Day 2

Tuesday, Aug. 3

The membership struggle

Membership is a new way of working, and every newsroom faces internal challenges when making the shift. Plus, in countries where most don’t have the money to give to journalism, or press freedoms are still lacking, the membership puzzle looks a lot different.

0900 – 0910: Daily kickoff

Ariel Zirulnick (MPP)

0910 – 0955: How two newsrooms overcame internal membership challenges

Moderator: Jessica Best (Membership Puzzle Project coach); Presenters: Gábor Kardos (444.hu), Paul McNally and Andisiwe May (Volume Africa)

Membership is a cross-discipline strategy that requires new skills and new modes of operating in order to succeed. It’s inevitable that internal challenges will come up. 444.hu will share how they developed an internal marketing plan for membership to overcome skepticism on the team. Volume Africa will share how they shifted from being client focused to listener focused, built time into the team schedule for creativity, and developed the capacity to test, learn, and discard ideas that didn’t work.

0955 – 1040: Making membership work in environments that are hostile to the press 

Presenters: Peter Erdelyi (Reuters Institute for Journalism/444.hu), Carlos Salamanca (El Faro), Premesh Chandran (Malaysiakini)

Being attacked by the government can be a huge driver of member support, but operating a membership program and engaging with your audience in a hostile environment gets complicated, fast. Reuters Institute for Journalism Fellow Peter Erdelyi will share seven lessons he learned while from studying 19 newsrooms in 16 countries where the press is under attack, with a particular focus on how this changes the membership strategy. El Faro in El Salvador and Malaysiakini in Malaysia will join him to share their experiences.

1040 – 1105: Focus on Ukraine – Developing membership in a young and fragile democracy

Moderator: Jakub Parusinski (The Fix); Panelists: Andrii Ianitskyi (Kyiv School of Economics), Sevhil Musaieva (Ukrayinska Pravda)

Launching membership is a daunting task anywhere, but especially in Ukraine, where free media is underwritten by oligarchs and the average salary is less than $500 a month. Despite these challenges, many Ukrainians newsrooms are pursuing membership in order to preserve their independence. Researcher Andrii Ianitskyi and Ukrayinska Pravda Editor-in-Chief Sevhil Musaieva will share how newsrooms in Ukraine are making it work. Supported by the Center for International Media Assistance.

1105 – 1110: Daily wrap-up

Ariel Zirulnick (MPP)

1110 – 1140: Breakout – The skills, jobs, and organizational charts that set you up for membership success

Host: Ben Whitelaw (Membership Puzzle Project coach)

Membership is a new way of working, and that means that it requires new skills – and often new jobs and organizational structures, too. In this breakout, we’ll talk through the many ways newsrooms can their staff membership efforts.

Day 3

Wednesday, Aug. 4

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.

0900 – 0910: Daily kickoff

Ariel Zirulnick (MPP)

0910 – 0955: What to do when you get it wrong 

Moderator: Yvette Dimiri (Stears Nigeria); Presenters: Rico Grimm (Krautreporter), Patricia Mercado Sánchez (Conexión Migrante)

We all make assumptions about our audiences and our members, even though we know better. This session is about what happens when you get it wrong, and how you can recover. Krautreporter in Germany will share why they lost more than half of their founding members and the lessons they learned from that mistake. Conexión Migrante will share how they overhauled their editorial strategy after realizing that they were failing to meet the information needs of their readers, mostly Mexican migrants in the U.S.

0955 – 1040: Pandemic pivots

Moderator: Aldana Vales (ICFJ); Panelists: Fran Beighton and Nicole Williamson (Daily Maverick), Stacey Peters (VTDigger)

The pandemic threw plans into disarray in newsrooms around the world – but some responded so successfully that their “pandemic pivots” are likely to become part of their work indefinitely.  The Daily Maverick in South Africa will share how they shifted from in-person events – a cornerstone of their membership offering – to webinars at the outset of the pandemic, and what they’ve learned after hosting more than 120 of them. VTDigger in the U.S. will share how they turned a critical spring membership drive into a moment to bring the community together in support of essential workers. 

1040 – 1120: What happened at The Correspondent

Moderator: Jennifer Brandel (Hearken); Panelists: Rob Wijnberg (De Correspondent/The Correspondent), Jay Rosen (MPP) 

The Dutch news organization De Correspondent funds 20+ full time reporters through membership. But its attempt to expand to English language publishing with The Correspondent did not work, despite a high-profile crowdfunding campaign that met its targets. It shut down in January 2021. What went wrong, and what can be learned? 

1120 – 1130: Daily wrap-up

Ariel Zirulnick (MPP)

1130 – 1200: Breakout – Q&A on the Daily Maverick’s membership and webinar strategy

Fran Beighton, Tinashe Munyuki, and Nicole Williamson (Daily Maverick)

Continue the conversation started during “Pandemic pivots.” The Daily Maverick team will answer your questions about their membership journey, webinar strategy, and how they build feedback loops.

