As local media goes through what is being called a ‘Phoenix phase’, where better to hold this year’s Borrell conference than in… Phoenix.

The Borrell Phoenix event starts on Sunday, and runs through to March 11 at the city’s Walter Cronkite School for Journalism and Mass Communication (pictured).

Borrell Associates president Jim Brown says they’re “making a statement” by taking the annual event to the Arizona city. “It signals an important moment in the decades-long transformation of local media – what we're calling ‘the phoenix phase’,” he says.

“After decades of struggling against declining revenue, only a handful of media successors are rising from the ashes to begin growing again.” Brown promises you’ll meet them at the "executive-level conference which has been held for 15 years now.”

The focus will again be the business and sales strategies associated with best-practice media companies, and seating is limited to 200. The agenda spotlights “rising Phoenixes” in the local media industry, and features best-practice case studies. There are also workshop-style sessions covering strategies for content creation and distribution, revenue growth and emerging opportunities in streaming video and podcasting.

Among speakers, Deseret Digital Media president Nathan Hatch will look back at lessons from the publisher’s strategy, established in 2009 as a model for disruptive innovation. Fifteen years later, the company and its affiliated websites – including KSL.com and Utah.com – is thriving, with more than six million active users and 685,000 active classifieds.

A panel session on finding new sources of revenue will how discuss e-commerce, classified advertising, email subscriptions and other initiatives have become a significant source of supplemental income. Moderator Julie Foley (Upland Second Street) will be joined by Tom Yates (Deseret Digital Media), Bruce Pinchbeck (Letterhead) and Matthew Burgoyne (Saga Communications).

Post & Courier president and publisher PJ Browning is also set to talk on the transformation of a 220-year-old newspaper into a ‘digital first’, expanding beyond Charleston to all of South Carolina, and collecting a Pulitzer and other accolades along the way.

More details from the website