Location: Windsor Ballroom
Attendees: Everyone
Type: Land Acknowledgement and Welcome from the Hosts

Location: Windsor Ballroom
Attendees: Everyone
Type: Keynote Presentation

Speaker: James Hewes

Join James Hewes as he explores how shifting global dynamics—from economic uncertainty and AI-driven disruption to evolving audience behaviours—are reshaping the publishing landscape. Hewes will blend big-picture trends with practical insights, helping publishers understand what these changes mean for magazine revenue models and where new opportunities for growth, diversification, and resilience lie.

Location: Windsor Ballroom
Attendees: Everyone
Type: Keynote Presentation

Speaker: Dan Oshinsky

AI is coming for every part of the web — even the inbox. So how do you build a business that works in the AI era? It’s about figuring out what you do uniquely well and leaning into that in every part of your strategy. Dan Oshinsky of Inbox Collective will talk through different tactics you can use to build loyalty, engagement, and continue to drive revenue no matter what comes next, particularly when the inbox is one of the last places available to publishers to engage with and grow their audiences.

Who should attend?

• Editors
• Newsletter editors and digital content teams
• Fundraising and circulation teams
• Publishers
• Everybody!

Location: Windsor Ballroom
Attendees: Everyone
Type: Keynote Presentation

Speaker: Shelby Blackley and Jessie Willms

AI has upended the search experience as publishers knew it. Previously a robust source of traffic for news and media outlets, Google is more volatile than ever. In this keynote, the co-founders of the WTF is SEO? newsletter provide an overview of how we got here, what AI Overviews and AI Mode’s presence mean, what opportunities still exists for publishers, and what an AI-powered future of search might look like.

Location: Main Ballroom A
Attendees: Magazine editors and writers
Type: Breakout Session

Speaker: Kim Pittaway

Are your brainstorming sessions flatlining? Do your editorial pillar programs need rethinking? In this session, we’ll explore strategies for leading and contributing to effective, thoughtful editorial brainstorming; evaluating and invigorating editorial programs (like an annual best of list); and ultimately creating editorial calendars that excite your team, your audience, and yes, even your advertisers.

Location: Main Ballroom B
Attendees: Art Directors and Editors
Type: Breakout Session

Speaker: Nicola Hamilton

Art and editorial are often treated as two teams pulling in different directions, competing for time, budget, and power. But at their best, they’re working toward the exact same thing: the best possible outcome. In this session, two-time NMA Art Director of the Year Nicola Hamilton draws on 15+ years designing and directing titles like The Grid, Chatelaine, Best Health, Precedent, and Serviette to explore what it actually takes to build trust between art and editorial teams. She’ll touch on why that trust so often starts, or breaks down, at the top, what real collaboration looks like, and how both sides can navigate the inevitable give-and-take of limited time and resources. Skewed toward the art side but built for the whole room, this is a candid look at what it means to treat art and editorial as equal partners in the work. Not getting the outcomes you want from your art or editorial team? Struggling to communicate with them? Let’s talk about it.

Location: Main Ballroom C
Attendees: Publishers, audience development
Type: Breakout Session

Speakers: Dan Oshinsky

The best membership programs don’t just make money — they build community. In this workshop, Dan Oshinsky of Inbox Collective will walk through opportunities that are already working for other publishers, and then you’ll work in small groups to craft your own version of a membership program.

Location: Main Ballroom D
Attendees: Digital editors, newsletter managers, marketing, and audience development teams
Type: Breakout Session

Speaker: Shelby Blackley and Jessie Willms

Great effort dies in a spreadsheet nobody opens. Whether you’re a team of one or a department of fifty, the difference between “content that performs” and “content that gets ignored” often comes down to something unglamorous: how you report on it.

In this workshop, the co-founders of the WTF is SEO? newsletter break down and demo what makes internal reporting actually work: not just as a status update, but as a tool that aligns teams around the right priorities, and ultimately shapes better content decisions.

Location: Main Ballroom A
Attendees: Alumni magazine editors, in-house and custom magazine editors, science editors and writers, and curious folks.
Type: Breakout Session

Speaker: Kim Pittaway

If you’re publishing an alumni or association magazine, odds are you’ve been asked to make the case for your magazine’s ROI. Whether it’s a skeptical non-comms administrator questioning your publication’s value or a reluctant interviewee unsure of why they should give you their time and insight, the question boils down to “What’s in it for me?” In this session, we’ll look at stakeholder needs and how to satisfy them, including practical tools like reader surveys and other post-publication feedback, media mentions and partnerships, and strategies for highlighting the power of your pages.

Location: Main
Attendees: Editors and writers
Type: Breakout Session

Speaker: Curtis Gillespie

The relationship between writers and editors has always fascinated people, and not just those in the business. Movies, books, plays, TV shows. There’s a built-in creative tension to it. Or sometimes just tension, period.

Writers have a vision. Editors have deadlines. Writers follow instinct. Editors require structure. Writers are creative, sometimes for no reason. Editors can be creative, but always within reason. The writer relentlessly advocates. The editor usually wins.

And now, on top of an already complex relationship, everyone working in media is under more pressure than ever. It’s a circus out there. Breaking through wave after wave of predigested slop, pseudo-stories, bad actors, manipulative social media giants, and craven corporate overlords is hard enough. And then there’s AI.

What’s a writer or editor to do?

Join Curtis Gillespie as he discusses the unique challenges facing writers and editors today, and how a new point of view might help all of us survive, and maybe even thrive, in a media age where ever-increasing production is generating ever-diminishing returns.

