Live sports event behind the scenes
About
From Soccer to Cycling, X-Factor to Eurovision delivering live events is a massive challenge. Find out how broadcasters manage immense scale and new technology to bring you the show live.
Russell Trafford-Jones talks about his experiences as a broadcast engineer at The Olympics, World cup and other live events to lift the lid on how broadcasting and the live events industry manage to hide the extreme engineering so well. This talk will look at physically transforming locations for events and the technology that marshals hundreds of cameras and microphones into a, usually, seamless show every time.
As technology drives ever forward, new on-screen analysis tools for sports appear each season. Russell will look at how these continue to push forward engineering and how, behind the scenes, a transformation to software is helping maximise sustainability.
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Continuing Professional Development
This event can contribute towards your Continuing Professional Development (CPD) hours as part of the IET's CPD monitoring scheme.
08 Apr 2026
6:00pm - 9:00pm
Organiser
- London Local Network
Speakers
Russell Trafford-Jones
Past Chair. - Media Technical Network Broadcast & Media
Russell has worked for over two decades as an engineer in the broadcast industry specialising in live television, compression and moving live media. His work has taken him from the master control room at the heart of the BBC to designing technology projects for TV stations around the world with a continuing strand of travel to televise live events.
Today Russell uses his engineering background to actively work on creating new technology for the media industry and to evangelise for increased diversity.
Programme
18:00 Arrival and registration, set up in lecture theatre
18:30 Lecture begins
19:30 Q&A
20:00 Networking reception
21:00 Close