This year's meeting will focus on the topic of media transformation. As an introduction, Nancy Lane will share insight from the Local Media Association : "We think publishing companies must innovate on the core side of their business (print product) but they also need to develop separate digital business units and dedicate a certain level of investment for this activity. We also believe that small and mid-sized companies have a natural talent for the organization of events and that they should make it a part of the overall strategy, with the appropriate resources/staffing" says Lane. "We actually have strong feelings (with data to back it up) on how to organize and staff all three areas". Lane will be joined by Peter Newton, Chief Revenue Officer for GateHouse Media, who will share his company’s impressive transformation strategy (including the creation of Propel Marketing that is now a $48 million business for them across many small and mid-size markets), and Rick Ducey, Senior Analyst with BIA-Kelsey, who will share interesting research and industry trends on a wide variety of subjects.

Special guest: Andiara Petterle will give an update on the very unique paid content strategy of Grupo RBS located in Brazil.

Across the globe, media companies are embracing the digital opportunities and finding strategies that can inspire their peers, reveal the industry's capacity to innovate, and produce revenue.
In this session, discover some of the world's most recent and successful media company transformations.

Across the globe, media companies are embracing the digital opportunities and finding strategies that can inspire their peers, reveal the industry’s capacity to innovate and produce revenue. In this session, WAN-IFRA will showcase the world’s most recent and successful media company transformations.

A lunchtime workshop on overcoming the challenges of hosting civil online conversations. Trolling, hate speech and costs of moderating are behind an increasing trend to shut down discussions on publishers' websites. Share your experiences and ideas on how to retain channels for open and free debate online while taking your lunch. World Editors Forum consultant Federica Cherubini will lead the discussion.

(LIMITED PLACES, first-come, first-served basis)

Maintaining a direct link with your audience is critical. While publishers have increased their use of distribution platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Apple News, and Google, they also want to maintain a unique destination for their readers. And while distribution platforms depend on the quality news provided by publishers, they do not feel responsible for sharing the costs of good journalism, nor do they want any distractions that might affect their revenue. How will this tension resolve itself?

Free Basics, Facebook’s initiative to bring the Internet to the “next-billion” at no charge, is a crucial element of zero-rating and net neutrality discussions worldwide. This session, hosted in the first Latin American country where Free Basics launched, will discuss the opportunities and threats for the news media industry. Please click here to register for free for this workshop.

This will be the 18th annual survey that Innovation Media Consulting will conduct for WAN-IFRA. The release of the report has become a highlight at the Congress.

The day starts with world trends and data and ends with a selection of innovative cases from publishers around the world.

Media companies are experimenting new activities that are very different to their traditional business models. Would they be as successful in their diversification if they did not come from news media?

The latest insights on where we stand in the implementation of programmatic, data or native ad formats. From simple issues to today's complex landscape: every participant gets a chance to question a specialist.

The Global Alliance for Media Innovation (GAMI) partners will report on the work of various media labs and centers, innovation initiatives, and processes observed around the world.

GAMI is a WAN-IFRA initiative that aims to found the ground for a renewed innovation ecosystem in the news media industry. It is a global community of stakeholders from the news media world: publishers, suppliers, start-ups, academic and research centers.

Mobile is a serious business at Schibsted Sweden and mobile ad revenue is almost twice as high as print advertising revenue for Aftonbladet the country's biggest news brand. The next step in this mobile ad strategy is growing local advertising. Frida Kvarnström, Sales Director at Schibsted Sweden, is responsible for the group's local advertising expansion. Kvarnström, a mobile specialist, is using Schibsted's local reach, as well as, technology to change the way customers advertise.

Special guest: Michał Wodziński is part of the Upday founding team, a new international news mobile service of Axel Springer and Samsung Electronic.