Tuesday morning’s Senior Leadership Conference will kick into high gear with a fast-paced series of 20-minute rotating idea sessions designed to spark conversation, challenge assumptions and generate practical ideas. Led by experienced facilitators, each session will tackle a timely issue facing newspaper leaders — from putting AI to work and protecting public notice revenue to strengthening sales teams and addressing burnout. Participants will move from table to table, exchanging perspectives, exploring real-world challenges and leaving with fresh ideas and actionable strategies they can put to work in their organizations.
Topics and facilitators are:
AI Decision Lab: What Should Your Organization Do Next?
Jon Accarrino, founder, ORDO Digital
With AI opportunities emerging across revenue, audience, content and operations, the challenge for newspaper leaders is deciding where to begin. Accarrino will guide participants through a practical framework for evaluating potential AI initiatives based on business impact, organizational readiness, investment, risk and measurable return. Each group will work through a real use case and leave with a clearer prioritization process and one potential 90-day action for their organization.
Five AI Workflows Sales Teams Can Put to Work Now
Brian Kennett, Built Revenue
This demonstration-driven session will show five practical ways newspaper sales teams can use AI today: converting scattered call notes into follow-up materials, identifying renewals at risk, building proposal packets from inbound inquiries, preparing concise call briefs and using AI-powered role-play to practice sales conversations. Each group will leave with a workflow to test, an internal owner and a measurable 30-day proof point.
Public Notice Trends That Can Impact Your Organization
Tony Baranowski, state policy director, America's Newspapers
State legislatures keep introducing bills that would pull public notices out of local newspapers, and the pace has not let up. Baranowski will cover what is moving in statehouses now, which arguments are gaining ground, and where the revenue and civic exposure falls for individual companies. Participants will leave knowing which threats are most likely to reach their own state and what to have ready before a bill is filed.
Warning Signs: Catching Burnout on Your Team
Laura Martin, human resources director, The Santa Fe New Mexican
This candid, peer-focused discussion will explore how burnout appears across newspaper organizations and what leaders can realistically do about it. Participants will discuss workload, communication, management practices, retention risks and organizational expectations while sharing approaches that have — or have not — worked within their teams. The goal is for participants to leave with practical interventions they can implement without waiting for a full organizational overhaul.
Becoming a Great (Local) Digital Marketer
David Grant, general manager, Blue Engine, and Reilly Kneedler, coach
Most publishers spend precious little in marketing dollars. What digital advertising strategies are working? What's the most critical moment in a marketing relationship and how are publishers attacking that opportunity today? How can you start marketing with under $1K per month? What are you currently investing in that yields results? Come for a wide-ranging discussion with Blue Engine General Manager David Grant and Coach Reilly Kneedler on how to re-calibrate your growth expectations for 2027 using straightforward techniques.
