Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Now hiring

Editor – Sosland Publishing Co., the leading information provider for the food industry, has an immediate opening for a website editor. Primary responsibilities include writing and searching for industry-related news, rewriting, editing and filing stories to online communities with some writing for print magazines and newsletters. Familiarity with Word and WPS preferred. Recent grads considered. Journalism degree or experience required. Send resume and writing samples to HR Director, Sosland Publishing Co., 4800 Main, Ste. 100, KC, MO 64112 or email with attachments to HR@sosland.com. EOE

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Winning awards starts with publisher

Winning awards begins at the top. The magazine publisher needs to believe that quality pays, believe in hiring good people and believe in hiring enough of them, said Rick Bush, editorial director of Transmission & Distribution World, based in Overland Park, Kan., and published by Penton.

Mr. Bush gave a presentation "Taking the Awards Process to the Next Level" at the Western Region Azbee awards banquet held July 23 at the Plaza III Restaurant in Kansas City, Mo., and run by the Kansas City chapter of the American Society of Business Publication Editors.

A sufficient staff will allow a publisher to let an editor loose to tackle big issues and create award-winning copy, Mr. Bush said. He gave an example of how Transmission & Distribution World was able to report from New Orleans on Hurricane Katrina's effects.

He added editors may invest in the future of a publication by investing the time to learn about the industry the publication covers.

"Find out what your readers would find out by themselves if they only had the time," Mr. Bush said.

Planning for an awards competition may start a year before entries are sent out, or when magazine personnel are creating editorial calendars. Magazine editors and publishers should know which categories they excel in, he said. For example, Transmission & Distribution World normally does well with stories in such categories as case histories, editorials and individual profiles. However, the mgazine rarely enters stories in the categories of how-to articles, feature series and government coverage.

The editors of Transmission & Distribution World are selective when entering awards. "We save a lot of money by entering only what we're proud of," Mr. Bush said.

Monday, July 07, 2008

Western Region Azbee Finalists Announced; July 16 Last Day to RSVP for Awards Banquet

The names of the publications that are finalists in the Western Region competition of the Azbee Awards of Excellence have been published at www.asbpe.org. Categories and names of the winning articles, editors, and designers will not be revealed until the Kansas City awards banquet on Wednesday, July 23. If you plan to attend the banquet, you must RSVP by Wednesday, July 16. Details here.

Monday, June 30, 2008

Carrie Parsons named VP of KC chapter

I am happy to announce that Carrie Parsons is now the vice president of the Kansas City chapter of the ASBPE. In her short time on the board, she has shown she possesses the initiative and enthusiasm that the vice president position requires.

Friday, June 27, 2008

Western Region Azbee Awards of Excellence Banquet

The Western Region award winners will be recognized at a banquet on July 23 in Kansas City, Mo., the day before the ASBPE National Conference begins.

We’ll enjoy a meal from one of Kansas City’s finest restaurants, see the winning entries, give out awards and hear the story behind one of the award-winning articles.

After the banquet, we invite you to make your way back to the Intercontinental Hotel Kansas City for the launch party for the ASBPE Foundation, which begins at 6 p.m. (You can sign up to attend this reception for free on the registration form for the National Conference.)

When: Wednesday, July 23, at 3:00 p.m.

Where: Plaza III Steakhouse
4749 Pennsylvania
Kansas City, MO 64112
(From the Intercontinental Hotel Kansas City, walk north on Wornall Road over the bridge. Turn left onto Ward Parkway. The Plaza III is at the corner of Ward Parkway and Pennsylvania Avenue.)

Cost:
$50 per person for ASBPE members and their spouses/companions
$60 per person for non-members and their spouses/companions

How to attend: To reserve your place, send payment (credit card or check payable to ASBPE Kansas City Chapter) by July 16 with a completed reservation form to the contact listed on the form.

Questions? Call Spring at (913) 967-1644 or e-mail her at asbpekc@gmail.com.

Monday, March 31, 2008

ASBPE KC adds two board members

The ASBPE KC chapter would like to welcome to its board Carrie Parsons and Amanda Wolfe.

Carrie Parsons is senior associate editor of Power Electronics Technology and Transmission & Distribution World magazines at Penton Media in Overland Park, KS.

Amanda Wolfe is associate editor of Veterinary Economics magazine at Advanstar Veterinary Healthcare Communications in Lenexa, KS.

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Now Hiring: Associate editor for Meat & Poultry

The leading information provider for the food industry has an immediate opening for an associate editor. Responsibilities include writing & editing news & features for a meat processing magazine & Web site. Journalism degree & proficiency using AP style required. Agriculture or food-related background preferred.

Send resume & writing samples to Joel Crews, Sosland Publishing Co., 4800 Main, Ste. 100, KC, MO 64112, or e-mail with attachments to jcrews@sosland.com

Monday, March 10, 2008

March 21: Taking Your Webcasts to the Next Level

Webcasts can boost readership and ad dollars and raise brand awareness, learn how B2B publications are gaining a competitive edge through webinars.

