MIAMI (22 January 2009) - An impactful, relevant programme aimed at confronting the transformational challenges facing newsmedia companies has been put together for the 79th Annual INMA World Congress May 13-15 in Miami.

Under the theme of "Converting Bandwidth to Innovation," the conference will focus on transformation and innovation, the changing consumer, the future of advertising, cross-platform business strategies, and sales opportunities in a down economy.

"Critically important for our industry in 2009 is to hear different voices and different messages," said Earl J. Wilkinson, executive director of INMA. "The INMA Miami conference will bring together on one stage new thinking for an industry hungry to innovate."

The complete World Congress information may be found at http://worldcongress.inma.org/.

Confirmed presentations include:

What Would Google Do? Lessons for Newsmedia Companies
Jeff Jarvis, Author, What Would Google Do?, and Proprietor, Buzzmachine.com

Newspapers faced with tumultuous challenges often quote Google as the future of where value lies in the emerging media landscape. In his new book, What Would Google Do?, internet impresario and blogging pioneer Jeff Jarvis reverse-engineers Google and discovers clear rules to manage by, opportunities and challenges of the internet generation, and non-traditional ways in which industries must derive value in the future using the Google philosophy. In this presentation, he will relate these lessons to newspapers and the newsmedia industry.

Enabling Innovation In a Traditional Publishing Group
Stephan Roppel, Chief Executive Officer, Holtzbrinck eLAB, and Vice President Business Development, Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck

Media and newspaper companies are faced with hurdles to develop and establish new digital offerings that add value in their internet businesses and can be integrated with their traditional brands. Technological challenges and new competitors as well as internal cultural gaps require innovative strategies and organisational changes. The organisational setup at German media group Holtzbrinck, including specific units for incubation, venture capital, and portfolio management, might offer a role model for other media and publishing companies.

High-Definition Marketing: What Advertising Is Moving Toward
Christopher A.H. Vollmer, Partner and Leader, Global Media and Entertainment, Booz & Company, New York

The transformation of the newsmedia industry is matched in speed and intensity by the advertising industry that feeds it. Go inside the minds of the advertising community - from advertisers to agencies to media buyers - to understand the tectonic shifts away from mass-market communications to high return-on-investment one-to-one marketing. How do newspaper companies succeed in this evolving landscape?

Survival Selling for Newsmedia Companies, Even in the Toughest Times
Mike Blinder, Principal, The Blinder Group, Author, Survival Selling, Even in the Toughest Times

For the newspaper industry to find new revenue opportunities and form new advertiser categories in this economic downturn, sales teams must learn how to prospect better, establish rapport with advertisers, sell eyeballs not space, and have better closing skills. This requires sales philosophies to shift from a commodity orientation to a solution orientation. Building on his new book on this subject, Mike Blinder will talk about how to "survive in sales" in the months to come.

Case Study in Innovation and Transformation: Stampen Group
Tomas Brunegard, Chief Executive Officer, Stampen Group

Sweden's Stampen Group has reinvented the concept of local media with its strategy of interest-based social networks, long-term partnership commitments with advertisers, information technology investment to enable web-based video and a mobile component, and free weekly newspapers.

What a Marketing Battle Looks Like and Lessons for Other Newspapers: The Story of DNA
K.U. Rao, Chief Executive Officer, DNA

The launch of DNA in India's business capital of Mumbai in 2005 marked not only a new voice in the country's colourful stable of English-language dailies, but a turning point in innovation and aggressiveness in marketing. DNA, which stands for "Daily News and Analysis," is a young adult-targeted newspaper now circulating in six cities. Its development and clever marketing has prompted a marketing war for readers and advertisers, and placed DNA at the creative edge. Learn more about their fight for audience and advertisers.

How Las Ultimas Noticias Rethought Reader Interaction - and Grew
Agustín J. Edwards, Editor and Managing Director, Las Ultimas Noticias

Chile's Las Ultimas Noticias was a newspaper like most: struggling to find its niche amid media options. Then they found an asset often overlooked in profit-and-loss analyses: the reader. In this presentation, learn how the newspaper implemented metrics and transparency into its newsroom and translated the voice of the reader on its web site into how editorial decisions are made and what ultimately goes into the print newspaper.

The Globe and Mail's Digital Business Development Strategy
Roger Dunbar, Vice President, Digital Media and Business Development, The Globe and Mail

Learn how Canada's Globe and Mail has increased its online audience 70% in the past 18 months through a new digital business development strategy centered on a new site design built on a new publishing platform for community, search engine optimisation, and smart search. Revamped content in the media company's finance channel has been a focus and includes a subscription model.

Additional information on the INMA World Congress, including how to register, may be found at http://worldcongress.inma.org/.

INMA is the world's leading provider of global best practices and marketing ideas for newsmedia companies looking to grow amid profound market change. With more than 1,200 members in 82 countries worldwide, INMA produces magazines, newsletters, web sites, conferences, reports, awards competitions, and other services to harvest the world's best ideas to grow audience, revenue, and profitability for newsmedia companies. Based in Dallas, the association has offices in Antwerp and New Delhi.