Soon people will have an opportunity to really meet “Meet the Press.”

Kristen Welker, the current moderator of the long-running NBC Sunday public-affairs program, will host the first live event tied to the show, “Meet the Moment LIVE,” at City Winery in New York City on June 29. At the gathering, a crowd that purchases tickets will see a conversation between Welker and Taraji P. Henson, who will discuss her acting career as well as her work built around advocating for mental health.

“Meet the Press” has since 1947 convened top newsmakers in the nation’s capital to talk about the most pressing issues of the news cycle in front of a TV crowd of news aficionados. Since taking the reins of the program as moderator in 2023, Welker has worked to broaden the conversation. The show’s “Meet the Moment” segments tend to focus on bigger issues that affect the whole nation and rely on interviews with people from outside the Beltway. Among those who have made a “Moment” are Olivia Munn, Michael Phelps and Martin Luther King III, and issues have included everything from grief to infertility to sports.

“We are always going to have the big political conversations and the guests who are at the center of political discussions,” says Welker, during a recent interview. Still, many topics affect the broader audience and aren’t typically addressed during tradition interviews on the show.  Concerns over such things as public health “are issues our politicians are working with,” she adds, “They impact our politics. They impact our culture. They impact the world in which we live.”

“Meet The Press” is the latest show in the NBC News portfolio to try to develop new revenue through live events. In recent months, Willie Geist has done a handful of longer-form interviews for “Sunday Today” in front of live crowds, and NBC News orchestrated a series of in-person events around “Today” last fall, The concepts typically generate revenue from tickets, but can also do so through advertising partnerships that weave specific brands and promotional messages throughout the occasion.

NBCUniversal’s news division may be taking a cue from counterparts at Bravo, which in most years hosts a multi-day “BravoCon” fan event that includes sponsorships, conversations and appearances by the people at the center of its programming.

There are good reasons to highlight the “Meet the Moment” segment, says David Gelles, executive producer of “Meet the Press.” “We have never lost a Sunday in the key demo whenever we have a ‘Meet the Moment’ conversation,” he says. “It reflects the idea that people are incredibly curious about the conversation, and they feel like they are learning.” Focus groups reveal that “Meet the Moment” talks have played a key role, he says, in bringing new viewers to “Press” on Sundays.

Besides, says Gelles, “Press” has over the years done well by inviting guests to the show from outside the political sphere, including, people such as Kobe Bryant. “We are finding a new way to approach something that has been happening on the show for a long time,” he says.

Welker says she was partly inspired to test something new on the show by an old “Meet the Press” interview with baseball legend Yogi Berra. “He isn’t a politician but because baseball touches all of us, it’s a part of our politics,” she says. The hope is that the conversations with figures from outside the typical “Press’” coterie of guests “add another layer of information and understanding around really complex  issues.”

“Meet the Press” has a rich history of expanding into new media frontiers, Under Chuck Todd, the previous moderator, the show steered into podcasts, an edition on MSNBC and even a film festival.

Approximately 400 people will be able to watch Welker and Hanson talk on June 29, when they do, there’s hope it will be the start of longer-term series of important exchanges. “We see this as part of the future of ‘Meet the Press,’” says Gelles.