In a world where many of us work remotely, travelling with a colleague for a few days is surprisingly rare.
Between conference sessions, coffees overlooking the Mediterranean and walks back to the hotel, we had the kind of conversations that simply don’t happen on a Teams call. We talked about publishing, of course, but also about our careers, our experiences and where we think the industry is heading.
Looking back, it felt like the perfect introduction to the WAN-IFRA World News Media Congress. Because while AI dominated almost every discussion, the moments that changed my perspective had very little to do with technology.
The first reminder came before the conference had even started.
The evening before the opening session, another attendee spotted the iron I was carrying as we waited for the hotel lift and asked if she could borrow it before the next morning. We laughed, introduced ourselves and only then realised we were both attending the same event.
That small interaction perfectly captured what I took away from three days in Marseille. Not because it had anything to do with AI. Because it reminded me that relationships almost always begin with something human.
A city full of contrasts
Marseille turned out to be the perfect backdrop for the conversations taking place inside the congress.
It’s a city of contrasts. Eclectic architecture sits alongside colourful street art. The Mediterranean offers breathtaking sunsets just a few streets away from bustling cafés, scooters weaving through traffic and streets buzzing with life. It isn’t perfect, but that’s exactly what gives Marseille its character.
Looking around the city, I couldn’t help thinking that publishing feels remarkably similar today.
We’re living between two worlds. One where artificial intelligence is transforming almost every aspect of our industry, and another where journalism, trust and relationships remain deeply human.
That tension was present in almost every keynote, every panel and every conversation throughout the event.
The conversations I remember weren’t about technology
Like many people attending WAN-IFRA, I expected AI to dominate every discussion. And it did. Publishers are no longer asking whether they’ll use AI. They’re asking how their newsrooms, products and workflows should evolve now that AI is becoming part of everyday operations. Questions around trust, direct audience relationships and organisational transformation surfaced repeatedly throughout the congress.
But when I think back to Marseille, those aren’t the conversations I remember most.
One started by making room at our table for someone who couldn’t find a place to sit at lunch. Another began with a compliment about an outfit before we realised we were both from Barcelona and instinctively switched into Catalan.
On the final evening, after a Michelin-starred dinner overlooking the ‘Vieux Port’, a live band started playing. As the sky turned shades of pink and orange over Marseille, a few people wandered onto the dance floor. Others stayed chatting over a glass of wine, taking in the view. After three days of talking about AI, strategy and transformation, everyone was simply enjoying the moment.
None of those moments were planned. None appeared on the conference agenda. Yet they’re the ones that stayed with me. Perhaps because they reminded me that, even in an industry built around technology and innovation, genuine relationships still begin with simple, human interactions.
Connecting the dots
Throughout the congress, I found myself coming back to the same question. If AI is becoming more accessible, where does real differentiation come from?
One conversation helped me put that question into words. Professor Michel Henri Philippart, who researches digital transformation, shared an observation that has stayed with me ever since. He suggested that many technology companies are beginning to sound remarkably alike. Walk around almost any industry event today and you’ll hear familiar promises.
Automation.
Efficiency.
Productivity.
Integration.
The technology is becoming increasingly impressive. But it’s also becoming increasingly difficult to differentiate. His point wasn’t that technology no longer matters. Quite the opposite. It was that as technology becomes more accessible, the basis on which organisations choose their partners begins to change.
The more I thought about it, the more it reflected what I’d seen over those three days. AI is changing the buy-versus-build equation. Today, publishers can prototype tools internally far more quickly than they could just a few years ago. Capabilities that once required specialist software are becoming increasingly accessible.
So if technology becomes easier to build… What becomes harder to replicate?
Partnership isn’t a feature
The answer, I think, isn’t another feature. It’s partnership.
Not partnership as a marketing message, but something that’s built over time. It comes from listening before proposing solutions, understanding the realities of a newsroom, sharing what you’ve learned from other publishers and helping customers navigate change long after the software has been implemented.
As someone working in marketing for a technology company, it also challenged the way I think about how we tell our own story.
We spend a lot of time talking about innovation, AI capabilities and product features, and rightly so. But I left Marseille wondering whether those are really the things people remember. Perhaps what they remember most is how a company makes them feel, whether they feel understood and whether they believe they’ll have a genuine partner when the real work of transformation begins.
Technology and innovation will always matter. AI will undoubtedly reshape our industry in ways we’re only beginning to understand. But technology alone doesn’t deliver transformation. People do.
The organisations making the biggest progress aren’t simply adopting AI. They’re aligning their editorial, product and technology teams around a shared vision of where they want to go. Software supports that journey. People make it happen.
Why I’ll keep going back
As I left Marseille, I realised my most valuable takeaway wasn’t a keynote slide or a product announcement. It was a reminder. In an industry racing to automate more, the moments that create trust are still remarkably ordinary.
A borrowed iron.
A shared lunch table.
A conversation in your native language.
A walk between conference sessions.
A sunset over the Vieux Port.
A dance floor at the end of a long day.
AI will almost certainly become one of the defining technologies of our generation. For years, our industry has focused on optimising workflows, automating processes and embracing digital transformation. Those things will continue to matter.
But perhaps the next chapter is about something less technical: strengthening the relationships that technology was meant to support in the first place. Because if three days in Marseille reminded me of anything, it’s this:
The companies that stand out won’t simply be those with the smartest technology. They’ll be the ones that build the strongest relationships. Technology can accelerate transformation.
People are still the ones who inspire it.
