What do a Formula 1 team and a successful newsroom have in common?
There are some parallel between mobility and voestalpine:
- Mobility is one of the most important growth markets.
- We are partners of Projekt Spielberg and the patron saint of the voestalpine wing on the start and finish straight.
- We call our (almost) daily editorial meetings “pit stops”.
- Surprisingly many roles in the editorial process are similar or have similar responsibilities as in motor sports. For example, the editor-in-chief acts like the lollipop man. Only when he gives the go, the topics are ready for communication. (Hopefully, this function will not also fall victim to digitization and will be replaced by a traffic light.)
- Perfectly coordinated teamwork & participation: An overview of all planned and ongoing topics and activities as well as the best possible coordination and integration – in the case of the voestalpine Newsroom for 500 companies in 50 countries worldwide. All this is only possible through perfectly coordinated teamwork and participation as well as continuity and flexibility.
From newsrooms, unicorns and content hubs
At a conference a few months ago, the moderator said that newsrooms behave like unicorns – the hype is over. I do not know about you, but in my circle of friends and acquaintances unicorns are still very much in vogue. In addition, you’ll hardly find an item on which isn’t a unicorn mapped somewhere. I have already seen toys, clothes, sweets and even a unicorn gin. (Maybe I should try the gin sometime 
)
Timely to this “quote”, a communication colleague asked me if we still have the newsroom? Because, they have developed their newsroom already into a content factory. Whether we name the Newsroom, Content Factory, Content Hub or whatever, all the concepts essentially pursue the same goal – the topic is the focus and not the channel.
Can I have a look at the newsroom?
This is probably one of the most asked questions at every conference or every time I talk about the newsroom. Spoiler alert: For all of you who are expecting some nice pictures of open-plan offices, a conference table, many screens, news tickers and access statistics – unfortunately I have to disappoint you, we didn’t build a physical newsroom. And you know what? We also get along without. It takes place “in our heads” (but it’s not fictional) and is lived. We don’t need big screens that remind us of the topics, because we “live” them on a daily basis.
What is the biggest recipe for success of the Newsroom?
… talk to each other!
