Rise AV expands Elevate leadership scheme for women in AV

Rise AV has confirmed a second year of its Elevate leadership programme in the UK, building on what the company describes as a highly successful inaugural intake in 2025. The initiative is designed to support the progression of women into senior leadership positions across the audiovisual (AV) and related event technology sectors.

The Elevate programme combines structured leadership development with industry-specific mentoring and peer learning. Previous participants have characterised the experience as transformative and energising, emphasising its blend of practical skills training and strategic career support.

Background and industry context

The AV and live events technology industries have long faced challenges in achieving gender balance, especially at senior and executive levels. While technical and creative roles in AV are gradually attracting a more diverse workforce, leadership structures often lag behind, with women underrepresented in decision-making positions and on boards.

In this context, dedicated leadership initiatives focused on women are emerging as a practical response to structural barriers such as lack of sponsorship, limited access to informal networks, and fewer tailored progression pathways. Programmes like Elevate aim to address these gaps by offering targeted development opportunities that sit alongside participants’ day-to-day roles in integrators, rental and staging firms, venues, event production houses, and technology vendors.

For AV businesses under pressure to innovate around hybrid events, immersive environments, and complex tech stacks, leadership diversity is increasingly seen as a factor in building resilient teams and more inclusive client experiences. This has sharpened the focus on initiatives that help broaden the talent pipeline into senior roles.

Key developments in the second year of elevate

Following what Rise AV describes as an outstanding inaugural year, Elevate will return with a new cohort and an expanded curriculum shaped by feedback from the first group of delegates. While detailed module content has not been publicly itemised, the programme continues to centre on leadership capability, strategic thinking, and confidence-building for women aiming at senior management and director-level roles.

Participants in the first year remarked on the value of combining practical leadership tools with opportunities to reflect on real-world workplace challenges. The structure of the programme includes facilitated sessions, mentorship and peer support, allowing delegates to explore issues such as leading technical teams, navigating complex project environments, and managing stakeholder expectations across clients, suppliers, and internal departments.

The second-year launch reinforces the initiative’s ongoing commitment to women across the AV ecosystem: from technical project managers and engineers to commercial leaders and operations heads involved in delivering conferences, exhibitions, live events, and corporate communication projects.

Rise AV positions Elevate as an industry-specific complement to more generic corporate leadership training. The curriculum is tailored for professionals working with AV systems, live production workflows, and event technology platforms, where leadership decisions intersect with fast-changing technical requirements and time-critical delivery cycles.

Industry impact and response

Although still relatively early in its lifecycle, the Elevate programme has begun to influence how some AV organisations approach talent development and succession planning. Managers sponsoring participants report benefits beyond individual career progression, including improved cross-team collaboration and a stronger focus on inclusive leadership behaviours.

Delegates from the first cohort have cited enhanced confidence in managing high-pressure event environments, leading mixed-experience teams, and presenting at senior level. These outcomes are particularly relevant in AV, where leaders frequently coordinate large, multi-vendor deployments under tight timelines, often across hybrid or multi-site event formats.

Industry observers note that initiatives like Elevate can support wider sector goals around workforce retention. As AV and event technology organisations compete with adjacent industries such as IT, broadcast and media tech for skilled professionals, visible leadership development tracks for underrepresented groups may help companies present a more compelling employer brand.

The programme’s return for a second year signals sustained demand from both participants and their employers, who are seeking structured ways to develop future leaders in areas such as systems integration, content delivery, live production and venue technology operations.

Why this matters for event professionals and technology providers

For event professionals and technology providers, the expansion of Elevate is part of a broader shift in how the sector approaches leadership capability at the intersection of content, operations and technology. As events become more reliant on integrated AV, streaming, collaboration tools and data-driven experiences, the competency profile of leaders in this space is changing.

Key implications for stakeholders include:

• Stronger leadership in technical delivery: Women who progress through such programmes are often managing complex AV and event tech deployments. Enhanced leadership skills can translate into smoother on-site execution, better risk management and clearer communication with clients and production partners.
• Diversified decision-making on event technology investments: As more women move into senior roles, they are increasingly involved in specifying and procuring AV solutions, hybrid event platforms and venue infrastructure. This can lead to a broader range of perspectives informing technology strategy.
• More inclusive event experiences: Leadership teams that reflect a wider range of backgrounds may be better positioned to consider accessibility, inclusive design and audience diversity when planning event environments and content delivery.
• Strategic alignment between AV and wider event objectives: Leaders with both technical literacy and developed management skills can play a bridging role between creative, operations and IT functions, helping ensure AV decisions support overall event goals.

For technology suppliers, systems integrators and production agencies, supporting or engaging with programmes like Elevate can form part of a broader talent and ESG strategy. Sponsoring participants or aligning internal training with similar leadership frameworks may help organisations build a more sustainable pipeline of management talent in a competitive market.

Conclusion

The continuation of Rise AV’s Elevate programme into a second year underlines the growing recognition that targeted leadership development is essential to shifting the gender balance in senior AV roles. While the initiative is still relatively new, early feedback suggests that combining sector-specific content with structured mentoring and peer support can deliver tangible benefits for participants and their employers.

As the AV and event technology sectors contend with rapid innovation and evolving client expectations, developing a more diverse cadre of leaders is likely to remain a strategic priority. Programmes such as Elevate offer one route toward that goal, providing women already working in AV with tools, networks and confidence to move into more senior, decision-making positions.

For event organisers, venues, integrators and technology providers, tracking the progress and outcomes of this second Elevate cohort may offer useful insight into how targeted interventions can influence leadership capability and, ultimately, the quality and inclusivity of event experiences delivered to end clients.