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Editors Forum Program Sessions
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
How to Measure—and Improve—Your Print Magazine’s Impact
With no clicks, likes, or retweets, it’s not always easy to measure the impact of your print magazine. But you and your institution deserve to know if your audience is reading and appreciating the hard work you put into every issue. In this session, we’ll talk about some of the specific ways you can measure and improve your magazine’s impact, including the exact examples and approaches used by top alumni magazines across the country.
Erin Peterson, Owner, Capstone Communications
Redesigning in Big Shoes
Unless you are a founding editor, you have a predecessor. A different editor with a different voice and a different aesthetic shaped the publication before you got there. As the new editor, how do you honor the past and bring your own voice forward, while forging your own connections with your audience? This session will provide an example of one way to tackle this challenge, by detailing how Portland Magazine editor Jessica Murphy Moo followed the mantra "familiar and new" when charged with redesigning after the death of beloved writer and editor Brian Doyle.
Jessica Murphy Moo, Editor of Portland Magazine and Associate Director of Storytelling, University of Portland
agComplish: Creating a Magazine for Agriculture 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.
Chanae Bradley, Senior Communications Specialist, Fort Valley State University and Latasha Ford, Research Communications Specialist, Fort Valley State University
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
From Bernie to DJ Khaled: The Power of the Portrait
Great photography moves us. It breaks through the visual noise and it allows magazines and web sites to stand out in crowded markets. Stephen will share photographs and experiences that back this up, showing how a successful portrait can tell its own story. He'll share the challenges of working in fast-paced environments with high-profile subjects and how editors and photographers can best collaborate to produce great work.
Stephen Voss, Photographer