Base.Camp Madrid Agenda
To learn more about the event, how to request your invitation, sponsorships, and more, please visit the full Base.Camp Madrid event page. We’re currently working to build out this agenda based on your feedback on what the most important topics need to be. The earlier you register for the event, the greater influence you can have on the conversations we’ll be having to drive our current work forward and define the future of what our industry will look like.
CHECK OUT THE FAMOUS TUESDAY AFTERNOON ACTIVITIESSunday, November 8, 2026
| Session Time | Session Title | Session Description |
|---|---|---|
| 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. | Arrival & Registration | Welcome to Base.Camp! Swing by, check in, and grab your swag and badge on your way up to your room. |
| 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. | Spilling the Tea: First-Timers Welcome Meetup | Not everyone thrives in a big, loud crowd right away. “Spilling the Tea” is a smaller, more intentional gathering for first-time Base.Campers. This is a friendly space for you to meet people in a way that makes conversation easier and introductions feel natural. And one more thing, this particular meetup is alcohol-free by design. We’ll have non-alcoholic beer, juice, sodas, tea (of course), and plenty of conversation. Drinking has never been a prerequisite for belonging at Base.Camp. Come start slow. Leave feeling connected. Rob Beeler, CEO + Founder, Beeler.Tech Raef Godwin, Program Director, Beeler.Tech Melissa Chapman, COO, Beeler.Tech |
| 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. | Welcome Reception & Dinner | We’ll all come together for the first night, before a powerful week of collaboration and problem-solving kicks off. |
Monday, November 9, 2026
| Session Time | Session Title | Session Description |
|---|---|---|
| 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. | Morning Run with Melissa | Join Melissa for a 3-5 mile run to get the day started off right. Walker are always welcome. This is a move-your-body experience for all levels. |
| 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. | Rise & Shine for Breakfast | Enjoy a morning nosh (and perhaps a few cups of coffee or tea), to charge up for your first full day. And don’t forget to catch up with your new friends from the first night together. |
| 9:00 a.m. to 9:15 a.m. | Welcome & Assigned Table Mixing | Rob will officially kick off Base.Camp Madrid, reveal the first blazer, and help you get settled for our morning together. We’ve got something special planned for you. Rob Beeler, CEO + Founder, Beeler.Tech |
| 9:15 a.m. to 9:55 a.m. | Inside the AI Bubble: What Publishers Aren’t Being Told | Parmy Olson has spent years inside the rooms where frontier AI labs make their biggest calls, from Anthropic’s boardroom to DeepMind’s founding years. In this session, she unpacks why OpenAI shelved both Sora and its erotic chatbot to chase enterprise sales, why Anthropic still won’t touch ads, and what publishers should read into these companies’ next moves. Publishers will leave with a clearer read on which AI labs are stable long-term partners versus which are still improvising, and where the commercial pressure on those labs is likely to show up next in deals, data licensing, or ad products. Parmy Olson, Bloomberg Tech Columnist & Author |
| 9:55 a.m. to 10:05 a.m. | Morning Coffee & Networking Break | Check your email, grab a snack, and say a few quick hellos before we take off for a packed morning of problem-solving and collaboration. |
| 10:05 a.m. to 11:05 a.m. | Breakouts #1 | |
| Inside the AI Bubble – Part II with Parmy Olson | Want to dive deeper into the AI Bubble discussion? Join Parmy Olson after the opening keynote for this smaller room working session. This isn’t another lecturing experience, this an opportunity to take the conversation deeper with your real-world experiences and situations. Parmy Olson, Bloomberg Tech Columnist & Author | |
| Sites People Need (Not Just Read) | There are sites people visit where they seek specific answers, rather than a story: weather, travel, reference materials, tools. Traditionally, those queries would bring them to your site. Now, they can get the answers to those queries from AI-driven search experiences without them ever having to engage with your site directly. So we want to know, what has changed in your traffic, and what are you building for the visits you keep? | |
| Human or Agent: Does Ops Care Who (or What) Made the Sale? | Whether the seller is a person or an agent, someone still has to plan and deliver the campaign. So let’s talk about what really changes in the handoff from sale to delivery, and what stays the same? | |
| 11:05 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. | Transition & Coffee Break | Are you ready? Your next session awaits. |
| 11:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. | Case Studies | |
| Our Case Studies are still in the works, but you know they’ll be good. | ||
| 12:00 p.m. to 12:10 p.m. | Transition | Are you ready? Your next session awaits. |
