The Executive Voices conversation starters

Alan Fisco, Nancy Meyer, Bill Nagel, Francis Wick and Cameron Nutting Williams

Conference Venue: Offices of Seyfarth Shaw LLP, located at Willis Tower, 233 S. Wacker Drive | Suite 8000 | Chicago, IL 60606-6448

The schedule:

The topics:

Here are the topics that industry leaders will be discussing during Executive Voices, December 11 on the 80th floor of the Willis Tower in Chicago.

Membership Models that Generate Subscriptions and Consumer Revenue
What are the smart value-added propositions in membership that build print and digital newspaper subscriptions, and optimize consumer revenue? How do you identify the loyal readers most likely to sign up for memberships? Are there aspects of community life that locals are especially passionate about, and how can that be channeled into niche memberships? And does the choice of platform — print, digital, events or some combination of all three — make a difference in creating a successful membership program? Facilitated by Cameron Nutting Williams, regional publisher, Ogden Newspapers

FAQ: Frequency Asked Questions
Publishing a print newspaper seven days a week is not a business model set in stone. But as organizations look to reduce print frequency, what works best from the perspective of fulfilling our journalistic missions, keeping readers engaged — and keeping a sustainable revenue flow? How do you prepare longtime subscribers for the change? What content and packaging changes should accompany a reduction in frequency? Facilitated by Alan Fisco, president, The Seattle Times Company

Forward-Looking Content Opportunities
More newspapers are adding niche content, branded content and non-traditional content to their legacy news products.  What affordable tools, techniques and staffing are newspapers using to analyze news content with the goal of tailoring content and ads or launching new products to adjust to changing content and platform preferences? What content strategies will work to capture and engage a younger demographic? Facilitated by Bill Nagel, publisher, San Francisco Chronicle

Your Dance Card: Finding the Right Partners for Collaboration
More than ever before, operating a successful newspaper is a team effort that looks outside the newsroom for partners and collaborations. There are obvious media partnerships such as with frenemies like Facebook. But what partnerships can we find in our own communities? Who’s had success with local chambers of commerce, with college student newspapers or with tourism agencies? What partnerships are hiding in plain sight that we’re not taking advantage of? What events with partnerships have worked well — and which ones are we not even thinking about? Facilitated by Nancy Meyer, publisher and general manager, Sun Sentinel Media Group

Developing Staffs and Organizational Structures for the Future
What are the smart ways to organize operational and leadership roles? Are new-ish roles such as dedicated newsletter editors or data analysts proving successful? Are we any closer to finding a solution to the perennial problem of recruiting and retaining effective salespeople? And how do you keep morale up against the drumbeat of negative headlines about our industry? Can newspapers cultivate a “culture of hope”? Facilitated by Francis Wick, president and CEO, Wick Communications

Now That You Mentioned It…
Executive Voices concludes with a conversation sparked by … conversations that took place during the day. Participants will address anything worth pursuing among the topics, comments or asides that inevitably come up in a free-ranging, highly interactive conversation.

What makes Voices different?

The conference is limited to 75 newspaper leaders and decision-makers and features a no-holds-barred conversation format — there are no PowerPoint presentations in sight. Instead, attendees can sit down in a room with their peers from around the country to find solutions to newspapers’ most pressing issues.

Register soon — before this event sells out!

REGISTER

For more information, contact:
Patty Slusher: pslusher@newspapers.org
or 847-795-0382

Testimonials

Heidi Wright
Heidi Wright

"I really appreciated being able to converse about topics we're all wrestling with, rather than listen to a presentation."

Heidi Wright, COO and Publisher, The Bulletin, EO Media Group, Salem, Ore.

Jeff Patterson

"I came away from this one-day, formatted discussion with several actionable items I know will make a difference in my organization."

Jeff Patterson, president - Central Division, Adams Publishing Group, Minneapolis, Minn.

Scott Campbell
Scott Campbell

"Executive Voices is an excellent opportunity to go deep on critical thinking about business strategy with your peers."

Scott Campbell, publisher, The Columbian Publishing Company, Vancouver, Wash.

Bob Woodward
Bob Woodward

"This is a good opportunity to discuss some of the biggest and most important issues and opportunities our industry has.  Participants spoke candidly and there was a number of to-do's (or, at least, to-try's) coming out of the sessions."

Bob Woodward, vice president, Woodward Community Media