Doug Wills, left, president of the Society of Editors and managing editor of the London Evening Standard and Independent titles, explains why this year’s SoE conference is a must for industry leaders.

Editors and journalists are – more than ever – in the news business, with the emphasis on business.

That is the essential focus of this year’s Society of Editors annual conference ‘Making News Pay’.

The biggest gathering of editors and senior executives in the media calendar will focus on raising revenue from content, how best to use social media to build audiences and how editors help attract advertising revenue.

In addition to regional editors, including SoE vice president Nick Turner of the CN Group and Alison Gow of Trinity Mirror Regionals, the conference has attracted some of the biggest names in the media world to provide their perspectives with the emphasis firmly on the future. And that builds a platform for an intriguing cross section of opinions.

Former Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger will deliver the prestigious Society of Editors Lecture on the evening of Sunday 18 October in the historic Stationers’ Hall just up Ludgate Hill from Fleet Street, the spiritual home of news, and close by the Grange, St Paul’s hotel, where the conference will be based. For 20 years he led the Guardian and created one of the biggest open access global media websites.

John Whittingdale MP, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, will deliver a keynote address on Monday 19 October as the debate rages over the future of the BBC Charter and its relationships with the rest of the media.

Sir Martin Sorrell is a guru on advertising and public relations with huge world-wide experience. Rona Fairhead, chairman of the BBC Trust, may have a different view of the world from the Secretary of State. Mike Darcey, CEO of News UK and chairman of the News Media Association heads an organisation with content guarded by paywalls – will they last? – and will present a newspaper industry view of the BBC’s powerful place on the media landscape.

And that is before the line-up of senior editors and editorial practitioners from all sectors of the media is fully revealed.

Regional editors and journalists have set their local worlds alight with news on a huge variety of platforms. The fast-thinking ingenuity that is a key journalistic attribute has been harnessed to provide news in the ways that audiences want it, when they want it. Revenues have not kept up with their achievements so industry needs their skills and dedication to make the News Business hum.

The event is an unparalleled networking opportunity and is open to all. Politicians, representatives of the legal system and key players in the media industry will come together to debate and set the agenda.

The Society’s annual black tie Gala Dinner will take place on the evening of Monday 19 October to which high profile organisations are invited to take a table either for their own staff or guests or choosing to mingle with editors and other executives.

This is a valuable and highly advantageous opportunity for you and colleagues and key contacts to gaze through the window on the media.

To inquire further about bookings for the whole or parts of the conference, including the Society of Editors Lecture and Annual Dinner please email [email protected] for more information.

Special discounts apply until August 15 and for a limited period we are also offering organisations that take a table at dinner one complimentary delegate pass for day attendance at the conference sessions on Monday.

For further details check out www.societyofeditors.org.