| 12:10 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. | Breakouts #2 | |
| Same Side of the Table | Publishers and ad tech companies are both under pressure, and the reflex on both sides is to protect margins and say less. This room resists that reflex. How do we work more closely together so we all win? Nobody is pitching. | |
| Sports & Gaming | This conversation is for publishers built around a specific audience they are working to monetize, including sports, esports, gaming, betting media. We’ll talk about what that audience makes possible, what it rules out, and what you have tried that a general news publisher never would. | |
| AI Ops | This is the process and organisation version of the AI conversation, for teams running AI across an ad operation rather than experimenting at the edges. We’ll cover what actually changed in the workflow, who does the work now, what got automated, and what quietly did not. | |
| 1:00 p.m. to 2:15 p.m | It’s Lunch Time | You’ve made it to the halfway point of day one. Celebrate with delicious food, new contacts, and the exchange of fresh ideas before an equally exciting afternoon. |
| 2:15 p.m. to 2:55 p.m | What’s Defensible: Publisher Monetization in the Age of AI | Is publisher advertising still worth the cost, complexity, and risk? Gabriel Dorosz, who leads INMA’s Advertising Initiative, has spent 2026 exploring that question and others with publishers around the world. His session works through how to answer for your own business, in three parts. First, what does the advertising market want to buy? Hint: outcomes. Second, what can publishers sell them? Hint: a much wider portfolio than banners, sold as brand partnerships rather than inventory. Third, what’s really defensible in the age of AI, and how do you monetize it? Hint: trust, and three ways to monetize it. He’ll also make the case that scarcity is starting to work in publishers’ favor: ad supply is shrinking, and publishers who can prove their quality are holding or raising prices while the commodity open web deflates. And he’ll take on the biggest open question of the AI age directly — whether AI eventually eats the funnel and the ad spend attached to it — with case studies from more than a dozen publishers on five continents. Attendees will leave with a rubric for transformation and the case to make to their own leadership. Gabriel Dorosz, INMA Global Advertising Lead & Founder, Mighty Blackbird |
| 2:55 p.m. to 3:05 p.m | Head to Your Next Session | It’s time to get moving to your next session. |
| 3:05 p.m to 3:55 p.m | Breakouts #3 | |
| What Would Programmatic Look Like If It Were Built Here? | Much of the plumbing, from the standards and pricing conventions to the newer agentic protocols, was designed around one market and then exported. What have you had to work around, what have you built yourself, and what would a version designed here actually look like? | |
| Safe for Whom? | Brand safety cuts both ways. Advertisers’ rules keep budget off news and hard topics, and publishers have to protect readers from the bad ads that still get through. What does each side cost you, and what actually works? | |
| The Site Itself: How We Build It, How We Protect It | In this collaborative discussion, we’re going to rethink the publisher website: how it gets built, as well how it gets protected from bots, scraping and everything else coming at it. | |
| 3:55 p.m to 4:15 p.m | Coffee Break & Head to Your Next Session | Grab a spot of caffeine, check back with the office, and then head off to your next session. |
| 4:15 p.m to 4:45 p.m | Case Studies | |
| Our Case Studies are still in the works, but you know they’ll be good. | ||
| 4:45 p.m to 4:50 p.m | Transition Break | Join us back in the main room where we’re recap the day and discuss where we’re heading to next. |
| 4:50 p.m. to 5:15p.m. | Closing For The Day! | We’ll come together before dinner to put a cap on a busy day. What did we learn? What’s still up for debate? And where are we heading tomorrow? |
| 6:45 p.m. to 10:15 p.m. | A Fiery Spanish Affair at Flamenco de Leones | Set beside the iconic Puerta de Alcalá, Flamenco de Leones is the city’s premier modern tablao… but this is far more than dinner. We’ll begin in a beautifully appointed private space with an avant-garde Spanish tasting menu that takes traditional flavors in unexpected directions, paired throughout the evening with premium local wines. Then, as the final plates are cleared, the entire mood shifts. The lights dim. The haunting voice of a solitary singer cuts through the room. And just feet from your table, the rapid-fire rhythm of world-class flamenco dancers takes over. What follows is raw, visceral, and impossible to experience from a distance, with every stomp, turn, clap, and note unfolding right in front of you. Dress code: Bring the drama. Think classic black, deep red, and chic evening attire with as much flair as you dare. Leave the casual sightseeing gear at the hotel. |
Tuesday, November 10, 2026
| Session Time | Session Title | Session Description |
|---|---|---|
