This presentation focuses on how newsrooms can connect with the community to improve visibility, drive subscriptions, build trust, get feedback and find new areas of coverage. You walk away with ideas that can be used by newsrooms of any size.

Chris Coates is the executive editor of The Times-Dispatch in Richmond, Virginia. He previously was the Central Illinois editor for Lee Enterprises and has been a business reporter in Los Angeles, managing editor of Illinois publications for the Suburban Journals of Greater St. Louis and editor of the Sioux City Journal in Iowa. He also was watchdog-investigations editor for The News Journal in Wilmington, Delaware. Coates was the 2020 Illinois Editor of the Year and is a member of the Virginia Press Association board of directors.