We know from our out of office bounces and readership analytics that the last batch of you are back at work today after the Australia Day long weekend.

If you’re now back at your desk spending some time planning your calendar of the survey dates and Audio Industry events you must go to this year, here’s a little help.

One you won’t need to worry about is SXSW Sydney. After three years it has been cancelled so you have a week back in October to do something else.

There are no more ACRAs, but there is now a new Audio Awards competition and event that will happen in the first half of this year. The 2026 Australian Audio Awards are now open (enter here) with finalists to be announced in March and an awards event taking place at Carriageworks Sydney in May (full details here)

What else should radio and podcast people be putting in their diaries?

Here are some of our event recommendations:

3rd February: Paris Radio Show, France

13th February: World Radio Day, UNESCO International Day

18^th February: Heard ’26, Sydney, NSW

6^th March: Australian Audio Awards entries closing date

22^nd-24^th March: RadioDays Europe in Riga, Lativa  ( Use our special partner code at checkout for an additional discount RTDA26RIG )

18^th -22^nd April: NAB Show, Las Vegas USA

20^th – 22^nd April: Broadcast Asia, Singapore

11^th May: Cairns Crocodiles, in Cairns Qld

26^th – 28^th May: Mumbrella 360 Conference, Sydney

28^th May: Australian Audio Awards event Sydney NSW

1^st – 3^rd September: RadioDays Asia, Jakarta, Indonesia

11^th – 14^th September: IBC Conference and Trade Show, Amsterdam, Netherlands

22^nd – 24^th October: CBAA Conference, Geelong, Victoria

Don’t forget… travel and registration costs for conferences and training related to your work can be claimed as tax deducations, so keep records and receipts for justification, then claim back your costs when you submit your tax return at the end of June.

The Ratings Survey dates for 2026 are all here. Survey 8 from last year was released on January 20^th. The first results for 2026 will be released on 19^th March, and the last results for 2026 (Survey 7) will be released on 24^th November 2026.

AFTRS has some short courses coming up early in the year, with the first ones being a Voiceover workshop then a Podcasting course.

Getting sick of entering them all manually into your diary?

Here’s an idea… Bookmark our calendar. We have put all the year’s most important dates in there for you, including survey dates, conferences and courses. We will keep it up to date as usual as the year progresses, so you will always have the latest info.

If you would like to just insert our calendar into your own system, you can by right clicking on the .ICS file, saving it, then opening it into your own calendar  radioinfo.com.au Calendar.ics

Now that your year planner is all sorted, you can catch up on the stories you missed out on while you were away. Start here. Ratings catchup here. More January reports here.

To stay up to date with what’s happening in radio, podcasting and the audio industry, this year sign up to our free newsletter here.

If you have any dates we should add to our calendar or any changes to your event, please send details to us at [email protected].

If you would like to advertise your event, course or activity with us, please contact [email protected].