Infographics, games help draw fans to sports media

PARIS, FRANCE; DARMSTADT, GERMANY: With sports news available 24-hours a day on a wide variety of media platforms, the competition for loyal audiences has never been greater. Using good infographics and introducing interactive games are two ways to attract sports fans, and the upcoming international conference on managing sports news, to be held in Paris on 3 and 4 February next, aims to provide the best examples of both.

Chiqui Esteban, the new narratives director at lainformacion.com in Spain and infographics consultant for the Innovation International Media Consulting Group, will show how infographics can become a major asset to enhance the quality of sports news stories. His presentation will focus on leveraging resources and staff to create infographics that exploit the attributes of different platforms - print, online, smartphones and tablets.

Stavros Drakoularakos, managing director of 24 Media in Greece, will show how simple sports games - predicting the outcomes of matches, or the number of goals or points scored, for example -- can lead to thousands of loyal on-line players who expand the user database, generate traffic at off-peak hours, increase repeat visits and attract new advertisers.

This two-day conference is dedicated to providing the best ways to grow its print and digital audiences as well as attract advertisers. There is still time to register: Full details can be found at www.wan-ifra.org/sportnews.

Other speakers

Others speakers of the conference, organised by the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), will examine:

Ten amazing innovations in the world of digital sport news in 2010 - Matt Kelly, publisher, Mirror Group Digital (UK).
The challenger landscape to a leading sports media group in Brazil - Paulo Henrique Ferreira, digital media executive manager, LANCE! Group (Brazil).
Take advantage of your special qualities and make use of your local information - Stephan Philipps, managing director, Archant Norfolk (UK).
Turn local sports news to your advantage! - Stephan Minard marketing manager, Nexway (France).
Imagine mobiles and iPads as a curve? Accelerate into the curve! - Jeremie Clevy, WAN-IFRA consultant and formerly responsible for web operations for the Eurosport Internet newsrooms (FR, UK, ES, IT, DE).
Major sports events: Cooperate with the organisers and understand the sponsors - Thibaut Potdevin, business development manager, UEFA (Switzerland).
Sports organisations: partners or competitors? - Larry Kilman, executive director, Communications and Public Affairs, WAN-IFRA and member of the FIFA Media Committee (France).
World Cup 2010 - The lessons to learn for bringing your communities together - Cédric Motte, consultant WAN-IFRA (France).

The conference programme and registration details can be found at: www.wan-ifra.org/sportnews.

Registration fees - €750 (about R6835) for WAN-IFRA members and €950 (about R8650) for non-members plus VAT - include participation in the conference, lunches,
refreshments during breaks and Get Together. A third registration from one company is free of charge. The event will be held at the Hotel Intercontinental Paris Avenue Marceau.

Simultaneous interpretation will be available in English and French. Other languages will be available, depending on participation.