Find out what it takes to successfully produce compelling — and profitable — webinars for your trade magazine. Join the American Society of Business Publication Editors for a webinar on Friday, March 21, to get the inside scoop from top experts at Nielsen Business Media and InXpo.

Learn how to:
  • pick a compelling topic and present it for maximum impact.

  • involve print and online staff editors in content development and presentation of webinars.

  • manage the "church-state" divide and address common ethical issues when conducting webinars.

  • package and market online events for potential viewers and sponsors.

  • leverage webinars for related editorial content, including virtual trade shows, podcasts and e-newsletters.
Meeting Details

When: Friday, March 22, from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. EDT.

Where: Your computer. A web conference dial-in number and access code is required, and will be provided to registrants in a subsequent e-mail.

How to attend: To reserve your place, submit a completed reservation form (80K) by March 17th to b2beditor@gmail.com or 201-221-8655 (fax). Questions may be directed to Steve Roll at 703-341-5926.

Charge: This webinar is $10.00 for all ASBPE members and $35.00 for nonmembers.

About the Presenters

Kristin Beaulieu is the Vice President of Client Services at InXpo, a leading provider of virtual online communities and tradeshows. She works with leading publishers such as Nielsen, The Wall Street Journal, CMP, IDG, Ziff Davis Enterprise and others to strategize their event businesses.

Kristin was formerly the Vice President of Digital Events for the Consumer Small Business Division of Ziff Davis Media. She managed two online event divisions for Ziff Davis: eSeminars and PCMagCast. eSeminars was launched in 2000 and grew steadily to become a highly profitable division of Ziff Davis with year-over-year exponential growth in revenue and events. In January 2006, PCMagCast was launched as the dedicated online event division of PCMagazine.

PCMagCast received both Gold and Bronze 2006 Folio: Fame Awards for "Best Online Events of the Year" for its "Security and Mobility Virtual Tradeshow" and the webcast, "Selecting and Setting up an HDTV Set". Additionally eSeminars received the 2005 Folio Fame Gold Award for "Best Online Event" for its Security Solutions Tradeshow "Protect Yourself Against Attacks."

Elliot Markowitz is Editorial Director of Nielsen Business Media Webcasts and Virtual Events and is responsible for the content of all web seminars across Nielsen's publications and brands. He is also Editorial Director of Nielsen's Small Business Resource Center and Mediajobmarket.com.

Previously, Markowitz was Editorial Director of Ziff Davis Media eSeminars, where he helped build the company's eSeminar business and launched its award-winning Virtual Tradeshow concept. Markowitz is an 18-year publishing veteran and before Ziff Davis, he was Editor of Hotel Business magazine and HotelJournal. Before that he was Editor-in-Chief of CRM Magazine and the destinationCRM.com website and related live events. Before CRM Magazine, he was Business Editor at TechTV, responsible for helping to manage the TV station's website as well as conducting live on-air interviews with key industry executives.

Markowitz also spent 11 years with CMP Media's award-winning weekly newspaper Computer Reseller News (CRN), where he held many key editorial positions including News Editor, Business Editor, and Senior Executive Editor. In 1999 he was named Editor of CRN, responsible for the entire editorial operation of the newspaper and in charge of coordinating its redesign and re-launch in June 2000. While at CRN Markowitz initiated many key alliances including the Industry Hall of Fame event in Las Vegas and the annual CRN/Raymond James Conference. Early in his career Markowitz was a news reporter on Long Island for the Massapequa Post.

He holds a B.A. in Journalism from Hofstra University and is a graduate of the Stanford Professional Publishing Course.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Azbee deadline extended to Feb. 22!

The deadline for Azbee award submissions has been extended one week due to technical difficulties, when last-minute entries overloaded the server. The new deadline for submission is Friday, February 22, 2008.

For more, visit http://www.asbpe.org/contest/contest.htm.

Friday, February 15, 2008

Get involved with the Kansas City ASBPE chapter

The Kansas City chapter of the ASBPE is looking for editors to join our board.

If you enjoy coming to our meetings, maybe you'd like to help plan them. Board members meet over a long lunch to plan an event and then each person helps to put that plan into motion.

With the ASBPE National Conference this July, it's a great time to join the board. Kansas City board members will have a special opportunity to rub shoulders with the ASBPE national leaders and speakers.

Please send an email indicating your interest and your resume to asbpekc@gmail.com.

A note of thanks
The Kansas City chapter would like to thank outgoing president Bill King for his years of dedicated service on the board. This chapter has benefited greatly from Bill's industry knowledge, guidance and amazing organizational skills.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Meeting Recap: Creating community on the web

A website can serve as a community meeting spot for an industry. Business-to-business publications should know the tools and tactics needed to keep industry members coming to their web sites and staying there, said Sandi Brown, director of audience development, new media, for Penton Media, Overland Park, Kan.

Brown served as a moderator for a meeting titled “10 ideas for the Web that you can implement tomorrow” that took place Feb. 6 at the Brookridge Country Club in Overland Park, Kan. The Kansas City Chapter of the American Society of Business Publication Editors sponsored the event.

