WAN-Ifra's Publish Asia event got off to a strong start today with a cluster of workshops and masterclasses providing an in-depth look into topics, some which are touched on tomorrow and Thursday.

The Publish Asia conference opens tomorrow, with the day ending with the Asia Media Awards presentations dinner, at which , at which guest of honour prime minister Dato Sri Haji Mohammad Najib bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak will speak.

Wednesday's programme under the theme, Strengthening print in the digital era including presentations covering new print products and production strategies.

Today opened with a workshop on innovating storytelling through VR and 360° videos, led by Google APAC's News Lab expert Irene Liu.

In a masterclass on Big Data - "starting with the basics" - Matthijs van de Peppel

presented the experience of NRC Media to explain the basics to starting a cost effective, successful Big Data project.

The Guardian's Francesca Panetta was back to discuss new content formats, with virtual reality on the cusp of mainstream adoption. Participants leaned not only how to translate journalism into virtual spaces, but how these pieces of content can be financed.

Pictured: Exploring new content formats with The Guardian (Picture Wilson Leong, WAN-Ifra)