Fishing For Success - IRMA 2010

 

September 23-29

Big Cedar Lodge

Branson, Missouri

 

Conference Agenda  -  Choose Your Track

We’ve planned this conference to accommodate the many specialties we juggle at our magazines. Find your own and bring key staffers to attend the sessions you can’t!

 

Fishing For Sales - Advertising Sales Note: The ad sales sessions are focused on Saturday and Sunday to allow ad reps to head home for the work week if necessary so they can do what they do best: Sell! Of course, ad reps are welcome and encouraged to stay for the duration of the conference if possible.

Fishing For Ideas - Editorial

Fishing For Readers - Circulation

Fishing For Vision - Design

Fishing For Profit - Management

 

Thursday, September 23 - Board Members Arrive

 

6:00                 Board Dinner

 

Friday, September 24 - Annual Board Meeting, Members Arrive

 

9-3:15              Board Meeting

 

6:00                 Welcome Reception: "A Taste of Missouri"

 

Saturday, September 25 - Fishing for Success

 

9-10:30            Keynote: Jack Stack presents "The Great Game of Business: Creating a Culture of Ownership."

            Author of two books on open-book management, contributor to the New York Times’ small business blog, and founder and chief executive of SRC Holdings, Jack Stack explains how to move your company forward using open-book management techniques. Learn how to build value and improve financial result by motivating your staff to perform like an owner.

           

10:45-12:15     Breakout Sessions - Fishing For…

            Sales - Helen Berman: Overcoming "Print is Dead" and Other Sales Objections

            Having been in this business more than two decades, Helen Berman has heard every objection possible, from "We don’t have the budget," to "My agency handles that," to "I don’t like your media." More importantly, she knows how to tackle every one of them, and to turn "no" to "maybe" and "yes."

            Ideas - Brant Houston: Data-Mining for Great Stories, Part 1

              Databases can provide tips and context for stories you are working on, help you discover stories that you didn’t know were there, and lead to innovative graphics. Get a tour of the wealth of data on the Web and how to find it on your own. Bring your laptop if you want to follow along.

            Readers - Newsstands Sales Trends panel with John Cowley and John Willett

            Vision - Sophisticated Design on a Shoestring with Andrew Barton

            Profit - Mini Games of Business, continued from the keynote with The Great Game of Business coaches.

 

12:30-1:30       Lunch

 

1:45-3:15         Breakout Sessions - Fishing For…

            Sales - Proving Advertising ROI with Helen Berman

            In this webinar, you’ll learn ways of showing your clients that your media delivers the goods. In turn, they’ll learn that they can invest with confidence in your media properties.

            Ideas - Great Stories from Stats, Part 2

            Readers/Visions - Cover Critiques with moderator Andrew Barton

            Profit - Mini Games of Business, continued

 

3:30-5              IRMA Roundtable Critiques

 

5:45                 Early Dinner

 

7:00                 A Night at the Theatre in Branson

 

Sunday, September 26 - Silver Dollar City

 

9-10:30            Fishing For…

            Sales - Integrated Selling Cross-Platform with Helen Berman

            With the change in media comes a change in selling strategies. Sales imagination has become almost as critical as sales knowledge. Whether you’re new to the game or an old hand, you’ve got to abide by a whole new set of sales rules.

            Ideas - Fresh Ideas and Concept Stories with Judy Bolch

            Revamp your brainstorming skills and learn how to come up with fresh ideas to cover tried and true but already used topics in new ways.

            Readers - Show and Tell: Direct Mail, Best Circ. Sales Efforts with Colleen McIntyre

            Profit - Benchmarking For Profit with Seija Goldstein

            Find out which publishing metrics are important to watch in order to boost your top and your bottom line.

