In 2007, industry experts offered many ideas and suggestions as to how the local media industry can improve its offerings to national advertisers. In “Lessons Learned”, Shawn Riegsecker will review the lessons of last year and discuss how well the industry improved in its quest to meet the increasing needs of online advertisers.

Andy Waldeck has mastered and written about innovation strategy for many global organizations around the world. In his role at Innosight, he helps companies understand what it takes to transform their organization into a sustainable enterprise in a world of rapidly changing fundamentals. Mr. Waldeck will help us understand the gravity of the situation local media is facing along with fundamental solutions to guide us toward being an innovative industry.

Hear from four conference attendees who are attempting to innovate and affect change. Mr. Waldeck will lead an hour long consulting session to identify the challenges that today’s industry leaders face. Together we will formulate real working solutions you can bring home to put to use within your own organization.

Data and analytics are two of the most commonly used words by clients when speaking of advertising on the web. A data and analytics industry leader will help us better understand the nuances of data and analytics and explain how clients use data from sites. This panel will discuss how the industry can help make the connection between advertising on well-respected websites and direct response advertising.

Video has become a huge part of many online advertising programs and it is estimated to increase by 79% this year. Unfortunately, advertisers have yet to spend a significant amount with local sites. This session will define the problem we face with video, highlight the most widely used video player in the industry, and feature a panel of publishers who will discuss how they have successfully integrated video into their overall digital product offerings and have turned it into a viable revenue stream for their site.

How do agencies evaluate local publishers? Who is the local industry’s biggest competition at this point? Our panel of clients from the retail, telecommunications, automotive and finance industries will give you insight into how local websites fit into the bigger picture of portals, networks, and national sites. Together we’ll define local’s value proposition and offer strategic ways to compete for a larger market share.

The local media industry has changed and, in turn, the ‘core product’ of the local digital media portfolio is no longer what it used to be. We will open a dialogue with a panel of publishers to speak to how they are adapting and innovating to build a portfolio of digital product offerings that meet the changing needs of today’s advertisers. For an hour, we’ll shift our focus away from being “television”, “newspaper”, “radio”, and “magazine” companies, and creatively discuss what the future of your local offerings should be.

Media firms of all shapes and sizes face very different relationships with their advertisers and end consumers. This presentation will look at how technology has irrevocably changed the destiny of local media providers answering specifically: What key trends are changing the role of media in the lives of consumers and advertisers? How do online tools affect media and advertising strategies today? What should local media firms do to best prepare short-and long term industry changes? How are agencies, marketing technology vendors and other service providers adjusting to suit the new media landscape?

Hear what efficiencies Centro is creating through technology for you, our publisher partners. Centro’s VP of Product Development will present and demonstrate the first release of the Centro Collaboration Tool for Publishers. She will describe the benefits of this technology and provide an overview of what to expect in the near future.

Centro’s Research & Analytics Manager will walk us through the key data points we have gathered by looking at every campaign run on a local sites throughout the course of the past year. This will provide you with an opportunity to see how your site compares to the rest of the industry as it relates to delivery, pricing, and more.

Four Centro department heads will discuss how best to work with Centro and provide insight into our media buying, trafficking, and billing processes.