On February 4–5, over 40 business media professionals gathered in King City, Ontario to attend the 2020 Business Media Leadership Summit (BMLS). As a one-of-a-kind event focused exclusively on B2B publishing, BMLS provides attendees with an opportunity to share knowledge, learn from common challenges, and connect with colleagues from across the sector.

In fact, it is this spirit of collaboration and community amongst attendees that gives the Summit its unique and supportive energy. A series of workshops on day one, as well as plenty of networking opportunities over the keynote presentation and dinner, broke the ice and brought people together. Delegates then headed into a full day of sessions on day two that covered trending topics like hosting events, optimizing the way magazines interact with customers, improving the workplace to attract and retain staff, and social media for B2B.

A key theme that came up in both the workshops and the sessions was the importance of relationship building, connections and maintenance—both within your own teams and with clients, readers, sponsors and advertisers.

There were also key updates on projects in the works, including revisions to Magazines Canada’s Code of Reader and Advertiser Engagement, and on how publishers are using recent research into B2B buyers and readers, conducted by RKI, to make sales.

Video of Jim Sinkinson’s keynote presentation on “The First 100 Days: How to Keep Your Customers Happy, Engaged and Renewed” from this year’s Summit is now available to watch on Magazines Canada’s website. Visit magazinescanada.ca/pd/business-media-leadership-summit to find this video on keeping subscribers engaged, as well as videos from previous Summit keynotes, including National Journal‘s Kevin Turpin on embracing disruption and Robert “Bo” Sacks on the future of publishing.

Thank you to the 2020 BMLS delegates for a fantastic event. We would also like to thank our incredible speakers for sharing their time and expertise with us at BMLS 2020. We greatly appreciate the support of our sponsors, the Alliance for Audited Media and Omeda, and our funder Ontario Creates. Business Media Leadership Summit would not be possible without you.

Already looking forward to BMLS 2021?

Send us your suggestions for session topics and/or speakers to Kiley Pole at kpole@magazinescanada.ca.

There is more knowledge-sharing and networking to come at MagNet, the Canadian magazine industry’s premiere conference, in Toronto in April. View the 2020 conference program at magnet.magazinescanada.ca/schedule and B2B-specific sessions at magnet.magazinescanada.ca/magnet-2020-business-media-spotlight.

And mark your calendars for February 2021, when the Business Media Leadership Summit returns!