For many years, AAN editors have traded information on the editorial listserv about staff sizes, freelance rates and other nitty gritty information. In Toronto, editorial staffers will really get down to brass tacks by reviewing the results of an editorial standards survey that will ultimately be collated to create a benchmark document for AAN editorial departments. The survey will be available following the convention in the AAN resource library.
Whether you are attending the convention or not, filling out the survey will only add to its usefulness. If you are heading to Toronto, be sure to attend the Editorial Standards session from 3:45-4:45 pm on Saturday, July 17, which will be moderated by Editorial Committee members Jimmy Boegle, editor of Tucson Weekly, and Hank Sims, editor of North Coast Journal. The session will consist of a lively free-wheeling discussion about how editors are using their budgets and staff -- and hopefully generate new ideas and inspiration.
CLICK HERE FOR THE SURVEY LINK (Must be logged in to your AAN account)
Members and non-members have until the end of the day tomorrow, Friday, June 25 to receive the early registration discount for AAN's 33rd Annual Convention in Toronto. The discounted rate for members and associate members is $325 per person, and the discounted rate for non-members is $425 per person. Both rates will increase by $50 per person after Friday night.
In addition, when three representatives from the same member paper sign up, that paper will get a fourth registration free of charge. This offer will remain valid after the early registration deadline.
Click here to register online.
As of today, June 24, the Hilton Toronto still has a very limited number of rooms available at AAN's discounted rate of $139.00 (CAD) per night. Click here to reserve a room at AAN's group rate and contact the AAN office if you encounter any difficulty obtaining the group rate through their site.
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Ron Reason's recent redesign of Creative Loafing (Atlanta) was a bold articulation of the notion that any redesign effort should consider the question of revenue. His fresh treatment of alt-weekly mainstays such as the adult classifieds -- rebranded as "wink*" in Atlanta -- and use of creative advertising concepts like peel-away ads are just two examples of how a redesign can "give advertisers a reason to be excited about print again."
Can a similar approach work for your paper?
Reason will be in Toronto to provide a peek into the Atlanta alt-weekly's makeover and share tips on how to approach the overhaul of your print product, including the often overlooked task of incorporating your sales team into the process. Ron Reason is a visiting faculty member at The Poynter Institute and a design consultant who has assisted a variety of newspapers and magazines across the globe in rethinking the visual aspects of advertising.
"I always advise clients: why just switch fonts? Why not redesign for growth?" Reason explained on his blog. His session will leave you with plenty of ideas on how to lure in new clients with innovative marketing offerings that blend seamlessly with editorial content to create a finished product that advertisers will want to be a part of.
Culture maven Patricia Martin says that in addition to being technologically savvy, the next generation of consumers is politically aware, hungry for knowledge, and are attracted towards brands that project authenticity.
All of this, Martin says, augurs well for alt-weeklies, which -- unlike mainstream media -- are uniquely positioned to capitalize on these trends.
"Some media outlets are doomed if they don't read the cultural trends," Martin says. "But independents have a secret weapon, they just need to optimize it."
The highly sought after keynote speaker and author of Renaissance Generation: The Rise of the Cultural Consumer and What it Means to Your Business, Patricia Martin will explain why she's bullish on the future of alt-media during an afternoon session at AAN's convention next month. Her award-winning consulting firm LitLamp Communications uses culture to connect brands with communities of consumers; and in Toronto she will demonstrate how alt-weeklies can use the lessons she's learned to create "emotional bonds" with their readers that will translate back to advertising dollars.
Martin's spot-on appraisal of the current cultural transition will be the final session on Friday, July 16, and is guaranteed to give convention attendees plenty to talk about as the evening's festivities commence.
At a town hall meeting during AAN's Toronto Convention, members will discuss the possibility of allowing online-only publications to apply for AAN membership and give them a chance to prove they can pass the same rigorous screening that print publication applicants go through.
