#DEN2010 Winter Meeting: Benchmarking Your Website

As we grapple with how to create revenues with our online brands it's obvious that we must understand more about our audiences than just whether the number of unique users is increasing month on month.

How much of our audience are regular visitors or eager participants in our online comemnt forums? How many are based abroad and how many are just dipping in to follow a link to one page?

Our Winter 2010 meeting will allow you to compare notes other digital editors and see how your site measures up to industry trends.

Editors from four of the UK's leading news organisations will "lift the bonnet" on their strategies to engage audiences – and the metrics they use to measure the success of their efforts – in a Chatham House Rule-discussion in Preston.

The programme will run from 1:30-5pm on February 25^th, with registration & lunch from 1pm in the Adelphi Conference Room at the University of Central Lancashire.

The session aims to assist you in addressing some linked challenges:

(1) advertisers who seek not just large audiences, but engaged prospective customers; and

(2) executives who are seeking to plug budget shortfalls by introducing paywalls around all or some of their online content and activities.

Participating in the panel discussion will be:

• Dave Higgerson, head of multimedia of Trinity Mirror regionals
• Ian Brogden, digital editor at Cumbrian Newspapers
• Jane McFarlane, assistant news editor Northcliffe Media's Derby Evening Telegraph
• Martin Hamer, digital editor at Johnston Press' Lancashire Evening Post.

There is no charge for the event, but seating is limited and registration is required. All those attending the event are also asked to contribute to the discussion by completing this survey. Responses will remain anonymous.

The discussion will be chaired by François Nel, director of the Journalism Leaders Programme, who will also present the results of the survey and related findings from a two-year study into the online activities of newspapers in Britain’s 66 cities.

The programme will end with a discussion about ideas to cover the election online led by Nick Turner, Head of Digital Content Development for the CN Group.

The Digital Editors Network is sponsored by Northwest Vision & Media and the School of Journalism, Media & Communication at the University of Central Lancashire, home to England's oldest university journalism programme.

For addtional programme details and updates, contact or follow Nick Turner at @nickincumbria / Nick.Turner@Cumbrian-Newspapers.co.uk , or François Nel @francoisnel / FPNel@uclan.ac.uk .

Follow - and contribute to - our Twitter updates #den2010

Visit, revist or replay #DEN09 presentations

You can visit, revisit or replay the presentations from the #DEN09 Paywalls and Partnerships session in Preston on 29th October 2009 by checking out the liveblog log or following these links to the speakers' slides:

- François Nel, director of the Journalism Leaders Programme at UCLan, presented highlights from a study into the online revenue models of news publishers in Britain’s 66 cities, 'Where else is the money?'

- Sarah Hartley, Launch Editor of Guardian Local, 'The Hyperlocal Space; or is it hype about local?' (Also see Sarah's great blog post on the whole session).

- Tony Johnston, Head of Training, Press Association, 'A new model for public service reporting in Britain'.

- Alastair Bruce, Senior Content Manager for Microsoft UK, 'What does MSN Local’s partnership proposal mean for regional publishers?'

Diary note: #DEN10A, the first of three Digital Editors Network meetings planned for 2010, is schedule for 25th February 2010 in Preston. Contact Nick Turner with programme suggestions and follow @francoisnel or @jleaders for updates and reservations.

Follow the live blog of #DEN meeting on paywalls & partnerships 29/10/09

Twitter #DEN09

This event is hosted by the Lancashire Evening Post, Preston, and sponsored by the School of Journalism, Media & Communication at the University of Central Lancashire with support from the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA)

13:00 DEN Registration & networking lunch at the Lancashire Evening Post. [Those planning to arrive by train and wanting to share a taxi from the station, please post a comment here with your ETA in Preston]
13:45 Welcome Simon Reynolds, Editorial Director, Lancashire Evening Post,
14:00 Where else is the money? François Nel, director of the Journalism Leaders Programme, presents some highlights from a two-year research project into the online revenue models of news publishers in Britain’s 66 cities.
14:15 Sarah Hartley, Digital Editor, The Guardian, on Guardian Local partnerships for innovation.Break1
14:45 Tony Johnston, Press Association, on teaming up with Trinity Mirror to report on local government and public bodies in Liverpool.
15:30 Break
15:45 Alastair Bruce, Microsoft UK 'What does MSN Local’s partnership proposal mean for regional publishers?'
16:40 Nick Turner, CN Group 'What next for DEN?'
Wrap up.16:45 Transfer to UCLAN campus for the 13th Journalism Leaders Forum & networking reception, which includes an exhibition of images from the 'zine, 'Preston is my Paris'.

