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Editors Forum Program Sessions
Make Editorial Strategy the Centerpiece of Your Next Redesign
If your next redesign focuses mostly on looks, you’re missing the point. Content, and the strategy driving it, matters most. Presenters behind 25+ redesigns—including for Swarthmore and Bucknell—share how to shake up your editorial strategy for maximum impact. Learn to: listen to your readers—whether they’re bookish or jockish (or both); align story selection with university goals—to finally get credit for your brilliance; create new story types to reach readers—and build a personality; and match your voice to your school’s culture—whether it’s conservative or nerdy.
Sherri Kimmel, Editor of Bucknell Magazine, Bucknell University and Shane Shanks, Senior Strategist and Editorial Director, Zehno
Magazines 101
Designed for editors who are looking for a comprehensive overview of alumni and university magazines, this fast-paced and very visual workshop explores the basics of magazine planning, writing, editing, design and production. You’ll see lots of examples of magazines that are doing it right (and wrong), learn where to find inspiration, and leave with solid ideas for making strategic tweaks that will take your magazine to new heights. The session is ideal for those new to magazines, or higher education, or both—but there’ll also be plenty of information that will prove useful to those who've been in their role a few years.
Steven Saum, Former Editor of Santa Clara Magazine, Santa Clara University
Campaign Content: Storytelling in The Capital Campaign Era
In the era of the perpetual capital campaign, there’s never been a greater need for institutions to clearly communicate organizational priorities and philanthropic goals through powerful brand messages. But how do you cut through the noise of marketing jargon to deliver the right messages to the right people? The editorial director from the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business and their design partner Journey Group will share the editorial and visual storytelling strategies behind Powered by Purpose, the school's largest campaign to date.
Jay Hodgkins, Editorial Director, University of Virginia Darden School of Business; Kristen Keesee, Associate Director of Advancement Communications, University of Virginia Darden School of Business; and Jon Thompson, Vice President of Accounts, Journey Group, Inc.
Opening Keynote with Janeen Williamson, Atlantic 57
Janeen Williamson, Engagement Director, Atlantic 57
Keynote Session with Designer and Art Director, Walter Bernard
Walter Bernard, Designer and Art Director
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
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
Why So Serious?
As editors at hallowed colleges, universities, and independent schools, we can be a bit self-involved, don't you think? We oh-so-earnestly chronicle the most import research discovery, the highest-achieving student, the alum saving the world (or trying to do so). All well and good. But far too often, we neglect an important aspect of life in general and life at colleges and universities: good humor. This session will demonstrate how we can incorporate a bit more levity into our magazines—through headline writing, story selection, art. By winking and nodding at tropes and by seeking out subtle ways to remind our readers that our publications, like our institution, have a personality.
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
80,000 Perspectives on Alumni Magazines: Insight from 100 Institutions’ Readers
The CASE Magazine Readership Survey tool enables institutions to survey their alumni about reading habits, content interests, connection to the institution, and suggested improvement. This session draws on an analysis of responses from 80,000+ readers representing 100+ institutions. We will explore high level trends regarding reader engagement and preferred content and explore differences in reading habits and perspectives among alumni of different ages, genders, and institutional types. We also discuss ways editors can leverage this data to make the case for their magazine, select the most interesting content for their readers, and guide strategic decisions.
Sancho N. Sequeira, Senior Research Analyst, Council for Advancement and Support of Education