Media Conference

Be welcomed to World Congress Week in style with the Welcome Reception at Central Park’s iconic Tavern On the Green. Come early and stay late in this landmark restaurant originally designed as a sheep house that has served locals, presidents, royalty, artists, and actors since 1934. Re-connect with INMA peers from around the world and punctuate the evening with live entertainment. Attire is business casual. You will need your INMA badge for security upon entrance at Tavern On the Green.

Location:
Tavern On the Green
West 67th Street (Central Park)

Join INMA members from around the world for a welcome coffee in our Networking Lounge where you can connect with peers, dive deep with news and tech industry solution providers, and conduct Ask Me Anything sessions with INMA initiative leads on subscriptions, advertising, newsrooms, and data. If you haven’t already done so, now is the time to grab your credentials at the Congress Registration Desk.

Celebrate the opening of the 93rd Annual INMA World Congress of News Media with a ceremony featuring a roll call of nations present, an outline of news industry priorities, how the conference will address these trends, and where INMA intersects with media companies in extraordinary transition.

Caught in the swirl of long-term digitisation, a once-a-century global pandemic, and the ripple effects of economic uncertainty is a redefined news media company. Definitions of success are changing. How to impact and influence communities rely on unfamiliar skill sets. Journalism priorities are shifting as consumers show us through a million data points. Business models are in flux. In an opening address designed to put the state of news media in perspective, this INMA-exclusive keynote will set the table for news media and bridge the gap since our last World Congress four years ago.

The threat AI poses to journalism and to the value of the intellectual property created by publishers everywhere is the focus of this fireside chat with the CEO of News Corp. Two years ago, Robert Thomson channeled Winston Churchill by suggesting that platforms paying for journalism was just “the end of the beginning.” If generative AI is the next chapter, we all have an important role to play to ensure it is also generative of revenue. Nothing less than the ability of publishers to continue producing quality journalism in the public interest is at stake.

How to connect news media leadership with the definitive guide to spreading ideas, building movements, and leaping ahead in a chaotic, connected age is the focus of this keynote presentation. In an address of significant importance to media leaders, learn how the “Goliaths” are being toppled by the “Davids” of the world – replacing the zero-sum currency of old power with the open and participatory current of new power. What can news media companies learn from these concepts that are sweeping the world?

It’s been four years since the last in-person World Congress. Take advantage of this reconnection by talking with peers, setting up one-on-one meetings, learning more from solution providers, and more during this extended networking break.

Building on the opening keynote, learn directly from the top CEOs in news media about priorities and trends as well as well as opportunities and threats. Where are we in the great digital transformation, and what’s next? What does the landscape look like to them by 2030, and what needs to change now to get there? Where are we on the pendulum swing between consumer and advertising revenue? And what are the big bets beyond traditional revenue?

What other kind of lunch is there these days than a “working lunch”? Re-charge your battery after a morning of strategy with an opportunity to network and connect with peers and solution providers. Take a quick power walk around Times Square before tackling an afternoon of sessions.

In a fireside chat with INMA, the publisher of The New York Times will focus on a range of issues such as digital transformation, subscriptions, the challenges of an independent press, the future of the information ecosystem, and the opportunities and threats of generative AI, among other subjects.

In an extraordinary panel discussion, learn how newsrooms are mastering data, experiences, and culture to make journalism more discoverable and relevant in a fragmenting world – whether a subscription model or not. Learn whether newsrooms are leaning toward being data-informed or data-obsessed, and engage with our panel of chief editors on how far journalists should go on this front.

Caffeine and sugar surprises mixed with healthy snacks will get you through the inevitable down period of a long day of sessions. Bonus: Meet new friends and colleagues.

The “talent equation” continues to come up in the global INMA conversation among media companies. How to prioritise diversity and inclusion while moving beyond silos and celebrating a culture of learning and growing? In this session, INMA will spotlight two cases that stand out internationally.

