With Our Annual Conference in the Rearview, MFM Preps for the Media Industry’s Future

The 2024 MFM Annual Conference is now in the rearview mirror. But before our windshield is filled with plans for the 2025 event (May 18-21 in Washington, DC), I’d like to take a moment to reflect on the outcomes of the past 12 months.

The conference program was designed to shine a light on the seismic shifts the media and entertainment industry is experiencing. Consolidation, cord cutting, artificial intelligence, and algorithmic advertising are just a few examples of an industry that is reinventing itself in real time. It also reflected the changing skillset that financial professionals need to stay ahead of the curve.

If there was a consensus opinion among attendees it was that while there will always be a media and entertainment industry, what it looks like tomorrow depends a lot on what we do with it today. MFM’s job as your professional association is to help you not just adapt to those changes, but to help you anticipate them in a way that allows you to shape the future of your career and the industry.

We work hard to accomplish that objective in a number of ways every single day.

Since May 2023, more than 1,000 individuals have attended an in-person MFM event – the Annual Conference, CFO Summit, National Credit Conference, or Regional Meeting. More than 1,100 individuals have attended an MFM webinar and more than 450 have participated in a Member Network teleconference. Altogether, MFM has certified more than 7,000 hours of CPE for its members in that time – much of it provided at no charge.

But the real value of MFM membership may be in the unmeasurable statistics. How many connections were made; how many relationships were built; how many careers were advanced; how many problems were solved; and how many deals were born because of MFM educational programs and networking opportunities? Based on my “fly on the wall” perspective at the Annual Conference, the magic happens during the conversations that occur between the official sessions.

Looking ahead, we will have even more to offer members. On June 1 we kicked off a new partnership with the Public Media Business Association (PMBA) – an organization that provides education, information, and networking services to hundreds of public television and radio stations across the country.

Our new partnership will allow PMBA members – finance, accounting, HR, and IT professionals – access to MFM webinars, Member Network teleconferences, MFM publications, and Regional Meetings.

We’re hopeful and confident this partnership will benefit the members of both organizations by expanding networking opportunities, increasing the number and variety of Member Network participants, and enhancing the quality of the educational program we each provide our members.

We have also initiated work on a certification program for financial professionals in the media and entertainment industry. We created an MFM Board Task Force and it’s working with leaders of the AICPA and some of the country’s most qualified academics to create a certification program that will help financial professionals in all stages of their careers – from entering the business to the C-suite.

It all adds up to your belonging to an association that is as dynamic and innovative as the changing industry we’re a part of. Want to enhance the value of your membership? Get involved. Join a Member Network, serve on the Certification Program task force, participate in a webinar. MFM is your organization. It thrives on member engagement. Not sure how to start? Email me at joe.annotti@mediafinance.org and we can discuss a multitude of ways for you to maximize the value of your MFM membership.