"How was the conference for you?"

This year's congress has come and gone and we're already looking ahead to the next one. The theme in 2013 will be "The Future of Growth - New Economies and the Media". Save the date: June 17-19 in Bonn, Germany.

The team of organizers have received many e-mails from around the world with feedback about this year’s event. To a participant from Cambodia it was "a good chance to network with other people from my region and elsewhere".

As well as many journalists there was also a good number of artists at the event. A member of an artists' association in Addis Ababa wrote: "I would have liked to see a workshop about how people in the arts are creatively addressing sustainable development. There was so much to learn from other participants, however, coming from the art community."

Not just the large number of more than 2,000 participants testifies to the attractiveness of the breadth of themes offered by the DW Global Media Forum. A participant from Myanmar expressed it like this: ”I've witnessed that the Global Media Forum is a must for not only the journalists but also for the public interested in well developing civil society.”

Emphasizing the conference's purpose-driven design, a participant from Buenos Aires said that despite - or perhaps due to - its broad approach, "it was a very enriching experience to meet people from such different backgrounds, but whose efforts are advocated to the same objective: social development. There is nothing more ’multimedia’ than having the real actors involved in conversation.”

Many participants appreciated the opening panel that explored quality versus ratings and the conflict between market pressure and media's role in education. Representative of these, there was this comment from the Philippines: “The plenary session was a very interesting starting point. It made me reflect on the kind of broadcast journalism practiced in the Philippines. I’ve picked up some very interesting points, some were very useful reminders of what needs to be done, such as striking a balance between ratings and sticking to good and relevant issues.”

A participant from Ukraine put it in a nutshell: “Brilliant knowledge, great network and fantastic emotions.”

We look forward to your returning to Bonn for the Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum 2013.