How media companies can use innovation, creativity, and forward thinking to re-focus and re-energise their organisational culture is the focus of this closing keynote address. Learn from a media-friendly leader on how these concepts are applied in other industries and what the relevance for news media can be.

Distill the key learnings of the day with an INMA tradition: identifying commonalities, spotting outliers, and prioritising what to take home in this end-of-day wrap-up.

Celebrate a packed day at World Congress (a packed week for some!) at this cocktail reception featuring a wine tasting of outstanding American selections, punctuated with equally sumptuous cheeses. Then enjoy an evening of business dinners, Broadway shows, and even early-evening shopping.

By the final day of World Congress, you know the routine. Today is your last opportunity to meet face-to-face with colleagues and solution providers. Schedule meetings in our Networking Lounge, and make the most of being in-person. Only a pandemic could remind us how precious those minutes are.

Not sure you’re at an INMA conference? Learn more about what this week’s study tours and workshops taught us, INMA priorities, and what the day ahead looks like.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is nothing new, as nearly half of media companies have deployed elements in recent years. Yet the newest generation of text and image bots, like ChatGPT, have democratised access and opened imaginations to immediate applications that seemed out of reach yesterday. In this opening keynote presentation, learn where AI is heading and what the likely priorities should be for news media in the next two years.

Technology is moving so fast, how can we make sure we keep up the pace? How does each new tech development impact us?How will the world’s dominant tech corporations—Apple, Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft—interact with news media in the future? How will artificial intelligence change our business, the way we work and solve problems? Why companies where they’ve figured out systems where AIs and humans can work together are the most efficient? A deep dive into the most interesting things in tech.

Hear directly from the leading lights in news media about how technology is re-shaping the future of our industry. Specifically, this panel will focus on emerging interfaces, the digital opportunities and threats, and how the c-suite should look at emerging technologies in the short-, mid-, and long-term.

“Face time” never seemed so important until we lost it during the pandemic. In this final networking break of the INMA World Congress, circle back on the people and companies you have not yet met. Rebuild your professional networks.

Every company and every brand wants to be trusted. But how to apply that principle to a news media company’s strategy? In this session, look at the principles being applied and the obstacles to overcome to bridge aspirations and reality from a skeptical public tiring of institutions (like news media).

As we break for lunch and as we ease toward our final networking opportunity, what final meeting do you need to prioritise that will deliver maximum return on investment for your company and your career?

The media c-suite is obsessed with Generation Z. From their distrust of institutions to their embrace of diversity and social justice, today’s 10- to 25-year-olds – born between 1997 and 2012 – Gen Z is engaging and buying differently than previous cohorts. In this panel, learn what cutting-edge media companies are doing to engage Gen Z.

From live video to non-news products to NFT collaborations to audio, news media companies are pushing hard on interactive formats. In this panel of mini-case studies, get briefed on initiatives that are moving the needle of revenue and engagement and ask questions of the innovators.

Join us for a thought-provoking fireside chat with Hannah Yang of the New York Times, as she discusses her role of the Chief Growth Officer, the key drivers of the Times’ growth after the pandemic, and the strategic dilemmas it is facing now, such as balancing the volume and value of subscribers amid the industry headwinds. How does the Times plan to reach its North Star goal of 15 million subscribers by 2027? Hannah will be interviewed on stage by INMA’s expert Greg Piechota who will start the session with an executive briefing on the state of digital subscriptions worldwide.

From tech to business models to an array of opportunities, what did we learn today? Take home this distillation by INMA to share with colleagues back home.

As the programming component of World Congress Week wraps up, what did we learn from our five days in New York? This session will distill the distillations into actionable points – with an eye toward what comes next for INMA.

Whether a finalist or not, you won’t want to miss this extraordinary evening at the Harvard Club of New York – reception, dinner, awards ceremony, and after-party.

Location:
Harvard Club
35 West 44th Street