Such a change would require only a minor tweak in the organization’s bylaws, but it would nevertheless be a dramatic move for AAN.
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AAN members will have the opportunity to participate in an online webinar about smart phone apps for journalists in Tools for Mobile Journalists. In this webinar from Poynter's NewsU, you'll learn about the latest tools, apps and sites to help you report and publish your content. The first 25 AAN members to register will pay just $12.95 when using the discount code (you can find it here).
Costs have been cut. Page count is down. Morale could be better. How do we do more than survive? This is the focus of the annual convention in Toronto. The shakeup of the past two years has, in many ways, given alt-weeklies the chance of a lifetime -- an opportunity for rebirth and reinvention. This July, in one of the most beautiful cities in North America, industry leaders, big-picture thinkers and plenty of your smart peers will be explaining how to create a blueprint for financial success. You'll learn how to focus and rededicate your company to thrive for the next decades and longer.
By now, most publishers have come to terms with the basics of search engine optimization, but don't get too comfortable. Mike Volpe, from web marketing company HubSpot, will be in Toronto to explain the changes to the way in which search engines work. Volpe will give conventioneers tips on how to adapt and optimize your website in order to remain competitive in the future.
As an example, he says, SEO is becoming more time-sensitive and more personal. Google's new search index, Caffeine, just announced this week, will use more "real-time" results, which means that timely news and blog posts, as well as social media status updates, will become increasingly important to maintaining high search visibility. In addition, Volpe says search engines are beginning to use your physical location and search history more, and will eventually move into social search, which adds what your connections like and use to the mix. Many of these developments could bode well for alt-weeklies, which have strong content based around a locality and often have robust social communities. But that won't do you much good if you are falling on the second or third search pages. After Volpe's talk, you should be ready to make changes to your site that will prepare you for the future of SEO.
When you have a president who not only admits he inhaled but confesses to having used cocaine, it’s time to redefine "alternative," according to Henry Scott. At the Toronto Convention, the newly named publisher of Creative Loafing (Atlanta) and chief marketing officer of all six Creative Loafing papers will discuss what the company is doing to redefine the traditional "alt-weekly" and make it meaningful to an audience that would rather be well employed and raise a family than drop out of society and rebel.
Scott -- a self-professed member of the Woodstock Generation -- says he had long ago quit reading alt-weeklies because he found them irrelevant. He says market research he did at previous jobs at the New York Times and Metro New York showed him that most young people agreed. So he and his Creative Loafing team have rethought their approach, using easily available market research and staff coaching. In Toronto, he'll talk about how they are doing and he'll detail both the research and business aspects of the strategy.
Random Lengths News was approved for a grant to fund Armando Segovia to assist the paper in its investigative news reporting of the paper's large immigrant community. Potential investigations include examining the impact on this community by the area's clean trucks program, as well as various aspects of the Mexican government's "war on the drug cartels." Segovia is a previous recipient of a multimedia fellowship at The Coloradoan, and also has interned at a variety of publications, including El Paso Times, El Conquistador and Al Día.
Oklahoma Gazette also received one of the two grants for this cycle for its proposal for Rachel Bradley to serve as the paper's marketing/PR intern. Bradley, an African American student at the University of Oklahoma, will help the paper with its 2010-2011 marketing plan, writes Marketing Director Jill Brown, which "includes some initiatives targeted toward increasing minority readership and community involvement. We are currently not very knowledgeable about these emerging markets, and feel that Rachel would be an asset to the team." Bradley has received a variety of awards for scholastic achievement, and also has worked as an event intern for The CE Group in San Antonio, Texas, and and as a teacher for the First Baptist Church Kaleidoscope After School program in Norman, Oklahoma.
AAN's Diversity Grant Program awards two $1,250 grants twice annually. The program was instituted by the association in 2001 to help alternative weeklies hire and train top-quality minority journalists. The grants are administered through AAN's Diversity Committee.
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