Location: Main Ballroom C
Attendees: Publishers and account executives
Type: Breakout

Speaker: Janice Liu

During the second half of the session, publishers and sales teams will also learn about a new platform being tested by Mantis Group that can help regional publishers transform audience and subscriber data into a scalable advertising product. Janice Liu will explore what performance media is, why it dominates advertising budgets, and how a collaborative pilot with AMPA member publishers could unlock new revenue opportunities and access national advertising campaigns.

Location: Main Ballroom D
Attendees: Digital Teams
Type: Breakout Session

Speaker: Shelby Blackley and Jessie Willms

Google isn’t the only front door anymore, and pretending otherwise is how publishers get left behind. Your audience is asking questions on ChatGPT, discovering brands on TikTok, searching Reddit before Google, and increasingly encountering your content secondhand, filtered through an AI Overview or a chatbot summary before they ever see your site.

In this session, the co-founders of the WTF is SEO? newsletter will unpack what “search” actually means in 2026, and what it takes to show up across the platforms and formats where discovery now happens.

Location: Windsor Ballroom
Attendees: Everyone
Type: Keynote Presentation

Speaker: Michelle Kelly

A behind-the-scenes look at how a beloved Canadian brand redefined itself for a new generation of readers — straight from the editor who led the charge.

For over 35 years, Cottage Life has been the trusted voice of lakeside living in Canada, but every great brand needs to evolve. Join editor Michelle Kelly for an inside look at the redesign of Cottage Life magazine, from cover to cover.

This keynote pulls back the curtain on the creative process behind the refresh: the design decisions that modernized the brand while honouring its roots, and the lessons learned along the way. Kelly will share what it took to reimagine a beloved brand without losing what readers love most, and by involving and using the expertise of the entire team.

Whether you’re a designer, editor, or brand strategist, you’ll walk away with practical insights on balancing legacy and innovation in print media.

Location: Windsor Ballroom
Attendees: Everyone
Type: Keynote Presentation

Speaker: Nicola Hamilton

Nicola Hamilton is the Creative Director of Serviette, founder of Issues Magazine Shop, and a collaborator on projects for Best Health, Precedent, Cottage Life, and dozens more. In this talk, she argues that the object on the shelf matters—but not as much as the people behind it. Magazines are at their best when the people making them are enjoying the process, and the reader’s time is treated like it’s worth something. This talk is an invitation to think more deeply about why we do this work in the first place and what we owe the people who make it possible.

Location: Main Ballroom A
Attendees:  Publishers
Type: Breakout Session

Speaker: James Hewes

The magazine industry has never moved faster — or felt more uncertain. New platforms emerge before old ones stabilize. Revenue models that worked last year need rethinking. The technology landscape is vast, and knowing where to invest your attention (let alone your budget) can feel like guessing.

This intimate workshop cuts through the noise.

Led by James Hewes of Soho Consulting Inc., this session brings together a small group of publishers and media leaders for a frank, practical conversation about the challenges you’re actually facing. No keynote podium. No vendor pitches. Just a focused, facilitated discussion designed to move you from feeling reactive to feeling equipped.

This session is limited to publishers only.

Location: Main Ballroom B
Attendees: Editors and writres
Type: Breakout Session/Panel

Speaker: Robert Stieve and Emily Withnall

Host: Chris Turner

The editor’s note is the most personal page in any magazine — and often the most overlooked. Done well, it sets the tone for the entire issue, builds a relationship with your reader, and turns a one-time browser into a loyal subscriber. Done poorly, it’s just a page people flip past on the way to the table of contents.

In this panel, our speakers will dig into what separates a forgettable editor’s note from one readers look forward to. We’ll cover:

• Finding your voice — how to write with personality and authority without sounding forced, and why consistency matters more than cleverness
• Structure that works — the anatomy of a great editor’s note, from the opening hook to the through-line that ties it to the issue’s theme
• Balancing the personal and the editorial — how much of “you” belongs on the page, and how to use personal anecdotes in service of the reader, not just yourself
• Making it relevant — connecting the note to what’s actually inside the issue, so it feels like an invitation rather than an afterthought
• Building a habit readers trust — how a strong editor’s note builds recurring engagement and turns casual readers into loyal ones

Whether you’re writing your first editor’s note or your hundredth, you’ll leave this panel with ideas for making that page one readers seek out, not skip.

Location: Room TBC
Attendees: IRMA Attendees
Type: Buffet Lunch and Association Annual Meeting

Speaker: Kathe Lemon

Grab some lunch and hear what’s ahead for IRMA, from Kathe Lemon (Avenue), our president.

Location: Room TBC
Attendees: IRMA Attendees
Type: General Session

Speaker: All attendees

A representative of each member magazine presents specific examples, big or small, on any topic, to show what has gone well in the past year–and what hasn’t. You’ll learn a lot and take away some great ideas. Take good notes and plan to follow-up after the session.

Location: Room TBC
Attendees: IRMA Attendees
Type: General Session

Speaker: everyone

We’ve come to the end of IRMACON2026! Pat yourselves on the back for all the lessons shared, the great questions you asked, and celebrating your sucess — and your colleagues. In this time we’ll have a bit of general Q&A and then break for the day, until the IRMA Awards at 6:00 PM.

Location: Room TBC
Attendees: IRMA Attendees
Type: Awards Ceremony

Speaker: Joyce Byrne

We’ve come to the end of IRMACON2026! Now it’s time to celebrate the best content from 2025.

Join us for a wonderful dinner and awards presentation.