Our colleagues at MediaVoices are running regular masterclasses helping publishers improve their products, from newsletter best practice to podcast monetisation. Each masterclass will be led by an industry expert, and will be virtual, allowing publishers from around the world to attend.
Tickets will be £49.99 per masterclass (and we’re paying all our experts). Live attendees will have the opportunity to ask questions and dive deeper, but all sessions will be recorded and will be available on-demand for attendees and those who can’t make it live.
As always, we don’t want cost to be a barrier for small and indie publishers, so if affordability is an issue, please drop us a line on news@voices.media.
The Publisher Masterclass: Spring 2026 AI Special Series
Using AI to enhance content
Wednesday 25 February, 4pm GMT
AI can do more than just generate text. For savvy journalists, there are tools available to transform content into multimodal formats which can engage audiences on multiple levels and platforms.
Former journalist and AI executive Stacie Chan will take attendees through various tools to add other dimensions and enhance journalistic reporting.
You will learn:
- How to identify opportunities to enhance content with AI
- Some of the most common AI tools and what they do
- Hands-on demo of transforming your content for different mediums
Masterclass lead: Stacie Chan
Stacie Chan has 20 years of experience growing (and exiting) businesses at the intersection of technology and media. Most recently, she was the Founding Commercial Lead at Haiper.ai, a genAI startup developing proprietary frontier video & image models. In less than a year post-stealth, Haiper grew to 8M+ users and millions, and its models and team were acqui-hired by Netmind.ai. Prior to joining Haiper, Stacie co-founded 1BillionStories, a storytelling SaaS company that was acquired.
Before leading startups, Stacie spent nearly 9 years at Google, leading Product Partnerships for Google Search and Google News. As a journalist, she spent years at CBS Interactive, Aol’s Patch.com, and local newspapers. In a former lifetime, she was an Emmy-nominated actress.
Optimising for AI discovery
Wednesday 4 March, 4pm GMT
The way audiences find new content is undergoing dramatic changes with the rise of AI-powered search. Adapting to these new habits will be crucial for surviving and thriving over the next few years.
David Buttle of DJB Strategies will help attendees formulate a strategy for weathering rapid changes, and future-proofing your content discovery strategy.
You will learn:
- How the search and discovery landscape is shifting and what the consequences are for publisher strategy
- Assessing the benefits and costs of remaining visible in AI-powered search
- Optimisation paths to create resilient businesses in this new platform era
Masterclass leads: David Buttle & Stuart Forrest
David Buttle: After 15 years in leadership roles in global media businesses, working across strategy, corporate affairs and commercial roles, David founded DJB Strategies; a boutique consultancy created to help companies in media and information services respond to change, succeed and grow.
Prior to this, David was Director of Public Affairs and Platform Strategy for the Financial Times. He led the FT’s response to artificial intelligence, had strategic oversight of its interfaces with Big Tech, and was responsible for relationships with governments and legislators. Before this, he was Global Commercial Marketing Director, leading an international team that was integral to the FT’s market-leading commercial performance throughout that period.
Stuart Forrest is Global Audience Director at Bauer Media, where he leads digital audience acquisition across Bauer’s properties across the UK and Germany, in sectors such as women’s lifestyle, automotive, food, TV & Entertainment and specialist.
As well as his day job, Stuart is focused closely on how publishers can maintain both visibility and a fair value exchange as AI changes the search landscape.
Frameworks to successfully implement AI in your business
Wednesday 11 March, 4pm GMT
Whether you’ve already got an AI strategy for your business or know you need to make a start on one, clear leadership is needed from the top to ensure it is implemented safely and successfully.
In this workshop, senior executive consultant Madhav Chinnappa takes you through a framework for senior leaders and executive teams to introduce AI tools and workflows in their organisations.
You will learn:
- How to empower senior leaders and teams to experiment with AI in a way that benefits the business
- Pitfalls and things to be aware of when introducing AI tools
- The benefits of having AI champions at a senior level
- Where time could be re-invested for higher-value work
Masterclass lead: Madhav Chinnappa
Madhav Chinnappa is a senior executive consultant who has worked at the intersection of news, AI, technology and sustainability globally for more than two decades in both the commercial and public interest sectors.
He is currently advising Human Native AI, an AI data licensing marketplace as well as leading a thought leadership event series around AI and news for the Thomson Foundation and has recently joined the Future Insights Board of Mediahuis.
How AI chatbots can be used to increase engagement
Wednesday 18 March, 4pm GMT
One area publishers are exploring the use of AI tools for is keeping users on-site and surfacing vast archives of relevant, trusted content.
