Doing some paneling at Kelsey event

I hope to see many of you at this week's Kelsey Group Interactive Local Media Conference in Reston, Va. I'm privileged to be invited to join a panel discussion Wednesday morning called "Newspapers 2.0." The description, from the conference agenda:

" Newspapers and their media parents have recently become very acquisitive and aggressive, snapping up high-profile properties such as About.com, Homegain, MarketWatch, MySpace, Topix and others. How do newspapers see their online products evolving from an extension of traditional print publications to the next generation of online content delivery and advertising vehicles? How will newspapers serve the changing needs of consumers and maintain and grow their revenues in the local ad marketplace?"

I like Kelsey confabs because of the way the panels work: instead of every participant bringing a necessarily vague 10-minute PowerPoint and struggling with the audio/visual gear, most of these panels will be group interviews. Well-prepared Kelsey consultants and guest moderators lead actual conversations.

I attended a similar Kelsey event in early 2004 and came away with many great insights. I wish more media industry events used a similar format for their panels, and I'm looking forward to the week.