| 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. | Rise & Shine for Breakfast | Gear up for another exciting day at Base.Camp with a full breakfast and another chance to connect with friends, new and old. |
| 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. | Working Room: People & How Revenue Streams Need to Work Together | During this collaborative problem-solving session, you’ll spend your time in one of four dedicated tracks. Your group will start by putting the questions and problems you want to tackle on the table. Together, you’ll prioritize the list and start working through it, with moderation support to keep the conversation moving and focused on what matters most to the group. IN THIS TRACK: Most publishers are adding a second and third line to a business that still rests on selling their own impressions. What does each new line cost in headcount and sales attention, what does it take from the others, and how do you organise the people around it? |
| Working Room: Traffic Loss | IN THIS TRACK: What can publishers actually do about losing traffic, leaving legal and legislation aside? What would help those actions succeed, and what can you do right away? | |
| Working Room: Programmatic | IN THIS TRACK: Where are you currently experiencing friction with programmatic? What’s working? What’s not? What needs to change? And who should be responsible for that change? | |
| Working Room: Direct | IN THIS TRACK: What are the challenges and opportunities with innovation, efficiency, and profitability in direct-sold lines of revenue? What can we do better? | |
| 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. | It’s Time for Lunch | You’ve made it to the summit of day two. Enjoy a well-earned lunch with new connections. |
| 12:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. | Tuesday Activities | During our famous Tuesday Base.Camp excursions, we set aside our big discussions to do the equally essential work of coming together as a true community of humans who share common goals. If you ask anyone who’s attended a Base.Camp before, they’ll be the first to tell you that these are where some of the most valuable memories are made, new relationships are forged, and existing bonds are strengthened, making up the foundation of the work we must accomplish as a whole. Learn more about Madrid’s Tuesday Activities here. |
| 6:45 p.m. to 10:45 p.m. | Feast, Spectacle & Strikes at SLVJ Madrid | For our final night together, we’re taking over SLVJ Madrid. The setting is lush, extravagant, and wildly theatrical, with exotic architecture surrounding us as we settle in for a feast of world-class Japanese fusion. As the night deepens, the DJ turns up the heat and SLVJ comes alive around us. Dazzling dancers and spontaneous live performances erupt throughout the dining room, turning an incredible meal into a full-blown, high-octane celebration without ever asking you to leave your table. To close the evening, we’ll head downstairs to SLVJ’s exclusive underground bowling alley for our own VIP after-party, where neon-lit lanes, craft cocktails, and some very high-energy competition will keep the night going. The dress code? Dress like the elite of Madrid’s nightlife are watching. This is the night to go big with sharp blazers, stylish dresses, polished shoes, and fashion-forward looks made for the city’s elite party scene. Leave the athletic wear, casual gym sneakers, and torn jeans at the hotel. |
Wednesday, November 11, 2026
| Session Time | Session Title | Session Description |
|---|---|---|
| 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. | It’s Time for Breakfast | It’s our last morning at Base.Camp. Enjoy filling breakfast before the day begins. We’d wager you have a lot of memories to share from last night over coffee. |
| 9:00 a.m. to 10:20 a.m. | Your Second Audience | You’re talked about far more often than you’re talked to. Decisions about your deals, your promotions and your ideas get made in rooms you’re not in. This morning, publishers take the floor: share an idea, hear how it lands, and learn how it travels when you’re not there to explain it. Rob Beeler, Founder and CEO, Beeler.Tech |
| 10:20 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. | Coffee Break | Fuel up before the next session. Your time at Base.Camp isn’t over just yet. |
| 10:45 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. | Your Second Audience, Part II | We’ll continue our time together exploring the concept of second audiences, with publishers in the pitch seat. |
| 11:45 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. | Closing Remarks | It’s the bittersweet moment we’ve all been dreading: Base.Camp Madrid is now coming to a close. What did we learn? What are we taking with us? And where will we go next? Rob will bring us together one last time to answer those questions. |
| 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. | Our Last Lunch Together | We wouldn’t recommend traveling on an empty stomach. Catch up with your new friends, share ideas, and take time to talk about what we can all accomplish together. (Just don’t talk with your mouth full.) |