Base.Camp Savannah Agenda
To learn more about the event, how to request your invitation, sponsorships, and more, please visit the full Base.Camp Savannah event page. As a note, this agenda (although never final) covers our session topics in great detail. Will you find a break down of every break or meal below? No. But rest assured, there will be plenty of pauses for refreshment, times to commune, and scheduled meals to make new friends.
Sunday, October 5, 2025
| Session Time | Session Title | Session Description |
|---|---|---|
| 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. | Arrival & Registration | Swing by, grab your swag and badge on your way up to your room. |
| 5:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. | New Attendee Welcome Reception | Base.Camp welcome reception for those new to Base.Camp. |
| 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. | Welcome Reception & Dinner | Nothing is quite like that first night of Base.Camp: catching up with old friends and meeting new ones. |
Monday, October 6, 2025
| Session Time | Session Title | Session Description |
|---|---|---|
| 7:00 a.m. | Morning Run with Melissa | Join Melissa for a 3-5 mile run to get the day started off right. |
| 8:00 a.m. | Breakfast | Grab your coffee, your consciousness, and maybe a croissant (or three). It’s time to start the day. |
| 9:00 a.m. | Opening Remarks | Let’s come together as a community, set the tone for the day, talk about what matters right now … and, of course, reveal the jacket. |
| 9:15 a.m. | Using Disruption to Build the Future | All change – no matter how much we work for it, want it or dread it – is stressful. Our brains perceive all change as a potential threat and our reactions are neurochemically mediated. Renowned resilience expert and physician Deborah Gilboa, MD, will challenge us to rethink disruption not as a setback, but as a strategic tool for growth. Dr. G will outline the neuroscience behind our responses to disruption and deliver the strategies needed to move from stressed to resilient. Drawing on decades of experience in medicine, leadership, and behavior change, she provides practical frameworks for cultivating cultures that thrive in uncertainty and actively shape the future. Perfect timing, eh? Deborah Gilboa, MD, Resilience Expert, Founder, Ask Doctor G |
| 10:15 a.m. Breakouts | Vision Quest: Turning the Tables on Current Trends | Come to this session ready to discuss trends in media and digital advertising that offer opportunities for publishers. It’s not all bad news, thankfully! Quality content will win. You’ll leave with a shared view of what comes next and actionable insights to inform your organization’s plans for 2026. |
Identifiers? We Don’t Need Stinkin’ Identifiers! (Actually, We Do) | Cookies? No cookies? Whatever. Both direct and programmatic strategies now must incorporate an identifier strategy. We’ll get more specific as more people sign up, but expect to dive deep and come out with some next steps on what to implement. | |
Actual AI & Automation in Practice | There is too much discussion in the trades and at the conferences about what can be: Let’s talk about the here and now of automation and AI. Courtney Glaze, VP, Revenue Operations, will share what they’ve already implemented and open the discussion for others to share and learn about what’s possible today. We’ll collect our notes and start to map out a new direct-sold workflow document with these automation concepts. Courtney Glaze, VP Revenue Operations, The New York Times | |
You Know What? We Don’t Know ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ | Look, it’s not due to a lack of things to talk about. Plus, the Base․Camp best sessions are the ones our attendees help create. What a great reason to raise your hand so you can create the agenda you want! | |
| 11:15 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. | Networking + Snacks | Start now. Increase your network. |
| 11:45 a.m. Breakouts | Site Traffic Is Everything… So, What’s the Plan? | Following an amazing session in Red Rock Canyon, let’s talk about every way possible to get people—not bots! (well, unless those bots bring us people)—to our websites. Ad ops people are rarely the people to drive this strategy. But if you are responsible for monetizing your audience, you bet it matters. Be a part of the solution for your company. |
The Hidden Tax: Understanding Reseller Impact | Resellers and hidden intermediaries are siphoning off revenue, often without detection and beyond the reach of traditional A/B tests. This session will explore how hidden middleman fees and opaque demand paths reduce yield and transparency.. We’ll discuss how to trace the true path of demand, identify the red flags, and regain control with smarter, more direct supply strategies. Patrick McCann, SVP Research, Raptive | |
Internal Struggles: Changing Our Organizations from Within | Publishers know they need to change, but they don’t all know how. Let’s talk about how the organizations are rethinking their set-up to be better positioned for the future. | |
The Most Amazing Session Ever! | We can’t wait to tell you all what this session is going to be, because you are absolutely going to LOVE IT … as soon as we figure out what it is. It’s going to be good though. It always is. | |
| 12:45 p.m. | It’s Lunch Time, Folks | Grab a bite, meet someone new, swap big ideas. |
| 1:45 p.m. | Brands Run the World: Be a Brand | In a noisy, fragmented media landscape, brand is the moat. Amanda Sabreah, trusted by iconic names like Coca-Cola, FIFA, TNT, and McDonald’s, will break down how publishers can think and operate like modern brands to stay relevant, grow loyal audiences, and attract premium advertisers. This talk will explore how brand strategy isn’t just for consumer products but it’s the key to audience trust, editorial influence, and long-term revenue.. Amanda Sabreah, Founder, Thought Factory |