Zoe Coutinho, Product Director at the FT has been leading a team experimenting with AI chatbots on FT Professional. In this workshop, Zoe will outline the process they went through to implement the chatbot, and where they’re looking to next for AI-powered engagement.
You will learn:
- How to evaluate where AI products are (and aren’t) appropriate for building engagement on-site
- How to measure success and ROI for chatbots, and what signals to look out for
- Whether a build or buy approach is right for you
Masterclass lead: Zoe Coutinho
Zoe is Product Director at the Financial Times, with responsibility for FT Professional and FT Live. She has over 15 years of experience building great products, strong teams, and clear direction for companies including Cleo, Pollen, Reed and Wonga.
She is passionate about creating actionable strategies, setting teams up to succeed, and driving collaboration that gets real results.
The ROI of AI
Wednesday 25 March, 4pm GMT
There’s a great deal of pressure on companies to introduce AI, but how do you go about assessing its impact and potential for return on investment?
James Carson, founder of Absolutely Agentic and formerly of History Hit, The Telegraph, Bauer and more will take you through a framework for measuring ROI in a media business.
You will learn:
- How to evaluate AI projects before, during and after inception
- What signals success beyond financial savings
- Managing rollout of AI projects in a way which sets them up for success
Masterclass lead: James Carson
James Carson is Founder of Agentic, a consultancy that works with media owners and content focused companies on AI strategy and workflows to enhance audience trends and publishing processes.
Previously he was Managing Director of History Hit, a multi award winning specialist content network that broadcast across subscription video on demand, YouTube and podcasts. He has also held audience leadership roles at The Telegraph and Bauer Media.
On-demand Publisher Masterclasses
Monetisation strategies for smaller podcasts
Christopher Phin, Head of Branded & Partnership Content, Message Heard
Bigger publishers may well be able to rely on hundreds of thousands of downloads to successfully monetise podcasts by just selling ad space. But what about those with smaller or more niche podcasts? Podcasting builds deeply intimate connections with engaged communities, and publishers who operate in passionate niches actually already know how to make money from these superfans; you just have to apply this thinking to podcasts.
Join Christopher Phin from podcast production agency Message Heard for a deep dive session on how podcasts with smaller audiences and more focused topics can still be a powerful part of your revenue mix. Podcasts thrive in a niche; so can you.
Power in the pivot – transforming your newsletter
Dan Oshinsky, founder, Inbox Collective
It hurts to have to kill your darlings, but if a newsletter isn’t working it has to change. So, as the ecosystem and audience demands change, how do you go about reappraising your publishing strategy to ensure you’re still making the absolute most of your newsletter’s potential?
Join Dan Oshinsky, newsletter expert and founder of Inbox Collective to help evaluate and structure a plan to transform underperforming newsletters.
Portable production – mixing up your audio formats while keeping it professional
Kelly Crichton, podcast producer, National World
People love podcasts that break the mould, that go beyond the bounds of the studio into the real world. Which podcasts are right for the out-of-office treatment, and how do you go about planning (and packing) a portable production studio and mixing up the audio format for listeners?
Join award-winning documentary maker and podcast producer Kelly Crichton from National World as she shares her best tips and tricks for making podcasts that truly break the mould.
Interrogating your newsletter analytics
Emily Goldberg, US Newsletter Editor, Financial Times
Accessing the right analytics to help you grow and evolve your newsletters is getting more challenging as publishers end up in the crossfire with platforms using privacy as a reason to obfuscate email data. How can publishers ensure they’re making the most of the data they have for newsletter analytics, and which metrics signal success for different types of newsletter?
Join the FT’s US Newsletter Editor Emily Goldberg to find out where to start with measuring newsletter success, setting goals for emails, and how they keep up with changing measurement tools.
How to write an award-winning entry (free to attend)
Esther Kezia Thorpe, Director, The Publisher Summits & Awards
We don’t create podcasts, newsletters and editorial products to win awards – but amazing things can occur when it happens! Receiving a trophy has helped some of our Publisher Podcast and Newsletter Award winners secure sponsors, get featured on the front page of national newspapers, and find new audiences.
Thinking of entering this year’s Publisher Podcast or Publisher Newsletter Awards? Join Esther Kezia Thorpe as she takes you through the mark scheme, what judges are looking for, previous examples of award-winning entries, and how to give your podcast or newsletter the best chance of standing out.
If you’re interested in leading a masterclass, please drop us a line on news@voices.media
