International Newsroom Summit: Embracing change

That philosophy will be on display when some of the newspaper industry's smartest newsroom minds share their open-minded strategies at the 11th annual Newsroom Summit, to be held on 10 and 11 May in Hamburg, Germany.

Paul Lewis, the special projects editor at The Guardian in the United Kingdom, is one example. Lewis has been a role model for embracing the changing world around him. By harnessing the power of social media and crowdsourcing, he has produced some of the most compelling investigative journalism in recent years, such as his on-the-street reports of the riots in Britain last summer.

"I think actually there are very few realms of reporting that don't lend themselves to being much more open in the way that we produce and then subsequently report the news," says Lewis, who had 10 000 Twitter followers before the riots and today has 47 000.

The conference, organised by the World Editors Forum, the global organisation of the world's chief editors within the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), will present "smart strategies for tough times" and respond to the realities of today's newsrooms.

There is still time to register: Full details can be found at http://www.wan-ifra.org/newsroom2012

"The Summit will identify strategies that are being implemented in newspapers around the world to make sure newsrooms are cost efficient, lean and effective. In some instances this means further integration of reporting and production teams - not only within the newsroom but across publications," says Cherilyn Ireton, executive director of the World Editors Forum.

"We will look at the need for today's journalists to be digitally agile - and comfortable producing content for any platform. We will look at the training and new skills that are needed to ensure journalists are focused on producing good quality content rather than get distracted by processes and systems."

Other speakers include:

• Tomas Brunegård, CEO, Stampen Group, Sweden: Dealing with the enemies of change.
  
• Anette Novak, Consultant and former editor in chief of Norran, Sweden: New positions in the newsroom, the jobs you have never heard of but needed yesterday.
  
• Lisa MacLeod, managing editor, Financial Times: Newsroom 4.0 at the FT.
  
• Mathias Müller Blumencron, editor in chief of Germany's Der Spiegel: Can serious journalism survive on mobile devices?
  
• Wolfgang Blau, editor, Zeit Online, Germany: Can separate print and online operations deliver more?
  
• Knut Engelmann, managing editor, Wall Street Journal Deutschland: Expanding into new markets.
  
• Matt DeRienzo, Connecticut group editor, Journal Register Co: Re-training journalists to become 'digital ninjas'.
  
• Margaret Boribon, secretary general, Copiepresse, Belgium: Taking on Google - and winning.
  
• Peter Atkinson, group editorial consultant, Avusa Media, South Africa: Smart ways to reorganise newsgathering and production.
  
• William Davis, editor, Bangor Daily News, USA: The open source newsroom.
  
• Joycelyn Winnecke, vice president and associate editor, Chicago Tribune: Engaging readers in real life.
  
• Jan Helin, editor-in-chief, Aftonbladet, Sweden: Journalists as brands.

More details about the programme can be found at http://www.wan-ifra.org/newsroom2012

The conference will be preceded by a one-day workshop on 9 May on "Creating a cross platform experience - Web, Online, Tablet."

The conference will be accompanied by social and networking events, including an opening cocktail at Axel Springer, Europe's largest newspaper publisher, and a boat trip and dinner through Hamburg's harbour.

Sponsors of the Newsroom Summit include alfamedia, CCI, Eidos Media, and protecmedia.

The conference will be accompanied by an exhibition that will include Desk-Net, Fotoware, Redweb, SaxoTech, Scoopshot, VGNewsPortal and more.

The World Editors Forum, which brings together editors around the globe to exchange ideas, strategies and information, is the organisation for senior newsroom personnel within WAN-IFRA. The WEF is publisher of the Editors Weblog, http://www.editorsweblog.org, a premier source of news about editorial issues on a global scale.