Day 4

Thursday, Aug. 5

OK, you’ve got members now. What next?

After you prove that people are willing to join your cause, what do you do with them?

0900 – 0910: Daily kickoff

Ariel Zirulnick (MPP)

0910 – 0930: How engaged members unlock new revenue opportunities (Pt. 1)

Moderator: Federica Cherubini (Reuters Institute for Journalism); Presenter Bola Awoniyi (Black Ballad)

Membership can contribute more than membership fees. Black Ballad in the U.K. will talk about how they developed strong feedback loops with their members, becoming the media company that reaches, serves, and knows the 25 to 45-year-old British Black professional woman better than anyone else in British media. That position has helped launch several other revenue streams since 2019.

0930 – 1015: How engaged members unlock new revenue and growth opportunities (Pt. 2)

Moderator: Federica Cherubini (Reuters Institute for Journalism); Presenters: Jakob Moll (Nieman Foundation/Zetland), Cristian Lupsa (DoR), Claudia Urquieta (CIPER) 

Marketing is an important component of your membership growth strategy, but many newsrooms focus on that and completely forget about one of the most powerful tools they have: their most loyal members. But membership is, among many things, a way to identify your strongest supporters and incorporate them in your quest for sustainability. Few initiatives embody that more clearly than when newsrooms turn their members into ambassadors. Zetland in Denmark, Decât o Revistă (DoR) in Romania, and CIPER in Chile will share how they did that, allowing them to grow much more quickly than they could have on their own and reach potential members they wouldn’t otherwise reach. 

1015 – 1055: How three newsrooms are experimenting with ways to scale engagement 

Moderator: Gonzalo del Peon (American Journalism Project); Presenters: Caitlin Hernández and Kristen Muller (KPCC), Carolina Guerrero (Radio Ambulante), Rico Grimm (Krautreporter)

If you’re successful at building a community around your journalism, eventually that community could get too big to manage on your existing team, with your existing processes. But can you scale your engagement work without losing the connection and authenticity that drew audience members to you in the first place?KPCC in the U.S. will share how they have managed more than 7,000 questions about coronavirus since March 2020. Radio Ambulante in the U.S. and Latin America will share how they trained loyal listeners to host podcast listening clubs. Krautreporter in Germany will share how they’ve standardized their editorial surveys and trained their whole newsroom to build feedback loops with audience members. 

1055 – 1105 Daily wrap-up

Ariel Zirulnick (MPP)

1105 – 1130: Breakout – Running membership in a single-person newsroom

Host: Irene Caselli (The First 1,000 Days) 

Developing memberful routines and managing membership programs are major efforts that often require at least one staff member dedicated to that work. So how does that work in single-person news organizations, where the person running membership is also doing all the other tasks associated with being a publisher today?

Day 5

Friday, Aug. 6

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?

0900 – 0910: Daily kickoff

Ariel Zirulnick (MPP)

0910 – 0930: Making membership part of the solution

Presenters: Michael Sherrard (The Intercept), Kate Myers (Center for Public Integrity, formerly of The Intercept)

The “Crisitunity” framework guides organizations through the process of identifying the problem in the world that they’re working to fix and inviting people to become part of the solution by becoming members. The Intercept in the U.S. will share how they used the framework to make their membership pitch and how it can be used to spark action beyond just financial support.

0930 – 1005: Maintaining engagement beyond the crisis 

Moderator: Shirish Kulkarni (Bureau Local/The Bureau of Investigative Journalism); Panelists: Vanessa Maria Graber (FreePress News Voices), Shazia Ali (Ethnic Minorities and Youth Support Team Wales)

Newsrooms around the world experienced a surge in audience and member support during the pandemic. As we begin to emerge from the crisis, how can we maintain our relevance and connection with these readers and listeners? We’ve invited two community organizers in Wales and the U.S. to share how they maintain engagement and support between the crises that drive surges in support and attention.

1010 – 1100: The new frontiers of membership

Moderator: Ariel Zirulnick (MPP); Presenters: Navin Sigamany (The News Minute), Jakob Moll (Nieman Foundation/Zetland), Javier Borelli (El Diario Argentina)

Three journalists who helped to introduce membership in their countries will share three questions they’re working to answer through their work and research:

1. How can we tap into our country’s diaspora for membership? 

2. Will younger readers and listeners become members, too?

3. Can a strong member-driven newsroom replicate its success in another country? 

1100 – 1120: It’s your turn.

Jay Rosen, Emily Goligoski, and Ariel Zirulnick (MPP)

The Membership Puzzle Project team will talk about how to maintain this community of member-driven newsroom beyond MPP’s sunset and what developments they’re most excited to watch.