can’t wait to see how it’s all going to play out once we kick off.” If she really needs to pick a favourite it’s ‘Frank Bolder & Frank van Berkel about the crisis in club land’. Romy: “I remember being at jazzahead! last year and everyone looking for either one of the Frank’s to connect with. It will be really interesting to listen to two major players in the Dutch (and beyond) jazz scene and hear about their insights and feelings towards the crisis we are currently all dealing with.”
What does the audience want?
Marcel (graphic designer): I always enjoy conference sessions hosted by Mijke van Wijk and I’m really looking forward to ‘But… what does the audience want?’. As a graphic designer I’m curious to see how ‘our’ culture defines choices in life. Like, when will we meet the audience again, offline, like in the good old days? Will our business model and will live events change completely after being in lockdown, here in the Netherlands and abroad? Can you spot differences between audience in, let’s say, Norway and Poland? I’m sure this conference session will give a little insight into ‘our new’ jazz future.”
Photos inJazz 2019 by Melanie van Zweeden en Maarten van Haaff