Autumn 2009 meeting; paywalls and partnerships

Speakers from Microsoft, the Press Association, WAN-IFRA, The Guardian and The Journalism Leaders Programme at UCLan will consider paywalls and partnerships at the next meeting of the Digital Editors' Network on 29th October 2009 in Preston.

Spaces for this free event, which is hosted by the Lancashire Evening Post, are extremely limited, so please reserve your DEN seat here soonest. [Update 25/09/2009: All spaces for the afternoon sessions have been reserved, but there are still tickets available for the networking reception at 5pm and the Forum that follows. Reserve your Forum seat here. The next DEN sessions are planned for 25 February and 29 April 2010]

13:00 DEN Registration & networking lunch at the Lancashire Evening Post. [Those planning to arrive by train and wanting to share a taxi from the station, please post a comment here with your ETA in Preston]

13:45 Welcome Nick Turner, the CN Group's head of digital content development.
13:50 Where else is the money? François Nel, director of the Journalism Leaders Programme, presents some highlights from a two-year research project into the online revenue models of news publishers in Britain’s 66 cities.
14:10 Peter Bale, MSN. What does MSN Local’s partnership proposal mean for regional publishers?
14:50 Sarah Hartley, digital editor, The Guardian, on partnerships for innovation.
15:30 Break
15:45 Tony Johnston, Press Association, on teaming up with Trinity Mirror to report on local government and public bodies in Liverpool.
16:30 Wrap up.
16:45 Transfer to UCLAN campus

17:00 Drinks & networking reception - Greenbank Building foyer
18-19:15 13th Journalism Leaders Forum, Pay Walls – build em, break em - or look beyond them?
Panellists:
Gordon Crovitz, former publisher of the Wall Street Journal and co-founder with Steven Brill of the online content e-commerce start-up Journalism Online.
Martha Stone, director of the Shaping the Future of the Newspaper project, World Association of Newspapers –IFRA
Robert Andrews, UK Editor, paidContent.com
Frédéric Filloux, co-author of the Monday Note blog and editor for the international division of the Norwegian media group Schibsted ASA.
Chair: François Nel.

The free event will also be Webcast live.

For addtional programme details, contact Nick Turner at Nick.Turner@Cumbrian-Newspapers.co.uk or François Nel at FPNel@uclan.ac.uk

#DEN Spring Meeting Live Blog

Hitwise to present new research on UGC at Spring meeting

If integrating social media and user generated content into your news operation is on your agenda, don't miss the Winter DEN meeting on 12 May in Preston.

• Robin Goad, research director for the online market intelligence company Hitwise, will present How can online publishers utilize User Generated Content (UGC).
  
  User Generated Content (UGC) is a key growth area online, and social networks now attract 1 in 5 Internet page views in the UK. In this presentation, Robin will describe the digital content landscape in the UK, discuss the popularity of UGC (User Generated Content) brands (e.g Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia) - and compare some of their content strategies to those of top online publishing brands.

• Patrick Altoft, managing partner at Branded3, a Leeds-based full service digital agency. Patrick will take a practical look at the role search engine optimisation plays in social media marketing.

• Nick Turner, head of digital content for the CN Group, on Opening the doors to the community. How newspapers in Cumbria have been providing training to community groups and giving them access to create content on their websites. Groups ranging from the police to the Brownies have taken up the opportunity and now add news, information and pictures. Nick will report on the pros and cons of the experiment.

The meeting, which starts with a networking lunch at 1pm, leads into a networking reception at 5pm and the the 12th Journalism Leaders Forum at 6pm. These events form part of the programme of the Spring seminar of the Journalism Leaders Programme at the University of Central Lancashire, who sponsor the event.

To sign up to attend or for more information, contact the convenors Nick Turner or François Nel.

Play it again: Recording of 11th Forum

An unedited recording of the 11th Forum on the 3rd of February 2009 is available at http://breeze01.uclan.ac.uk/p94126209/ .

Diary note: 12th Forum and Digital Editors Network meeting is scheduled for 12th May as part of the Spring seminar of the Journalism Leaders Programme at UClan.