Minority and local media are becoming increasingly aware of the fact that they should focus their attention on building strong media brands. Media brands development is in the spotlight of the 4th Regional Conference on Minority and Local Media, which will take place on the 5th of November, on this occasion in Belgrade, Serbia.

Minority and local media are facing serious challenges posed by the increasing changes in digital technology. That is why it is even more important to strengthen their ties with minority and local communities and build strong media brands. The Minority and Local Media Development Centre of Serbia, which is among the organisers of the conference, is very well aware of these facts, and the financial support of their sponsors proves that they have taken the right approach. Minority and local media represent a unique business opportunity as they target their niche markets extremely well, which was also stressed at the press conference organised by the Minority and Local Media Development Centre.

Besides the Centre, the conference organisers are Magyar Szó, Media Change, the Media Association of Serbia, Heror Media Pont and Giacomelli media, with financial support from the Secretariat for Culture and Public Information of AP Vojvodina, the EU Delegation in Serbia and the EU Information Centre.

The full agenda of the conference on the 5th of November is as follows:

9:30 – 10:00 The opening of the conference

Kalman Kuntić, Associate Secretary for Culture and Public Information of AP Vojvodina

Mateja Norčič Štamcar, Chargé d’Affaires of the Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia in Belgrade

10:00-10:30

PANEL 1: THE PHYSICS AND METAPHYSICS OF THE MEDIA – THE WORLD ON A PLATE OR IN THE POT?

Moderator: Péter Kokai, Director of Marketing, Magyar Szó
– Zaneta Skerlev, BBC London
– Robert Coban, Owner of the publishing company Color Press Group
– Zoltan Kozma, Editor in Chief of RTV Pannon
– Ljubica Markovic, Team Leader of the EU Info Centre
– Attila Marton, Editor in Chief RTV Vojvodina 2

12:00-13:30

PANEL 2: AN EXPERIMENT AS A KEY TO DEVELOPMENT

Moderator: Nataša Heror, CEO Heror Media Pont
– Ladeja Košir Godina, Co-founder and Managing Director, Giacomelli media
– Dr Jasmina Knežević, CEO, Bel Medic Group
– Narcis Selimić, Partner Research & Solutions
– Tamara Krstić, Director of Marketing, FIMEK and the Faculty of Economy and Justice, Novi Sad
– Lynne Montgomery, Vice President, Cotrugli Business School
– Dubravka Urosevic, Regional Account Director of Universal Media tbc

14:30-16:00

PANEL 3: CHANGES IN LOCAL AND MINORITY MEDIA

Moderator: Jurij Giacomelli, Founder and Managing Director of Giacomelli media
– Bojan Brezigar, President of the Board of Primorski dnevnik, Slovenia
– Maurizio Tremul, President of the Italian Union, Slovenia
– Massimo Sbarbaro, Founder and Director of Rubedo, Slovenia
– Natasa Heror, Founder and Director of Heror Media Pont