According to Southern Cross Austereo heavyweight, Guy Dobson, yes we are. To put that statement into context, we were discussing the the quality of the sessions at the Radio Conference on the Gold Coast the weekend before last. Don’t get me wrong, it was a slick show. On paper, the topics were good and mostly relevant. The speakers, mostly top notch. Yet no one I talked to came away with the impression that they had been inspired or had learned something new. Toughest room on the planet? Perhaps.

Some of us can remember back to the early 1970s when Hall of Famer Rod Muir pioneered such conferences and brought over a swag of American programmers and sales directors to teach us how to do it. And, by and large, they did. For starters they knew the art of presenting. They were vibrant and animated with the aid of nothing more high tech than a white board and perhaps an overhead projector.

Were they better then? Compared to us, then, yes they were. Compared to now…?

Now, says Dobbo, we could probably teach the Americans more than they could teach us.

Do you agree? Are we the best in the world? Who does it better? And in what way?