How the WSJ’s events business has thrived

Jacob Granger of Journalism.co.uk explores how The Wall Street Journal’s events business thrived during the pandemic.

Granger writes, “The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) has been setting up virtual events throughout the pandemic to bolster its editorial coverage as well as to expand its pool of 2.5m digital subscribers.

“The Future of Everything Festival is one of its landmark events, with a three-day agenda on a breadth of topics (as the name suggests), like technology, philanthropy and sustainability.

“In normal times, it would net around 4,000 physical delegates. But its last virtual event, also held over three days, captured 15,000 unique delegates and close to 30,000 when we include all the returning attendees throughout the festival, said Kim Last, head of live journalism and special content at the FIPP D2C Summit last week.

“It was not the only event that was a hit; 5,000 people attended the last two WSJ Jobs Summits, a brand new event created during the pandemic for job seekers navigating career and employment uncertainty.

“Part of the appeal is the fact that people had more time on their hands during lockdown.”

Read more here.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.