The Membership Puzzle Project summit ended on Aug. 6, 2021. If you want to learn more about it, read on. If you’re here for the session recordings, you can head straight to the summit recap.
When the Membership Puzzle Project launched in May 2017, we saw it as an intervention at a critical moment. The advertising model was faltering as Google and Facebook took most of the money. It seemed clear that readers, viewers and listeners would have to support journalism more directly, but the trust between newsrooms and their audiences was often thin to non-existent. We saw – and still see – membership as one route to a sustainable path. MPP intervened to better illuminate that route.
We feel we've done that. In the last four years, experimentation with membership has exploded, understanding of how membership differs from other models has deepened, and best practices have multiplied.
Our August 2021 sunset is quickly approaching. But before we wrap up this global project, Membership Puzzle Project and the Media Development Investment Fund are inviting you to join us Aug. 2 to 6 at our end-of-project summit. We’ll celebrate the growth of membership models in news, work on some of the remaining challenges, and come up with a plan for helping the space continue to thrive without the Membership Puzzle Project as a center of gravity.
It’s your turn to lead the membership space, and this summit is our way of turning the work over to you, the newsrooms and journalists who have propelled this practice forward with your work.
If you’ll forgive us a pun, we’ve done the edges of the puzzle by framing the membership space, and now it’s up to you to finish it by filling it in with everything you’ve tried.
The Membership Puzzle Project summit ended on Aug. 6, 2021. You can find all the session recordings on the recap page.
What you need to know
“Your turn: a membership summit” will include five days of programming, each with a theme:
Day 1: The state of membership in news worldwide – Just how far has this movement spread and what stage of growth is it at? Where is it succeeding?
Day 2: The membership struggle – Where not everyone has the money to give to journalism, or press freedoms are still lacking, the membership puzzle looks a lot different.
Day 3: Twists in your membership journey – Not everything goes according to plan. That's when you have to adapt and try out-of-the-box membership tactics.
Day 4: OK, you’ve got members now. What’s next? – After you prove that people are willing to join your cause, what do you do with them?
Day 5: The questions we haven’t answered yet – What are the new frontiers? Where does membership have to go next? Which areas are ripe for experimentation?
The event is free and will happen fully online. Each day of programming will begin at 9 a.m. ET and end by 11:30 a.m. ET, with a mix of presentations, panel discussions, breakouts, and workshops. All sessions other than the breakout discussions will be recorded. Although there is no cap on attendees, you must register in order to receive information about how to access the event.
Code of Conduct
The Membership Puzzle Project summit will bring together more than 600 participants from around the world. Our goal is to make sure we create an inclusive and safe space for everyone.
Basic guidelines
If you wouldn’t feel comfortable saying something to someone face-to-face, don’t say it to them in the Zoom chat or the Telegram group for the summit.
Be sure to allow space for others to contribute to the conversation. There is a difference between adding to a conversation and disrupting it, and we think everyone knows the difference. We will privately message you if you are being disruptive, and if the behavior doesn’t stop, you’ll be removed from the event.
Be mindful that people are coming to the summit from many different backgrounds and might react to scenarios and understand jokes in very different ways. In particular, the experience each of us is having with the pandemic is very different due to the uneven distribution of vaccines. Be kind and empathetic about the challenges presenters and attendees might be facing.
Anti-Harassment Policy
MPP is dedicated to providing a harassment-free experience for everyone. We do not tolerate harassment of participants or speakers in any form. Our code of conduct, which was adapted from News Product Alliance’s code of conduct, outlines what behavior constitutes harassment.
If at any point you feel uncomfortable or witness inappropriate behavior, please send a private message to host Jakub Górnicki, DM him on Telegram, or email us at ariel@membershippuzzle.org and jakub@weareoutriders.com. We will promptly intervene.
Anyone who violates this code of conduct will be removed from the event immediately and possibly blocked from attending the remainder of the summit at the discretion of the Membership Puzzle Project team.
Harassment includes:
Offensive comments related to gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, mental illness, neuro(a)typicality, physical appearance, body size, age, race, or religion.
Unwelcome comments regarding a person’s lifestyle choices and practices, including those related to food, health, parenting, drugs, and employment.
Unwelcome sexual attention.
Continued one-on-one communication after requests to cease.
Gratuitous or off-topic sexual images or behavior in spaces where they’re not appropriate.
Sustained disruption of discussion.
Threats of violence.
Incitement of violence towards any individual, including encouraging a person to commit suicide or to engage in self-harm.
Deliberate intimidation.
Harassing photography or recording, including logging online activity for harassment purposes.
Pattern of inappropriate social contact, such as requesting/assuming inappropriate levels of intimacy with others
Deliberate “outing” of any aspect of a person’s identity without their consent except as necessary to protect vulnerable people from intentional abuse.
