With all INMA's in-person conferences and events suspended, the focus is now on its virtual world congress and other online events.

Planned events in Paris, New Delhi, Vail, Lima, Dublin and Los Angeles are now cancelled.

Attention is now directed to:

Virtual World Congress focussing on 'Re-Thinking News Media in the Age of Coronavirus' (May 5-28);

Master Classes: Regular online master classes on subjects such as digital subscriber retention and the third-party cookie road map;

Water Cooler chats: Plans for 'virtual water cooler' chats to connect peers - some regional, some global, all interactive - are moving ahead;

COVID-19 just-in-time awards category: A just-in-time Global Media Awards category on positive initiatives related to COVID-19. Entries are already coming in (deadline Thursday, April 30).

Webinar expansion: Expanding the weekly webinar series to twice a week (occasionally three), segmenting by subject and geography. In the last two weeks alone, more than 750 members participated;

INMA Knows: Spurred by COVID-19, a long-term distillation project called 'INMA Knows' has been accelerated, with additional subjects to launch soon.

Executive director Earl Wilkinson says COVID-19 will be a defining event in our lives. "Yet this much chaos also is an opportunity to form new habits, innovate ... and occasionally hit the 'reset' button," he says.

"We will continually monitor the situation worldwide."

Membership of the International News Media Association this week passed a record 12,000 members.