NewsXchange 2011: A global media experience!
NX, Managing Director
News Xchange 2011 took place this year in the gorgeous city of Cascais, Portugal. Underwritten by Eurovision, the operating arm of The European Broadcasting Union, the annual event is the international news industry’s time to come together and, as a community, explore the most pressing issues and most exciting opportunities facing our industry. And what a year it has been, not only in terms of the unprecedented number of massive news stories but also the explosive developments in technology, especially in mobile Internet.
The first thing to say is that this was a News Xchange unlike any other. It was the largest gathering in News Xchange’s 10-year history, with 441 delegates from 56 countries, representing 168 different organizations. Yet, despite the size, this particular gathering reflected a fundamental change in our industry and in our world: it felt more like a community than any time in its already rich history. Don’t just take my word for it — this is what the post-conference survey showed, big-time! Perhaps it’s a reflection of the increasingly interconnected and interdependent world that we now live in, or perhaps it was the beautiful sea air of Cascais or the warmth from our Portuguese hosts, RTP, or a combination of all of the above. This much is clear: News Xchange has evolved from a 2 1/2-day industry event to an ongoing conversation amongst a community of people united by our shared passion for news.
The event was designed by an amazing group of people, comprising the News Xchange and Executive teams. (Global Thinkers’ Managing Director, Elizabeth Filippouli, is a member of the Executive Team and her presence and her energy were beyond fantastic!) 
We made a conscious decision to put stories at the very heart of our News Xchange experience; stories are what the news industry is about and stories and storytellers therefore sit at the core. We looked at four key pillars: the Stories and Storytellers of the Year, the Craft of journalism and how we handle and cover stories, the Audiences and their evolving relationship with stories and, finally, the Inspiration.
We opened with the stories of the year – the Arab Spring and the Japan earthquake, with an exceptional presentation from Takehiko Kusaba of NHK. We heard from the storytellers who change the world — from One Day on Earth to the favelas of Rio, from stories about heroes to nightmarish scenes from Mexico, arguably one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists today. We welcomed one of CNN’s leading international journalists, Hala Gorani, who shared stories from her insider position in one of the world’s largest news organizations.
Then we turned our attention to the craft of journalism and the issues of physical safety as well as the risks — and rewards — of social media to the profession. With cocktails in hand, we talked about the role of satire in attracting audiences. We looked at case studies: CCTV and its plans to grow audiences globally and TV2 Norway’s Skole program for bringing in younger viewers. In a first for News Xchange and under the expert guidance of producer and moderator Elizabeth Filippouli, Managing Director for Global Thinkers, we debated the future of the industry and decided, by a large majority, that journalism will prevail over innovation; i.e., ultimately it is the craft that leads. This was a controversial one, however, as some people voted for both, saying the two go hand in hand! Cheaters….! We talked about the opportunities from tablet devices and debated whether the answer lies in apps or HTML5. Or both. And we sat spellbound as world-famous artist and environmentalist Chris Jordan shared his vision for the power of visual storytelling. 
Ten lucky delegates went home with brand new iPad2s, courtesy of Reuters, and Dr. Seif Khirhan, whose stories from Tahrir Square helped give a personal dimension to one of the most important and challenging stories of the year/decade, went home with a brand new Mac Air, courtesy of TVN Agency.
During the SES-sponsored coffee breaks, the community networked, and continued the conversations at both the CCTV and CNN dinners. Two fantastic evenings.
Conversation is what made News Xchange 2011 so powerful. Not only the conversations and discussions and videos being shown but also the tremendous amount of engagement through social media. Last year, there were four people tweeting from the event and there was a total of approximately 25 tweets. This year, by comparison, hundreds of community members were tweeting and posting images to Flickr and updating FB, and there were nearly 800 tweets during the conference itself! Check out #nx11.
This year, for the very first time we offered delegates optional workshops on the Wednesday afternoon. 
Headway International, INA and the United Nations Development Program each offered a one-hour workshop. We had planned for approximately 30 delegates, then quickly headed out for more chairs when the numbers proved to be more than double that projection!
On Friday afternoon, following the closing lunch, we created the first-ever News Xchange Community Screening Room and showed 2 short films (one from Salim Amin on his return to Korem, the site of his father Mo Amin’s extraordinary work from Ethiopia, and the other a long-form interview from The Associated Press), followed by a screening of “Dead Men Talking”, a documentary from China just recently shown at the Amsterdam Documentary Film Festival. The latter was made possible by NOS News’ Foreign News Editor, Gerard van den Broek, who is also a member of the News Xchange Executive Team.
We’re just about to go public with the post-News Xchange survey results. Here is a sneak preview of what our community is saying:
1. Stories are what matter most to us. And sharing stories is absolutely vital. News Xchange is made valuable because it’s where we come together, either physically or virtually via the Community page on our website, to share ideas, to ask questions and to work through issues. The presentation from TV2 Norway on its awe-inspiring Skole program sparked a tremendous amount of discussion and has already inspired Community members to initiate discussion about how to create something similar at home.
2. Inspiration is what makes us tick. Three of the highest rated sessions during News Xchange 2011 were the presentation from NHK’s Takehiko Kusaba about that public service broadcaster’s truly incredible work during not one, not two but three disasters in Japan this year; a series of interviews with Storytellers Who Are Changing the World, produced by NOS News; and artist Chris Jordan’s extraordinary presentation on visual storytelling and the need to remain objective without becoming emotionally detached.
3. The more we share and learn from one another, the one we network and talk and share ideas, the better. And the more interactive we can be, the more we will learn and take away from our time together.
It comes down to this: News Xchange used to be a conference. Or maybe it was more like a meeting with networking opportunities. Today, News Xchange is first and foremost an Experience. It is shared within a Community. It is a Conversation. A Conversation that keeps going and keeps evolving. That is News Xchange.
