The MPA’s annual conference will be held Saturday, Oct. 17 at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel (363 Maine Mall Road) in Portland.
A full day of events is planned, including informative sessions, the Hall of Fame induction luncheon, the annual conference auction & reception, and the Better Newspaper Contest dinner and banquet.
Come to the conference and engage with other MPA members, learn something new at the variety of programming, drive up the bidding at the auction, and cheer on your comrades and friends as we name General Excellence in Print and Digital, Journalist of the Year, Best Young Writer, Business Person of the Year, Mentor of the Year, and Unsung Hero at the awards dinner & banquet.
All winners of this year’s Better Newspaper Contest have been notified with the exception of the special and individual awards, which will be revealed at the awards banquet. If you were your organization’s point of contact for award entries and did not receive a notification, please let us know by completing our contact form.
Hall of Fame inductees will be announced soon. Check back to see who we will be honoring during this year’s luncheon!
Hotel Reservations
We have a room block reserved at a special MPA rate of $199 with the DoubleTree. Click here to book online or call 207-775-6161. The hotel reservation deadline is Friday, Oct. 2. The hotel will try but cannot guarantee group rate and room availability beyond this date.
Conference Registration
Registration is required for attendance at the conference, regardless of whether you plan to attend programming, the Hall of Fame Induction luncheon, and/or the awards dinner & banquet. The conference registration deadline is Friday, Oct. 2. Click here for the registration form.
Programming Schedule
9 a.m.
Check-in begins
9:30 to 10 a.m.
Annual Business Meeting
10:15 to 11:45 a.m.
Session A: Google News Initiative Journalism Taster session: A fast-paced, high-impact deep dive that covers a broad range of essential tools in a single block:
- Generative AI & Prompting: Mastering the basics of AI interaction.
- Content Creation: Streamlining workflows with Gemini.
- Deep Research: Using Pinpoint to sift through massive document sets.
- Security & Verification: AI detection with SynthID, plus privacy and security tools.
- Data Trends: Leveraging Google Trends for real-time storytelling.
Session B: Legislative update and preview of coming year
MPA board members Dan MacLeod, Lynda Clancy, Chris Crockett will review what legislation the MPA has been following in recent years and what we may expect with the new legislature and administration.
12 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Join us at the Hall of Fame luncheon to honor some of Maine’s most influential journalists.
1:45 p.m. to 3:15 p.m.
Google News Initiative session on the Audience and Revenue track, covering the following:
- Audience analytics & engagement
- Reader revenue strategies
- Maximizing ad revenue with AdSense
- Maximizing ad revenue with Ad Manager
1:45 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Maine Community News Hub Introduction
Join Steve Greenlee, Michael Cripps and Lisa DeSisto on Maine Press Forward’s plans to create a student newsroom in Maine.
2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Coffee & Career Conversations: Students Meet Journalists
In a speed-networking format, students sit down with Maine journalists for conversations about careers, storytelling, internships, navigating the profession, and building skills that are needed now. Bring your questions — and leave with new connections.
4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Conference Auction and Reception
5:45 p.m.
Awards Dinner and Banquet
Conference Auction
Funds raised at the auction help us achieve our goals, one of which is awarding scholarships to support the next generation of journalists.
We are asking each member newsroom to commit to soliciting one or two (or more!) items to be part of this year’s auction. We’re looking for items to be auctioned off, in either live or silent fashion. The more interesting and unique the items are, the more potential they have to bring in the cash.
Once you’ve secured auction items, let us know by emailing George Harvey and Michael Socolow with a description of the item, an approximate cash value, and the name of the donor and/or contributing newspaper. Items can be arranged for pick up by a board member or brought directly to the conference.
Special thanks to the following for already contributing:
Amato’s
Doug Warren
Maine Forest Yurts
Mallory Portraits
Morton & Furbish
Saddleback Mountain