 

11:00               Board bus for Silver Dollar City

 

12:30-2:           Lunch Panel: Strategic Planning for Effective Public Relations with Lisa Rau, Silver Dollar City; Mary Kellog, Titanic; Larry Whiteley, Bass Pro

 

2:00                 Free Afternoon at Silver Dollar City

 

6:00                 Reception and group photo at 6:30

 

7:00                 Awards Dinner

 

Monday, September 27

 

9-10:30            General Session: Reinventing Print with Don Ranly

            Are you still writing the same as you did five or 10 years ago? Do your publications look the same as they did then? What influence has the Internet had on what and how you communicate?  How has your audience changed and what have you done to meet that change? This seminar will explore techniques for writing for the Web and print and apply the principles of refrigerator journalism to your writing for both.

 

10:45-12:15     Fishing For…

            Readers/Profit - Mobile Technology for Magazines with David Fry

            Ideas - Sharpening Editing Skills with Don Ranly

            Let’s face it. We’ve all become a little rusty and careless. Some of those rules and guidelines are not as clear as they used to be. This hands-on seminar will bring us back to commas and cases and moods and other fine points of grammar. In addition, we’ll engage in an exercise of common errors of usage. You’ll leave refreshed and one-up on your colleagues.

            Vision - Photography Critique with Rita Reed

           

12:30-1:30       Annual Business Lunch

 

1:45-3:15         Hits and Misses

 

Free Afternoon! Optional lake excursion

 

6:15                 Board Bus for a Surprise Dinner - Dress for First Class, Second Class, or Steerage!

 

Tuesday, September 28 - Beyond Print: Succeeding in a Digital World

 

9-10:30            General Session: Online Discovery and Revenue Generation with Mark Pratt

            The rules that govern where your site appears in search engine results are about to radically change. In this session we will walk you through both technical and editorial requirements to stay among the top search results. Bringing people to your site is half the battle. How do you generate more revenue with your site visitors? What business models and services are out there to dramatically increase your online revenue?

 

10:45-12:15     Fishing For…

            Sales/Readers - Media Kits, Audits and More with Tim Bingaman

              What your advertisers want to know about your magazine.

            Ideas - Becoming a Better Writing Coach with Mary Kay Blakely

            How to work with writers to bring out their best work.

            Profit - Maximizing Print Value in a Digital M&A Environment with moderator

            Kim MacLeod

            How do buyers determine what your company is worth? Knowing what buyers (and lenders) look for when determining a regional media company’s value, and managing your business to maximize that value is even more critical in today’s digitally focused M&A market. Whether you want to sell, acquire other businesses, or buy out an investor, you’ll leave knowing the benchmarks, the yardsticks, and how to put your own company through the test. Plus: Survey from today’s private equity and strategic buyers.

 

12:30-1:30       Lunch Session: Boosting Website Visits: A critique with Ramsey Mohsen

 

1:45-3:15         Fishing For…

            Readers: E-mail Marketing to Grow Subscriber Base with Katey Charles

          Join e-mail marketing expert Katey Charles Darpel for a review of your e-mail creative. Bring samples of your e-newsletters or e-mail promotions, and Katey will review them for best practices from content, design and technical standpoints and answer any questions you may have related to e-mail marketing.

            Ideas/Vision: Web Content and Design with Ramsey Mohsen

            New media technology platforms like blogging, twitter, Facebook and Podcasting have shifted the way people consume information. Everyone is a publisher, so how do you stand out? Do you know how to publish for the web? Learn about social objects and how to make your content more engaging online.

            Profit - Anatomy of a Deal with Kim MacLeod

            The bad news: it’s a different M&A market than it was before September, 2008. The good news:  That’s an opportunity if you know what to do. Understanding who the M&A players are, what the underlying multiples and ratios are that drive prices, and knowing the trends in deal structures will help to understanding this new landscape and the keys to negotiating the best terms, whether buying or selling.

 

3:30-5              Digital World Café

            Engage in round-robin conversations with colleagues and experts in digital media. Topics will include social networking, web content, online revenue generation, mobile media, digital editions, e-newsletters, blogs, and more!

 

6:00                 Farewell chuckwagon dinner

 

 

Wednesday, September 29 - Departure Day