Scale & Resilience: Publishing Leadership Conversations
London Dinner — Multidots × State of Digital Publishing
Tuesday, June 9, 2026
Hosted By
We’re coming to London
This London dinner, part of the Scale & Resilience: Publishing Leadership Conversations series, explores how resilient publishing platforms can be built to scale under pressure — balancing engineering velocity, governance, security, and long-term sustainability in an AI-accelerated environment. Featured speakers Marcel Semmler, Global Chief Product Officer at Bauer Media Group, and Dmitry Shishkin, independent media advisor and former CEO of Ringier Media International, will share insights from leading large-scale product and audience transformation initiatives, framing a peer-level discussion on strengthening platform architecture and organisational resilience without compromising innovation or editorial ambition.
Meet Marcel Semmler
Marcel Semmler is Global Chief Product Officer at Bauer Media Group, where he leads the company’s international product strategy across markets and brands. He shapes the future of digital media through scalable, user-focused, and AI-powered platforms, driving sustainable growth by embedding a product-led mindset across the organization. His mission is not only to innovate, but to transform how teams build, operate, and lead in a rapidly evolving digital landscape.
With over 15 years of experience in product management, technology, and organizational development, Marcel believes that the most impactful products are rooted in a deep understanding of people, pain points, and business opportunity. He works across functions—from newsrooms and data teams to design sprints and product councils—building both digital and human operating systems that enable meaningful outcomes at scale.
Meet Dmitry Shishkin
Dmitry Shishkin is an independent media advisor working with senior leadership teams who want to build audience-centred organisations without compromising editorial ambition or commercial discipline.
At the BBC World Service, he transformed the audience research behind the user needs framework into a practical editorial model, leading its implementation, enforcement, and cultural adoption at scale. Under his leadership, the model became embedded in editorial decision-making and was later adopted widely across the global media industry.
Since 2020, Dmitry has advised international media organisations including Condé Nast, Thomson Reuters Foundation, Yahoo, Globo, and Ringier. He typically works with CEOs, editors-in-chief, product leaders, and boards during periods of strategic reset, growth pressure, organisational misalignment, or uncertainty around how editorial, product, data, and AI should align.
The Details
Apply for a seat/invite
Agenda
Arrival & Networking
Guests arrive for welcome drinks and informal introductions. This time sets the tone for open, collaborative discussion.
Welcome & Introductions
Welcome from hosts
Participant introductions:
- Name
- Role
- Organisation
- Platform ownership area
Icebreaker Prompt:
“What platform or workflow decision has had the biggest operational impact on your teams in the last 12 months?“
Featured Speaker Session
Theme:Designing Publishing Platforms That Stay Resilient Under Pressure
Topics:
- Platform complexity vs team capacity
- Governance, security, and maintainability
- Engineering velocity vs long-term platform health
- Decisions approached differently in hindsight
Guided Discussion
Reflections & Takeaways
- Group synthesis of key themes
- Individual reflection:
- One platform assumption you are rethinking
Dessert & Informal Wrap-Up
Relaxed networking, dessert, and final one-on-one conversations.
