TABLES TURNED - Sky Sports presenter David Garrido

Welcome to the Social & Sport podcast, once again going back in time a little to the Tables Turned series I first ran last year.

The idea is to speak to some of the best interviewers to find out what their secret sauce is and how we can get better at asking the right questions.

In this one I spoke to Kait Borsay, one of the first females presenters to be associated with Talksport and has worked for SkySports, Sky News, Arsenal and Chelsea FC TV channels and the Premier League.

You may also know her as one third of the highly acclaimed Offside Rule podcast alongside Lynsey Hooper and Hayley McQueen. A show that’s been running since 2012 and is now part of Muddy Knees Media alongside the Totally Football Show.

You’ll hear stories of interviews with Phil Neville, Rafa Benitez and a very awkward moment during a chat with Sir Sebastian Coe. You’ll have to listen on to find out what happened there.

Thanks again for listening, make sure you subscribe to catch more from this series. And also have a look back at previous lockdown shows from the last few months.

Here are some links to what we speak about during the show;

Interview with Joe Hart

Interview with John Barnes

The Exit List

Thanks to Tom Yoke from Playfinder for stepping in and kindly hosting us for this recording at their central London office. Playfinder are the UK’s leading search and booking portal for recreational sports, so search for the Playfinder in your app store or head to playfinder.com to find out more.

In a 'new' show as part of Social & Sport I wanted to return to something I put together last year. 'Tables Turned' talked to the interviewers about how they do what they do.

In it I spoke with Kait Borsay, Alexandra Legioux, Richard Gillis, Faye Carruthers... and there were a couple I didn't publish which I'll look to do now. Over the next few weeks I'll be publishing a new episode every Thursday, as well as continuing with 'The New Normal' series. 

But firstly I'm delighted to welcome sports broadcaster, event host and podcaster extraordinaire David Garrido. 

His interviewing career almost ended before it began with what should have been an opportunity of a lifetime with a Spurs legend. Thankfully for David, and for us, he persevered with his dreams, took the lessons from it and landed an amazing role through BBC Talent at BBC Sport in 2001, staying at the broadcaster before moving onto SkySports in 2011.  

We get into how he prepares for big interviews to make sure it looks as effortless as possible. His approach to hosting is so open and engaging that he quickly makes people feel comfortable and is one who tries to make it less of an interview and more of a conversation.

David has some fantastic stories around some of the biggest names in sport from David Beckham to a then-newly crowned F1 World Champion, Jenson Button. His love though is for Spanish football which is his main expertise when it comes to football. This led to him creating the weekly La Liga Lowdown podcast to get the lastest from the league.

I also mention his famous dance moves when celebrating in the Sheffield Wednesday dressing room after their play-off win back in 2016

If you enjoy this podcast please give us a follow, comment, rating, review or just let me know what you think at (Twitter) @danielmclaren or (Instagram) @danieljmclaren.

Audio and the benefits of it are often overlooked, despite the rise to prominence of podcasting and the likes of Amazon's Alexa appearing in everyone's car and home.

So this week I spoke with Sophie Hind and Jim Salveson from Voiceworks to discover what the opportunities and challenges are currently, and where the industry is heading.

The future of audio, both podcasts and voice, is a bright one and there are many in which it can benefit your team, sport or business. Check out https://www.voiceworks.ai to find out more.

This is the time of the 'new normal', let's make it a positive one.

Pranav Soneji is one of the founders of the fantastic agency, LiveWire Sport, who include the ATP, Wimbledon and the Premier League (amongst many others) as clients. 

Not only does Pranav stay heavily involved in the agency's work but has found time to set up, alongside Head of Marketing & Comms Jason White, the Diversity in Digital Sport programme. 

At a time when diversity is at the forefront of everyone's thoughts, the programme is one that is more important to our industry than ever and can really help show the way forward. 

We talk about how it came about, the way in which the programme has had to change due to the lockdown and also what the sports industry can (and should) be doing better to make the current momentum doesn't get lost. 

So much to get through and it’s such a big topic! So let me know what you think and any feedback on what we discuss either on Twitter or LinkedIn.

"The New Normal" is a new series that moves the conversation on from lockdown and the crisis we've had to face over the last few months. 

Now with sport back on our screens and restrictions starting to be lifted, what will the 'new normal' look like, and how are we going to have to adapt going forward?

In the first of this series I chat to James Dickens. James joined Motorsport Network - owners of Autosport, Motorsport.com and has many other companies under its umbrella encompassing all elements of motorsport. 

