NOTE: All session times are in Eastern Standard time zone.

 

Day 1: Monday, June 29

11:00-11:30 AM

Welcome to the 2020 Editors Forum! Participants can begin to login at 11:00 AM EST and the conference will begin promptly at 11:30 AM.

11:30-11:45

Welcome, Introductions and Setting the Stage

Join Editors Forum Co-chairs, Laura Cole and Dan Morrell to review conference highlights and learn how to get the most out of your time online.

11:45 AM-12:45 PM

Opening Keynote

Lessons from a Leading Newsroom: Creating a Constellation of Content

In today’s saturated media landscape, it can be challenging for you to tell your story consistently, across digital platforms, and at scale. Through insights from The Atlantic’s newsroom and Atlantic 57’s work with leading nonprofits and universities, we’ll unpack how to create enduring value for audiences and build an effective storytelling operation. Specifically, sharing strategies for identifying the unique value you can bring to audiences, how that shared vision informs your digital strategy, and how you can do it even with a lean team. 

Janeen Williamson, Associate, Engagement Director, Atlantic 57



12:45-1:15

Virtual Magazine Exchange and Exhibit Hall Kickoff

The Editors Forum tradition continues! Flip through recent magazine issues and hear from the some of the teams that created them in their own words via short videos. Use this time to visit with exhibitors, check out their resources, and stay for a virtual chat.

1:15-2:15

Elective Sessions (choose one):

• The Science (and Art) of Headline Writing
  
  A headline is the door into your article; a good headline will both distill your message and engage your audience. In this session, we will talk about what makes a good headline, what makes a good cover line (i.e., a headline on steroids!), the importance of subheds and/or deks, the importance of brainstorming in the headline-writing process, and the ways in which headlines and social media intersect. But that's not all! Bring along your thorniest headline conundrums, and we will try to solve as many of them as possible, time permitting.
  
  Lori Oliwenstein, Director of Institute Communications and Special Projects, Office of Strategic Communications at California Institute of Technology
• agComplish: Creating a Magazine for Alumni from Scratch
  
  With college enrollment declining, it’s important to promote the college experience as well as what happens once a student leaves campus and goes into the real world. It’s even more important to tell and sell the stories of people who major in fields that are unpopular such as agriculture. Learn how a small communications department turned a passion project into an award-winning, highly anticipated publication. Discover how to use diversity, uniqueness and strategy to discover potential story ideas and launch multimedia projects while simultaneously making your supervisor’s job easier. The ideas expressed will leave attendees encouraged, enlightened, and excited.
  
  ChaNaé Bradley, Senior Communications Specialist, Fort Valley State University and Latasha Ford, Research Communications Specialist, Fort Valley State University

2:15-2:45

Stretch Break

Use this time to connect with exhibitors in the virtual Exhibit Hall, visit the Magazine Exchange, and check out resources in the Conference Community Library.

2:45-3:45

Elective Sessions (choose one): 

• Toto, We’re Not in Kansas Anymore
  
  Disclaimer: I’ve never been to Kansas, but I’d like to think that going from Depression-era prairie state to the Land of Oz is an apt comparison vis a vis “change.” I don’t know about you, but I refer to the time that others refer to as “normal” as BC or Before Covid. And the job of being editor of Middlebury Magazine today is vastly different than it was BC. About a month before files for our spring issue were to be shipped to the printer, we hit pause on our print edition of the magazine, the first time in our 93-year history that we’ve done so. With so much uncertainty as to when we’ll be publishing a printed periodical again, we quickly began to think as a digital organization -- not as a print-oriented organization that published online. In six weeks, we developed a content strategy for the digital world and began to build out more extensive plans for the future, a future that will be as informed by digital content as it is by print. Join me for a case study as to how it all went down.
  
  Matthew Jennings, Editorial Director, Middlebury College
• Young, Scrappy—and Inexperienced: How to Get Great Work from Your Junior Staff
  
  Staffing budgets might be shrinking, but our workload is only increasing. Out of necessity, editors often turn to enthusiastic interns and fresh-out-of-undergrad writers to produce content, but making their work publication-ready can quickly eat up precious time. This presentation will discuss how to use your interns and junior staffers in innovative ways to generate one-of-a-kind materials. From recruiting emerging on-campus talent to supervising (and sometimes redirecting) their creative efforts, Eric and Kelly will talk about how they’ve succeeded in turning scrappy youngsters into published writers. They’ll also talk about the lessons they’ve learned along the way, and how to avoid unforced errors. If you've ever red-penned a piece to death while muttering “I might as well do it myself,” this presentation is for you.
  
