From ASBPE National Blog: Chicago Produces Top-Notch Member Programs

This blog post is also appearing on the ASBPE National Blog as well.

By Roy Harris ASPBE Past President

Several ASBPE chapters are known for their powerful program planning. But it would be hard to top the work done by the Chicago chapter in designing this month's half-day workshop titled "B2B Survival Strategies for Difficult Economic Times."

Featured speakers at the Nov. 7, program, held at Columbia College in the Loop, were Marina Dock Age and Boat & Motor Dealer editor Peter Gallanis discussed how to use interns to your greatest advantage. Addressing multiplatform editorial strategies were Telephony editor-in-chief Carol Wilson, Time Out Chicago web editor Scott Smith and Pierce Hollingsworth, president of his own marketing consultancy. Just seeing a variety of websites up on the screen and the different way editors handle making them work for readers helped produce insights.

Carol's dedication to devoting slower afternoon hours to getting stories ready for early-morning runs, for example, pays off by giving other outlets good material from her site to be picked up during the day. That brings Telephony an extra promotional benefit from such stories.

As impressive as the firepower that Chicago leaders called in to discuss survival, though, was the careful thought that they gave to the program lineup. By making the first topic of the day ethics—the discussion I was honored to moderate—they took note of how vital it is that publications maintain the trust of their readers, especially when times are hard and the financial challenges are greatest.

It was clear to all the attendees—when the examples started pouring in during the Q&A—that newsroom ethics are far more than window-dressing. And that editors are the ones on the spot, not just for training writers in ethical behavior, but for confronting publishers who may be tempted to go over the edge when advertiser pressures mount. It is more and more important, in fact, as the advertising dollar looks to some companies like the ultimate goal, whereas we know that the goal must continue to be reader service.

I was proud to be able to point out in Chicago that ASBPE's redesign of our ethics code has provided useful guidelines for editors to follow in examining ethical questions and finding answers to practical questions. The proof has been in the response we've had since we installed a redesigned ethics program that uses a standing Advisory Committee to deal with inquiries reflecting real-life quandaries. We now get answers back to member questions within three days, and stand ready to back them up with their publishers, if that's required. And I was glad that the 30 attendees seemed so eager to learn how the code has been working of late under its new committee chairperson, Spring Suptic. The one-word answer: effectively.

For chapters seeking a model for programming, I suggest getting in touch with Chicago Chapter President Nikki Golden, or with Vice President Erin Erickson, who managed the program so well. Congratulations, Chicago.

Roy Harris is senior editor of CFO magazine.

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Peter Gallanis Intern Presentation from Nov. 7 Workshop

Peter Gallanis' presentation on Creating and Implementing a Successful Internship Program is now available via:

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Blog Referral: Eat Sleep Publish Offers Journalists Tips for Using Twitter

Business expert Guy Kawasaki posted this article on his Twitter stream today from the site eat sleep publish:

Twitter to journalists: Here’s how it’s done

The article offers great tips for those journalists using Twitter as well as other social media sites (You're using at least one of them, right?).

From the article, "In two hours, we discussed everything from how to search for groups on Facebook to all the reasons it’s so important for journalists to come out from behind their byline, go where their readers are, and talk to them."

What are you waiting for? Read the article and jump on the Twitter bandwagon.

Follow ASBPE on Twitter: http://twitter.com/asbpe

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How to reach digital natives

This article, “Digital-Marketing Series: 9 Ways to Reach Digital Natives (and the Rest of Us, Too)” by Ann Handley on MarketingProfs has some really good information that can be used to aid us in publishing more effectively for the next generation.
Her nine suggestions are:
1) Offer or sponsor online research tools
2) Constantly refresh content
3) Create content to share
4) This one is really aimed more at marketers, suggesting that they throw out marketing speak.
5) Find ways to include video and/or audio
6) Foster brand loyalty
7) Monitor the conversation and participate in it
8) Be transparent
9) Be prepared for the worst

I’ll let you read the explanations for yourself, but I’d be interested to know what magazines are doing out there that might fall under one of these eight.

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Websites mentioned in Nov. 7 ASBPE Workshop

As promised, the the following websites were referenced during the Nov. 7 workshop, "B2B Survival Strategies for Difficult Economic Times"

From Roy:
ASBPE Ethics Guidelines: http://www.asbpe.org/about/asbpe-ethics-guide-june2008.pdf
ASBPE Ethics Advisories: http://www.asbpe.org/ethics/ethics-advisories.htm
Pulizter's Gold: http://www.pulitzersgold.com/

From Scott:
http://www.ipc.org
http://www.foliomag.com/
http://www.csemag.com/

From Carol:
http://www.telephonyonline.com/
http://www.reel-exchange.com/
http://supermarketnews.com/

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