Before that James was Head of Sport at Yahoo UK and then Global Editor-in-Chief at Goal.com - so a great person to speak about sport generally and the publishing side of the business.

SportsPro Media are one of the best known sport business publishers in the world, with a successful website that brings in 250k visitors a month to big events such as SportsPro Live and the Blackbook Motorsport Forum.

This year has seen the events industry take a massive hit and SportsPro were no exception. So it was great to speak to Nick about how they've coped and what new paths this has led them down. One of them is the SportsPro Insider events - a regular online series with great speakers that is free to sign up for. Something that over 20,000 people have done. 

We also talk about what the new normal is going to be for the sports business and the role in which technology will play within it. 

Head to https://www.SportsProMedia.com for all the latest news in sports business and make sure you sign up for the coming Insiders series. 

With football, horse racing, snooker and other sports relaunching slowly over the next few weeks, there is still one very British pastime that is missing from our calendars.

Cricket was set to start their season just after the lockdown began and there has already been a statement that none will be played until at least the 1st August. Though this could change, who knows in this current landscape.

Emily is Head of Sales & Marketing at Surrey County Cricket Club and we spoke about how they’ve had to adjust plans for the season, keeping their 13,000 members engaged, their experience of launching on Tik Tok back in January and the effects this shortened season will have on the game.

Do share this video / podcast, depending on where you’re consuming this, and let me know what you think on either Twitter, @danielmclaren, or find me on LinkedIn.

Here’s my chat with Emily recorded on Thursday 4th June 2020…,

This week I’m delighted to be joined by a fellow podcaster and one of the most well-known Aussie’s within sports marketing and digital.

Sean Callanan is the founder of Sports Geek, a digital consultancy based in Melbourne but is possibly better known over here for his Sports Geek podcast (https://sportsgeekhq.com/sports-geek-podcast/). With 300 episodes and half a million downloads it’s fair to say he’s spoken to everyone you need to hear from.

Not only that but he is an esports team owner with Gravitas, securing a position in the Oceanic Pro League that includes 8 top-tier League of Legends pro esports teams. 

So who better to chew the fat with on the latest goings on within our business?

You’ll definitely enjoy this fast paced look at what has been going on in sports over recent weeks from esports to the NRL, and SportsBiz Zoom calls to driving revenue through digital.

Loads to get through so here’s my chat with Sean recorded on Tuesday 2nd June 2020.

Welcome to episode 14 of the Social & Sport podcast.

The Bundesliga has been back on our screens for a couple of weeks now and recently we heard about the return of the Premier League, Series A and La Liga. 

Sport is starting to get back to some kind of crowd free normality. 

So we’re starting to look ahead and not back so much in this week’s episode as I talk to Tom Moxon about all things internationalisation and his tips on working from home. 

Tom is Business Development Director at Samba Digital. A long-time remote-working agency who help clubs and leagues to develop their global presence across LatAm, the US, Asia and beyond. Clients include PSG, Liverpool, Ligue 1 and the Bundesliga. 

There’s some great examples to go through and we dig deep into the importance of understanding areas and cultures before leaping into a new strategy. And what developing an international presence actually means, isn’t it just translating content for different accounts?

Obviously the answer to that is no!

We also talk about TikTok and what the approach is that they have taken with clients such as Ligue1, who have passed 1m views already and tapped into a hungry audience. 

If you enjoy this podcast they do subscribe on your platform of choice and of course leave a rating or review, that would be amazing. I’m trying to find as many great people as I can to share their stories during this COVID-19 crisis to both help and inspire as many people out there as I can. So every little helps.

Video on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/DanielMcLaren75

My interview with Tom was recorded on Thursday 28th May 2020.

In previous episodes I've spoken to brands, agencies, tech companies and clubs about how they've been coping, but one area that has been missing sports publishing. Asking the questions; How do you cover sport when no live sport is happening? 

Sam Brown is Managing Editor for Goal.com, the world's biggest football website covering leagues around the world. So how did they go about changing their content strategy and keep website and social media numbers high when sport is under lockdown?

It's a fascinating chat talking about their processes, what’s been working for them, the spike for social media platforms including Twitter & TikTok, and looking forward to a return to some kind of sporting normality soon.

If you enjoy this podcast they do subscribe on your platform of choice and of course leave a rating or review, that would be amazing. I’m trying to find as many great people as I can to share their stories during this COVID-19 crisis to both help and inspire as many people out there as I can. So every little helps.

You can also find the video off this chat on YouTube and by following me on LinkedIn. Links to both are in the show notes.

OK, so here’s my interview with Sam, recorded on Tuesday 26th May 2020.