  Kelly Kussmaul, Director of Marketing and Communications, MSU Law at Michigan State University and Eric Rangus, Editor of Georgia Magazine, University of Georgia

3:45-4:15

Day 1 Closing Thoughts and Next Steps for Tomorrow

4:15

Conference Adjourns for the Day

 

Day 2: Tuesday, June 30

11:00-11:30 AM

Roundtable Discussions

Bring your breakfast or lunch and connect with peers to share best practices, ideas and support. 



Topics for Discussion:

• Writing about Emergent/Tough Topics
  
  Moderators: Laura Cole and Lori Oliwenstein
• Finding Inspiration
  
  Moderators: Laura Demanski and Kerry Temple
• Covering Diversity/Reflecting Your Institution in Images and Illustrations
  
  Moderator: Shannon O'Brien
• Creating Online Magazine Editions/Measuring Online Engagement
  
  Moderators: Steve Hawk and Dan Morrell 

11:45 AM-12:45 PM

Morning Keynote

Breaking News Works: Why Being with Stories Fast Matters

In a world where the news cycle is no longer about the morning paper, but where news happens and explodes on social media within seconds and minutes, colleges and universities have a great opportunity to build audience and brand awareness and become part of the news cycle stream. Breaking news on campus, or off campus, presents a chance for writers and editors to speedily pull together short, quick, news pieces that can immediately be picked or trend on social media platforms, as other mainstream news outlets write about the same subject. It’s just important to pick your spots carefully!

Doug Most, Assistant Vice President & Executive Editor, Boston University

12:45- 1:15

Stretch Break

Use this time to connect with exhibitors in the virtual Exhibit Hall, visit the Magazine Exchange, and check out resources in the Conference Community Library.

1:15-2:15

Elective Sessions (choose one):

• Now You Edit an Ecosystem
  
  The contemporary umag editor must guide the print edition, a website, a tablet edition, a newsletter, video stories, podcasts, and a social media strategy. We used to edit magazines. Now we edit a media ecosystem. I will make a case for the print edition’s primacy. An alumni magazine tells your tribe’s stories to the tribe, and it is these stories that hold the tribe together. No website, tablet edition, or newsletter accomplishes that. I’ll also address reality: Vice Presidents demand that you churn out “content” that generate likes, upvotes, retweets, and “engagement.” The canny editor must understand how to do justice to those other platforms without sacrificing the quality of the magazine. The second part of my presentation will cover how best to do that.
  
  Dale Keiger, Editor Emeritus of Johns Hopkins Magazine, Johns Hopkins University
• Drama in Real Life: Making the Most of Your Best Science and Medical Stories
  
  Take a look at the popularity of STAT (Boston Globe, digital). Diagnosis (Netflix). Elemental (Medium). Science, health, and medical news is all the rage, and it should have a starring role in your publications, on your websites, and in your social media feeds—whether your institution is a liberal arts college or an academic medical center, or both! We will share some of the best university science and medical stories, podcasts, videos, and blogs out there, and provide proven strategies for finding, creating, and pushing out your most compelling medical/science content to the audiences who crave it.
  
  Mary Loftus, Director of Health Sciences content and Editor of Emory Med and Emory Health Digest, Emory University and Kimber Williams, senior staff writer, Emory University

2:15-2:45

Stretch Break

Don't miss this last chance this time to connect with exhibitors in the virtual Exhibit Hall, visit the Magazine Exchange, and check out resources in the Conference Community Library.

2:45-4:00

The Only Thing Constant is Change: Lessons Learned from Publishing in Covid

Join seasoned editors and creative directors for a moderated discussion about the rethinking, the pivoting, and moving forward in the pandemic environment. The conversation will focus on disruptions and “problem solving” around editorial content, publishing schedules, platforms, readers’ needs and expectations, budgets—and the effects of these challenges on campus partners and on the panelists themselves as practitioners.

Moderator: David Gibson, Vice President for Communications and Marketing, Middlebury College 

Panelists: Ron Boucher, Creative Director, University of Central Florida; Mo Harmon, Director of Editorial and Creative Content, Denison University; Steve Hawk, Editor, Stanford Business Magazine, Stanford Graduate School of Business; Adrienne Johnson Martin, Managing Editor, Duke Magazine, Duke University; and Luke Woodling, Assistant Vice President of Marketing, Rollins College

4:00-4:15

Final Thoughts

4:15

Conference Adjourns