| 2:40 p.m. Breakouts | Revenue 2026: Where Will It Come From? | Someone is going to ask you for revenue projections for 2026. You might as well use this opportunity to talk with others in the same predicament and share the best ideas of how to go forward. |
Data Rizz That Eats | You can have the most amazing first-party data, and it still doesn’t mean squat if you can’t get advertisers to buy it. Selling your audience requires a narrative. So, how do you tell your story? | |
Publishers Are Brands | Building on the keynote, the future belongs to publishers who think less like traditional publishers and more like brands creating digital content. Amanda Sabreah, Founder, Thought Factor | |
Revenue? Revenue! | You want more revenue? Why don’t I strap on my revenue helmet and squeeze down into a revenue cannon and fire off into Revenueland, where revenue grows on revenuies?! | |
| 3:40 p.m. | Networking Break | Move your body, grab a snack, reconsider your life choices, and then dive into what’s next. |
| 4:00 p.m. | Resilience is Not Futile | We conclude our day with Dr. G. Scaffolding onto the morning’s learning about what drives us to positively navigate disruption, she will provide the tools we can use to draw resilience from others in the face of unwanted change. As we strive to communicate positions, policies and purpose, we will apply evidence-based, scientific strategies to decrease the overwhelm disruption causes and improve the mental health, resilience and success of our people and organizations. Deborah Gilboa, MD, Resilience Expert, Founder, Ask Doctor G |
| 5:45 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. | Dinner at The Wyld | Join us for the quintessential Southern evening at The Wyld, just outside Savannah. Set beside the water and fragrant with blooming jasmine and marshland air, this night celebrates Lowcountry living at its best. Enjoy a traditional oyster roast, seafood specialties, and games, or simply settle into an Adirondack chair to watch the sunset over the river. Laiken Love and her fellowship band will provide the soundtrack, performing the best music the Lowcountry has to offer. Dress casually, and don’t forget a jacket for when the evening cools off. |
Tuesday, October 7, 2025
| Session Time | Session Title | Session Description |
|---|---|---|
| 8:00 a.m. | Breakfast | Grab more coffee, ease into your morning, and maybe go for a parfait instead of a croissant this time. (Just kidding, have the croissant.) Let’s do this again. |
| 9:00 a.m. | Day 2 Kickoff | We’re back for another day. We’ll recap the hivemind goodness that came out of day one and talk about how to make the most of day two. |
| 9:10 a.m. | What’s Next? | Case Studies, Case Studies, Publisher Case Studies. Benefit and learn from from the work your peers have done. |
| 9:20 a.m. | Transformation Beyond Just The Tech | For Publishers operating in an increasingly complex world, operational agility is as vital as technological innovation. GSTV – America’s largest on-the-go video network – undertook a far-reaching transformation that touched not just technology, but culture, processes, and people. This session goes beyond platform adoption, inviting attendees to discuss the complexities of preparing for, executing, and thriving through transformational change. |
| 10:00 a.m. | Come Back Home(page): Rethinking the Opportunity | Learn how USA Today transformed its homepage strategy by balancing editorial curation with AI-powered personalization and rediscovered that the front door can be a revenue driver. |
Why Build It if You Can’t Sell It? | The data is there. The pipes are laid. The heavy lifting is done. The revenue bump hasn’t come. Why? Because our Sales teams can’t sell what they don’t know, and they won’t sell what they don’t trust. Let’s talk about how we can finally turn our hard work into big wins. Jana Meron, Principal & Founder, Lioness Strategies LLC | |
| 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. | The Lunch Lady Commeth | Fill your plate, find your people, trade ideas (and maybe desserts). |
| 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. | Activities | Click here to view the activities list. |
| 6:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. | Savannah Nights: Sunset Serenade at Smiles Dueling Piano Bar | Tuesday evening kicks off at the JW rooftop, where we’ll gather to watch a stunning sunset over Old Savannah. From there, we’re heading over to Smiles Dueling Piano Bar, where the night turns wonderfully wild. Expect a high-energy, interactive musical experience, so bring your song requests and dancing shoes. This is your night to outshine the city: sequins, mirrorball vests, disco pants, metallics so bright we’re legally required to provide sunglasses. If you’ve got something that sparkles, glows, or could double as a lighthouse beacon, tonight’s the night. Dress reflective, literally and emotionally. We’re talking mood rings, mirrored aviators, and yes, glow sticks galore (because obviously). Let’s see you catch the light, on and off the dance floor. |
Wednesday, October 8, 2025
| Session Time | Session Title | Session Description |
|---|---|---|
| 8:00 a.m. | Breakfast | It’s time for us to wake up, shake off the cobwebs from all of our … “activities” from the night before. Remember, caffeine and protein are a power combo. |
| 9:00 a.m. | Day 3 Kickoff | Yes, we all have planes to catch later today, but let’s come together one last time to synthesize what we’ve accomplished together so far and what goodness we have in store for our final hours together. |
| 9:10 a.m. | Here’s What You Can Expect … | Focused sessions with technology providers to get into the nitty gritty of working together. For those of you that attended Base.Camp Red Rock Canyon, this is a la the SSP breakout we did on Wednesday am. |
| 11:45 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. | Wrap-up and Lunch | We will reflect on the event, what we learned, and what actions to take. Then share a last meal before everyone gets on the road to head home. |