This year’s ‘Beyond the Printed Word’ conference in Budapest (November 20-21) November) is all about business – about cashing in on digital services, extending reach and making advertising more successful, about making the most of digital opportunities. Reiner Mittelbach, chief executive of organiser Ifra says the event attracts the ‘crème de la crème,’ as digital media executives converge to discuss and dissect the business challenges and opportunities: “Now more than ever, publishers realise that their digital services will serve as the springboard for future growth, in both readership and revenue,” he says. Conference leaders are experts on digital media strategy Jennifer Carroll (Gannett Digital, USA) and Theo Blanco (Upsala Nya Tidning, Sweden). Carroll serves on the board of the Institute for the Connected Society and co-chairs the Audience Development Committee of Newspaper Association of America and the Innovation Committee of the American Society of Newspaper Editors. After 12 years as a sales and advertising director, sales and media trainer within the radio/TV industry in Scandinavian and Baltic markets, Blanco crossed over to the newspaper industry in 2005 as sales and advertising director for the NT Media Group in Norrköping, Sweden. His mission to create and develop Sweden’s best cross-media sales organisation was recognised the following year. Blanco is sure that a philosophy that combines “new pro-customer policy, more advertiser friendly, hyper-local sales strategy, digital dominance and complete transparency” will always win in the long term. Conference sessions cover: • Standing out of the digital crowd; • New ideas on extending your reach; • A focus on new technologies in ‘stories from the near future’; and • Growing beyond expectations – a whole session about online, mobile advertising and new sales channels. A pre-conference workshop looks at crossmedia marketing – from a newspaper ad to a multimedia advertising communication. More information from www.ifra.com/beyond or email straeter@ifra.com.