A unique experience for courageous, ambitious local news leaders. Together, we will get stuff done, have fun, and leave inspired to crush 2027.
Join us for three days in Durham, NC to build your local news business.
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Camp is designed to be more collaborative, hands-on, and, frankly, human. We've designed every aspect of the gathering—from workshops and campfires to meals and informal conversations—to help local news leaders make better decisions.
We need to get the big business decisions right. To do that, you'll focus on the biggest, toughest challenges in the local news business.
You'll talk, work, and explore with leaders who get things done: publishers, editors, CMOs, audience directors, product leaders, and analytics mavens. Attendance is capped to preserve depth, connection, and meaningful exchange.
Participants leave with ideas and relationships that feed directly back into their organizations, including a clear plan for the five trends shaping local news next year.
Come to Camp →Optional half-day gathering of BlueLena and Newspack publishers.*
Boxcar. Pizza. Party. Two hundred people who immediately feel like they've found their people, because they have.
Coffee, breakfast, and the start of the main programming day.
You know Candice from Outlier Media, the JSK Fellowship, the LION Awards (IYKYK) — and now you get all of her love, smarts and laughter as the MC of Local News Camp. She'll be our guide to a fantastic time in Durham, on stage and elsewhere.
Come in and get acquainted with all of your camp adventures for the day.
Our keynote conversation and Q&A with Axios CEO Jim VandeHei.
Understand how publishers are putting AI into practice right now to help them build their business.
You probably don't need another newsletter, but you probably do need a dinner, or a local news holding company, or a different way of approaching your journalism. Go deep on what fantastic local news products could be.
The title says it all. Get the details about how to actually make money with your video strategy.
Expansion — whether into new markets or new products — is a massive opportunity for local news organizations. Hear from leaders on how to size up an opportunity and how to go for it.
Networking lunch with your fellow campers.
What does elite local news marketing look like on a budget? Matt McGarry breaks down how he'd attack building a local news marketing plan.
Spending 1% or less on growth isn't going to cut it. Hear from the people who are investing and winning with bold marketing strategies.
We need to sell to more people—sponsors, funders, stakeholders, and our staff—than ever. Here are some folks making that sale happen, to help you see how to make the pitch for local news even sharper.
Book your seat to visit incredible local businesses that will help you see yours in a different way.
Get matched with fellow campers for an awesome dinner and a hang out with the entire group afterwards.
Sit down with your new best friends.
Small-group conversations on the questions that matter most to your business.
Put your new ideas into motion alongside your new BFFs.
*BlueLena and Newspack publishers get these summits and Local News Camp for only $100, thanks to The Lenfest Institute for Journalism.
Additional speakers and session leaders announced soon.
Maybe the most valuable event I've attended in the past five years.
It was a nonstop learning experience, surrounded by other passionate local news leaders and market players.
I had so many great takeaways. It was refreshing to attend a conference focused on revenue generators for for-profit orgs!
I left with a lot of action steps that didn't feel overwhelming, because I had already started to put them in motion before leaving.
If you have the courage to build an amazing local news business and the ambition to believe it can actually be done, we want you at Camp.
If you believe you'll better understand where to go next in conversation with other brilliant people who don't take themselves too seriously, we want you at Camp.
If you think your 2027 plan will be better with input from dozens of other people on the same journey, we want you at Camp.
You'll leave with unrivaled practical inspiration for your business, a head start on implementing it thanks to experts including Blue Engine coaches, and you'll have a ton of fun with your courageous, ambitious peers.
Buy a ticket →We're eager to answer your questions. Just email us at Hello@BlueEngineCollaborative.com.
Real conversations. Long dinners. Working sessions that go somewhere. Camp is hundreds of small moments that add up to a different way of running your business.
October 14–16, 2026 · Durham, NC · Capped attendance.
Our conference hotel block — book early, rooms are limited.
We've reserved a room block at the Aloft Durham Downtown at a special Camp rate of $229 per night. It's roughly a five-minute walk from the hotel to Bay 7 and our other Camp venues — no car, no rideshare, no stress.
