The next World Young Reader Conference in Prague in September will look at the "Total Youth Think" approach that is being adopted by newspapers looking to ensure a future audience of young people. The conference is one of the first to be conducted under the merger of the World Association of Newspapers and IFRA.

The "Total Youth Think" approach should aim to "create post-Internet print content combined with smart digital approaches, directly engage young people and those who influence their media loyalties, while at the same time avoid alienating older readers," according to a press release. Speakers include:

• - Anne Kari Jacobsen, Chief Analyst for A-Pressen Group in Norway, who will discuss how that group's local newspapers have used a wide array of strategies,
• - Grzegorz "Greg" Piechota, Special Projects Editor for Gazeta Wyborcza in Poland, which is conducting a strategy to "link generations" in the newspaper
• - Boris Trupčević, General Manager for 24sata in Croatia, who will examine how the youth-led company became the market leader with a newly launched newspaper and website, and completed its multimedia strategy with a news TV channel.

Participants who sign up by 31 July will have free access to a webinar on the topic scheduled for August and to be conducted by Marcelo Rech, General Director for Project Management of the RBS Group in Brazil, whose flagship newspaper, Zero Hora, credits its Total Youth Think techniques for a 78 percent penetration rate among young people aged 20 to 29 years, and a 71 percent penetration rate among those aged 15 to 19.

The Total Youth Think model and successful cases will also be examined by the Shaping the Future of the Newspaper Project's first report of its 2009 series, "Publishing to Targeted Audiences." Conference participants will receive that section of the report as part of their registration fee. The conference is supported by Norske Skog, the Norway-based global paper producer, and the Czech Publishers Association.

For more information, please see: http://www.wan-press.org/prague2009