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 →What's the future of some of local news' most widely-used and effective tools? Get the inside story from Newspack and BlueLena during this immersive gathering.
Boxcar. Pizza. Party. Two hundred people who immediately feel like they've found their people, because they have. We'll have drinks, pizza, and arcade tokens for you to challenge your new Camp bestie at pop-a-shot.
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.
If you're not working with creators, as Liz Kelly Nelson famously put it at our Business of Local event last year, you're actively choosing a smaller audience. But the way you work with creators is going to vary a lot across different organizations. We're bringing together some folks who have done a lot in this space to explore different ways you can thrive, working with some of the best storytellers on the internet.
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.
We'll close out the day together before heading out into Durham.
Book your seat to visit incredible local businesses that will help you see yours in a different way.
The Durham BullsEnjoy an interview with the Bulls' top brass about how they sell season tickets, sponsorships, and manage relationships in the local community before getting a tour of the iconic stadium (walking distance from the base of the venue).
Scrap ExchangeUnderstand how a nonprofit that refurbishes furniture and turns scrap into art has grown to own a shopping center that's become a platform for causes, small businesses, and community services that make an enormous impact in the life of many in Durham. Then join the Scrap Exchange team for a trophy-making craft activity.
Sign up to get matched with fellow campers for a bespoke dinner in downtown Durham and experience the power of IRL connection and the DNNR service in action! The price of admission gets you a nightcap at a secret location with the whole Camp after dinner.
Enjoy a breakfast where you can catch up with your fellow Campers.
Your time to get to work. Here are the three ways we hope you'll spend the morning:
Sit down and spend some time thinking about how to put what you heard yesterday into action.
We'll host structured conversations around the following topics.
Book some time with our speakers or your new colleagues for some quality time together.
See you next year!
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.
Every one of these hotels is a short walk or quick ride from Bay 7 and our other Camp venues.
Downtown, minutes from Bay 7.
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Suites with skyline views, a short hop to Bay 7.
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Boutique stay right in the middle of downtown.
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Our original Camp room block at $229 per night — about a five-minute walk to Bay 7 — is now fully booked. Try one of the nearby hotels above.
