The Society of Editors is heading North West for its conference this year with Carlisle today named as the venue.

In keeping with tradition, the year’s biggest industry gathering is being staged in the city where the serving president – currently the CN Group’s digital strategy manager Nick Turner – is based.

The conference, entitled “Back in Business,” will take place on 17-18 October at the Halston Hotel, just a few hundred yards away from where flooding devastated Carlisle in December 2015.

The city has since striven to recover and Cumbria’s subsequent rejuvenation is viewed by the SoE as “a metaphor for the resilience of the British media.”

Said Nick, pictured:  “In a year of dramatic change for the British media, the Society of Editors’ Conference 2016 provides a chance to take stock of key issues and to hear from some of the most innovative speakers in our industry.”

Google will be staging one of its News Lab sessions as part of the conference and organisers are promising “a stack of good ideas and a fresh perspective on the major issues facing journalism.”

Full details of the programme are yet to be announced, but the SoE says there will be “significant emphasis on professional skills and knowledge development for those responsible for effective news gathering and distribution.”

It is understood that the Society of Editors Lecture, which normally takes place on the Sunday evening before the start of the conference, will this year take place in London on a different date from the main gathering.

* Booking details are available from the SoE on 01223 304080 or by emailing [email protected].   Discounts are available for bookings made before 12 August.