A city of contradictions (July 13, 2026)

BY ROB BEELER

Mrs. Tech and I spent a long weekend in Montreal and took the opportunity to unplug and just explore. What a wonderful city, and so full of great contradictions. 

On our first night, we saw Aura at Notre-Dame Basilica, an amazing laser light show inside a church built in the 1800s. Our walking tour guide described the Basilica as the French Canadians’ architectural “F you” to the English, a wonderfully colorful way of explaining the city’s long-running cultural rivalry. Across Place d’Armes stands the grand Bank of Montreal building, a symbol of English commercial power. 

The tension is wonderfully captured by the 2013 sculptures The English Pug and the French Poodle. I recommend looking them up.

And yet, despite that history, everyone we met effortlessly moved between French and English. Yes, we were in tourist areas, but it was still remarkable to watch. Montreal doesn’t seem to have resolved its contradictions; it has learned to live with them. The city feels unmistakably old and unmistakably modern. European and North American. Proud of its past without being trapped by it. It is, above all else, unapologetically Montreal.

Naturally, I couldn’t stop thinking about publishing.

Our industry feels full of contradictions right now. 

We need to preserve what made us valuable without preserving every part of how we’ve always operated. We have to learn a new language, not just AI, but new ways of distributing, packaging, licensing, and monetizing our work, without losing the voice that made audiences seek us out in the first place.

One of my favorite moments came during a taxi ride. An offhand comment about the endless construction sent the driver into a passionate rant about bureaucracy, tax dollars, and the mafia. But just as quickly, he pivoted. He started telling us about the neighborhoods we had to visit, the restaurants we couldn’t miss, and why he loved his city.

Contradictions.

As I sit here on Monday morning, woefully behind on just about everything, that’s the lesson I’m taking home. Publishing doesn’t need fewer contradictions. We need to become more comfortable living with them.

Like Montreal, we need to learn a new language without forgetting our native one. We need to modernize without becoming generic. And we need to remember that the goal isn’t to preserve the past: it’s to preserve what made us worth discovering in the first place.

Here’s what you need to know this week… 

• Claire Johnson, CEO of San Diego Magazine and Here We Are Studios, is joining Base.Camp La Jolla as a keynote speaker! Drawing on her experience in product at NBC and her work building a more diversified local media business, Claire will share what she’s learned about creating new products, revenue streams, and opportunities as the publishing model continues to change.
  
  
• Save the date: Midyear Reality Check (July Camp.Fire) on July 21
  Camp.Fire is where publishers and partners come together each month to talk through the top topics moving through our community.
  
  For July, we’re using the halfway point of the year as a chance to take the industry’s temperature: how are we feeling, what’s changed, what still feels stuck, and what does success need to look like from here? Google, AI, programmatic, revenue pressure, internal alignment, and the realities of doing more with less are all still on the table, but the context around those conversations keeps shifting.
  
  Think of this like our version of scream therapy. So, come ready to share what’s actually on your mind, what you’re seeing inside your own organization, and what you think this community needs to be talking about next. Camp.Fire is exclusive to our existing publisher and partner community.

Want to get caught up on everything we’ve published? Start here.

Here’s the latest…  

• Navigator London 2026: what we learned (besides that Rory Latham hates auctions)
  This June, we convened for our third annual Navigator London event, and bringing the community together felt as important as ever. The agenda was built with publishers firmly in mind, with some inspiring keynotes. But true to form, some of the sharpest insights came to light away from the stage, in the many breakout sessions, over lunch, and likely in the local pub afterwards.
  
  
• The hidden power of latent data with Justin Evans (Navigator NYC replay)
  Justin’s talk, “The Hidden Power of Latent Data,” made the case that data and AI aren’t really about technology. They’re about ideas. The opportunity isn’t to chase every new tool or drown the business in another dashboard.
  
  
• Telling a better audience story with Rich Murphy and Lindsay Horrigan (Navigator NYC replay)
  When Rich Murphy and Lindsay Horrigan sat down at Navigator NYC, the conversation landed on one of the biggest shifts publishers are working through right now: audience is no longer something publishers can treat as an automatic byproduct of making good content.
  
  
• Purpose and patterns today with Dr. G (Navigator NYC replay)
  Even at a strong event, the human brain is not exactly built for perfect attention. People show up carrying work stress, travel stress, social stress, and the constant mental hum of what is happening somewhere else. A text comes in. An email is waiting. A meeting back at the office keeps creeping into the mind.
  
  
• Take what you need, give what you want with Dr. G (Navigator NYC replay)
  Dr. G closed Navigator NYC with a different kind of session. After a day of conversations about AI, data, audience, brand safety, revenue pressure, collaboration, and change, she brought the room back to a simple question: what are you actually taking with you?
  

A full list of our 2026 events we’re involved in, all in one nice little package:

• Base.Camp La Jolla – October 4-7, 2026
• Digital Day Camp: Leadership – October 21, 2026
• Digital Day Camp: Next – October 22, 2026
• Base.Camp Madrid – November 8-11, 2026

Join the Community!

Thousands of professionals, of all ages, worldwide turn to Beeler.Tech as their meeting place for all things publisher revenue operations. Join the Beeler.Tech Community here! Your teams and colleagues are welcome, too. 

Join the Women’s Space

Our Women’s Space continues to grow, and we’re developing a Code of Conduct for all Beeler.Tech events: something every attendee will agree to, and something we hope the wider industry adopts. The goal is simple: raise the bar on respect and professionalism for everyone. We have a Slack channel and a WhatsApp group. The WhatsApp chat is more active, but you’re welcome in either (or both) if you want to be part of the conversation.

Please reach out to Melissa if you would like to join one or both.

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