Repurposing content from print and creating a community are two aspects for online publications. Club Industry’s Fitness Business Pro, Overland Park, Kan., categorizes content in its online “Resource Center,” said Stuart Goldman, managing editor. Stories are placed in such categories as for-profit health clubs; nonprofit facilities; and schools and universities.

Broadcast Engineering, Overland Park, Kan., offers a glossary of terms, including acronmyms, on its website, said Spring Suptic, associate editor. Editors originally came up with the glossary of terms for their own use and then decided it would be a good idea to share it with the industry on the website.

B-to-B publications may consider both in-house blogs and other blogs concerning their industries for their web sites, Brown said. Club Industry’s Fitness Business Pro found its blog gets many hits even though few visitors choose to leave comments, Goldman said.

Broadcast Engineering pulls the RSS feeds from blogs written by people in the industry, Suptic said. Brown said it’s a good idea to ask the blogger for permission to use the blog on the website. This request may lead the blogger to add a link to your magazine on his or her blog, Brown said.

“There’s this whole click-through magic that happens,” Brown said.

Links from your website to other websites and from other web sites to your web site helps to improve your status on search engines, such as Google, Suptic said. It tells the analytics the search engines use that your site must be trustworthy with good content because others are linking on to it.

Companies should remember they have no editorial control of a blog that is not an in-house blog, Brown said.

“You just have to make that commitment that you are going to take on all-comers,” Brown said. “You have to know what works for your environment.”


10 ideas for the Web that you can implement tomorrow

1. RSS feeds
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a format for sharing and distributing Web content, such as news headlines. RSS feeds let readers know about new content on your site.
For an example see www.vetecon.com.
Free RSS applications are available at www.feedburner.com.

2. Polls and quizzes
Ask your readers what they think. The results can be used in print.
Free/cheap online applications are available at www.pollmonkey.com and www.polldaddy.com.

3. Online forms
Forms and handouts are popular reader tools. Posting them online brings readers to your site and doesn’t take up any valuable real estate in your book.
For examples see www.vetmedpub.com.

4. Reader comments
Allowing readers to leave comments at the bottom of a story can generate interest and activity on your website. But companies should designate somebody as the editor of comments. Posting comments on the site instantaneously could lead to problems, such as one company trashing another company.
For an example see www.kansascity.com.

5. Recycled content
Content is king! Make use of already written material by posting it all online.
For an example see www.broadcastengineering.com, which has all articles published in the U.S. and World editions going back to September 2000. All the content from the newsletters is used on the website as well.

6. Slideshows
Pictures are worth a 1,000 words. And posting extra photos online makes good use of photos that you can’t fit in the book.
For an example see www.vetmedpub.com/extras/caribou.
Free applications are available at www.slide.com.

7. Behind-the-scenes blog
Let your readers know what you’re working on by launching a magazine blog. Ask each of your editors to write a blog entry once or twice a week. With this blog, you can educate your readers about the inside workings of your magazine and also reach out to potential sources for stories.
For an example see blog.fitnessbusinesspro.com/fitnessbusinessproblog/.

8. Resource center
Group all of your related articles into sections on your website. Along with listing articles, you can also include other helpful tools and information for your readers.
For an example see fitnessbusinesspro.com/forprofits/.

9. Industry blog portal
Find readers who blog about your industry. Use the blogs’ RSS feeds to pull snippets of content to your site, creating a content portal.
For examples see broadcastengineering.com/be-roll and nashvilleistalking.com.
Free/cheap online applications are available at www.feeddigest.com and pipes.yahoo.com.

10. Top 10 lists
People visiting your site want your best content. Give them the 10 most read articles, most e-mailed articles, the 10 best interviews, etc.
For an example see www.cfo.com.

Monday, January 28, 2008

Journalism fellowship opportunity

The Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism provides six one-year fellowships for journalists to study a selected topic regarding mental health or mental illnesses. Each journalist awarded will receive a $10,000 stipend. Applicants must have at least three years of professional experience in journalism.

Contact: Jane Bigham, 404-420-3877, jane.bigham@emory.edu.

Friday, January 18, 2008

February meeting: 10 ideas for the Web that you can implement tomorrow

The Kansas City chapter of the ASBPE invites you to attend our February luncheon. We’ll have a Web initiatives show-and-tell of what editors can do online without heavy investment from their new media departments. This is an opportunity to learn from other editors and share your own ideas and experiences.

Moderator: Sandi Brown, Director, Audience Marketing, New Media, Penton Media

Date: Wednesday, Feb. 6, from noon to 1:30 p.m.

Location: Brookridge Golf & Country Club (103rd St. between Metcalf Ave. and Antioch) MAP

Cost: $20 for members, $25 for non-members

RSVP: To reserve your spot for the luncheon, e-mail Spring Suptic at spring [dot] suptic [at] penton [dot] com, or call 913-967-1644, by Wednesday, Jan. 30. Please make note of any special diet requirements.

And, most important, share your ideas! What has worked for you on the Web? What hasn't? What are you thinking of trying next? What do you want to know more about?