Buy an early bird ticket for the 2024 Independent News Sustainability Summit in Chicago

Tickets are on sale now for the Independent News Sustainability Summit in Chicago from September 5–7. Early bird tickets are $65 for LION members and $115 for non-members, and they include two and a half days of conference sessions and connecting with other independent news publishers. Early bird pricing is available until June 28.

Tickets are also available for our sixth annual LION Sustainability Awards Ceremony & Dinner –– a flat rate of $50 that includes dinner and drinks for the evening. The LION Sustainability Awards recognize excellence by local independent online news businesses in award categories centered on LION’s pillars of sustainability –– journalistic impact, financial health, and operational resilience. 

Buy tickets to the Summit and LION Awards Ceremony.

We’re also pleased to share some key partners that will bring their expertise to this event.

• We’ll work with the American Journalism Project and the Institute for Nonprofit News as Programming Partners to help us develop our Summit learning sessions. 
• We’re also working with LION member Block Club Chicago as our Host Partner to help recruit event volunteers, connect with local vendors, and share advice on hosting our event in Chicago.

We’re also creating opportunities for sponsors who believe in the power of independent news to share their work in support of our members. Our sponsorship options have a limited inventory and start at $10,000. Download our sponsorship menu and reach out to [email protected] to learn more.

Our Summit website has more information on event details, and we’ll continue to add more over the coming weeks, including:

• A call for session ideas and proposals
• Announcing keynote speakers, session speakers
• Sharing opportunities to connect with and learn from other independent news publishers

In the meantime, we’ve listed a few anticipated questions below, and you can view our full FAQ on our site. 

Where is the Summit being held? At the Westin Chicago River North, 320 North Dearborn Street, Chicago, IL. We have a block on a limited number of hotel rooms at a rate of $219/night. You may book a room using this link. If you run into any issues, please reach out to Melissa Givens at [email protected].

Who is the Independent News Sustainability Summit for?

• Leaders of independent news publications. Here’s our membership criteria for independent news. We define a leader as CEO/Executive Director, Founder, Publisher, Editor, Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer, or an equivalent title. 
• Anyone who works for independent news publications. Attendees have told us that sending team members who work on the business side has been a valuable experience for them.
• Supporters of independent news publications. This includes news funders, vendors who serve publishers, those who work for other journalism-support organizations, international publishers, researchers, and others in the local news ecosystem.

How do I know if I’m eligible for LION member ticket pricing? If you are currently a LION member, your news business should be listed on this page. If you aren’t listed, please contact [email protected]. 

What is the estimated cost of attending the Summit for a LION member? If a member purchases an early bird ticket to the Summit and a ticket to the LION Awards Ceremony & Dinner, we estimate the total cost to be around $1,600 per person:

• Summit ticket: $72 (including fees)
• Awards Ceremony and Dinner ticket: $56 (including fees)
• Travel: Estimated $500 maximum round trip flight
• Lodging: Estimated $772, including taxes, for three nights lodging at the conference hotel
• Meals: Estimated $210 (About $30/meal for a total of three lunches, two breakfasts, and two dinners)

Conference speakers will receive a complimentary ticket to attend the Summit, and all Awards finalists will receive one complimentary ticket per organization. Additionally, we plan to offer travel scholarships to a limited number of LION members to help subsidize the cost of travel (hotel and/or flights) and will have more details on that soon.

Have more questions about the Summit? Email [email protected].