Activism, Media, Policy Summit Brought Together Industry Leaders at Newseum Today

Lisa Byrne | 09/30/2011

Presented by David All Group, the second annual AMP Summit brought brilliant minds together at the Newseum in Washington, DC today. What began with an opening reception at Microsoft on Wednesday evening ended with libations and celebrations at the exclusive L2 Lounge, and included an extremely impressive lineup of speakers and panels at the Newseum throughout the day.

Keynote speakers included Marc Ecko, Founder of Artists & Instigators; Joe Trippi, President, Joe Trippi & Associates; Governor Matt Blunt, President, American Automotive Policy Council; Mark Knoller, Chief White House Correspondent, CBS News; Paul W. Taylor Ph.D., Chief Content Officer, e.Republic, Inc. and Editor-at-Large of GOVERNING magazine; and Kevin Hauswirth, Social Media Director, Office of the Mayor, City of Chicago. Panel discussions were broken down by Persuasion, Activation, and Engagement tracks with three sessions throughout the day.

Seeking a little persuasion and engagement I attended Persuasion Trends: Innovative Social Marketing & Online Advertising, The Future of News: Immediate, Social and Mobile, and Brands as Publishers: Interactive Content and Video. Inspired and intrigued by the conversation around the future of news in an online world I’d like to share some of the discussion that caught my attention:

The focus is on content in three segments: generation, distribution and monetization.
Newsroom hierarchy has transformed in the last five years specifically with decentralization adding more freelance and contributors in the areas of opinion, blog, and advocacy.
Partnering with other news organizations was unheard of a few years ago and is now common practice (and necessary).
Publishing tools are now in the hands of anyone who wants them enabling the community to generate content.
The function of the journalist has evolved to include content curation — gathering details from the general public and vetting what’s worthy.
The paywall for news institutions is still controversial, yet someone has to pay for the institution to exist — and why not the reader?
Advertising does not work in the same manner as it has in print or on television in terms of volume. News organizations are making the mistake of trying to cram their existing model online and failing.
No startup succeeds if it continues to do what it’s done from day one. Patch has an opportunity to claim the local space but only if they make drastic changes and learn from mistakes already made.
News publications had a license to print money for years and now too many of them are seeking that silver bullet in social — but it doesn’t exist. Revenue will be generated from multiple smaller streams and partnerships will play a major role in this.
Go to where your audience lives. If they don’t want to watch TV then find other ways to engage them online. Change your measurement tools, the time has come.

The monetization question still remains on how we connect with local businesses and help them connect with customers. If it’s not display advertising, what is it? This lingering thought led me to the panel on Brands as Publishers where Dan Beckmann stated that the numbers may be smaller online but at least they’re honest. Think about that for a moment. We don’t really know who’s watching us on TV or listening to us on the radio, do we? This panel discussed how we truly were “all over the place” before mass media and suggested we will arrive back there with the speedy adoption of social media platforms. Those who are successful are building an audience and a genuine interest which now naturally attracts brands to get on board.

In conclusion, conversation was contagious, thought-provoking and insightful — another winner from David All Group. DCeventjunkie was proud to be a Media Partner for the 2011 Activism + Media + Policy Summit.

Photos by Lisa Byrne, DCeventjunkie. See more pictures from AMP Summit 2011 on our Flickr.