Thursday, April 5   •   9:50 – 10:45 a.m.

  Mixed Messages? Building Journalistic Bridges in Polarizing Times

Rusty Wright – Writer, Lecturer
Mark Pinsky – Author, Journalist, Speaker

Tired of food-fight media and constant “gotcha” bickering? Try befriending a journalist from the “other side,” whose views differ greatly from our own. You might learn lots. At Duke in the late 1960s, Mark Pinsky was the “Readable Radical;” Rusty Wright was a Campus Crusade for Christ leader. They were on opposite sides of many issues. Today – still a liberal Jewish Democrat and an evangelical speaker/writer – they are fast friends, collaborating on writing projects, sharing professional and personal advice, and more.

You will learn:

• How this journalistic odd couple got to this point
• About stories both humorous and poignant
• How to consider whether such relationships could enhance your own personal and professional life

Evoking Emotion: The Key to Changing Readers’ Hearts

Angela Hunt – Best-selling Author

Effective nonfiction can do many things: teach, persuade, challenge, or stir a reader’s emotions. Creative nonfiction can teach, persuade, AND challenge as it stirs a reader’s heart. Veteran writer Angela Hunt shares techniques to creating emotional images that will stay with your reader long after they have put down your written work.

You will learn:

• How to write for the reader
• How to use fictional techniques to write moving nonfiction
• How to hone the purpose behind your writing

37 Design Techniques to Create Covers that Can’t Be Ignored

Anne Elhajoul – Creative Director, Knight Marketing

Print is alive, but fighting daily to grab attention away from computer screens and smart phones. If you want people to pick up your magazine and read it, you need a show-stopping cover. Great cover design is a result of powerful synergy between an art director and an editor (or a whole team), but sometimes even the greatest teams can get stuck in a rut. Here are some practical ideas that anyone can try, from merging analog and digital design elements, to messing with scale and patterns, to experimenting with transparent shapes, and so much more. Many of these techniques come at no extra cost—maybe just a little extra time. But to get your life-changing magazine in someone’s hands, it is so worth it.

Managing with Grace and Truth

Mark Galli – Editor-in-Chief, Christianity Today

How do you manage in a Christian workplace in a way that is truly Christian? Does it mean forgiving an ineffective co-worker or subordinate seven times seventy, with no consequences for their unproductive work? Or does having real-life consequences (like discipline or loss of promotion) turn the workplace into a works-righteousness place? In this workshop, Christianity Today’s editor in chief, Mark Galli, will share what he has learned—sometimes the hard way—about what it looks like to bring truth with grace and grace with truth into the Christian workplace.

Cool Tools

Al Tompkins – Senior Faculty Online, The Poynter Institute

I will show you jaw-droppingly cool things you can do with your phone and free online sites that will make your journalism pop. Every tool I show you will be easy to use, will require no coding skills and will take you no longer than two minutes to put into action. This session is under constant construction as I update it with the coolest stuff. I will include free graphics programs, learn to animate your photos, see how you can build interactive images using your phone, record edited videos with sound on your phone and see how you can use your phone to translate a conversation in 90 languages in real time. Did I mention all of this stuff is FREE?

Thursday, April 5   •   11:15 a.m. – 12:10 p.m.

The Art of Content Strategy (Part 1 of 2)

Lou Ann Sabatier – Media & Communications Consultant, Sabatier Consulting

Good content strategy has many benefits. We create, use, and publish an astonishing amount of content. Whether we’re conscious of it or not, we need strategies to deal with it. Content strategy is iterative over time within a long-term life cycle. Bring critical thinking about your content to a new level.

You will learn:

• How your content delivers on vision and mission for the organization
• Content you might want to add
• How to rethink content you may not want to continue publishing
• Content sourcing and aggregation
• How to use your content strategy for business purposes…to market for members, subscribers and advertisers
• Success metrics — How do your measure if your content is meeting goals?

Skillful Self-editing: The Fastest Route to Publication

Angela Hunt – Best-selling Author

As a writer, by doing the editor’s work — or a great deal of it — before submission will go a long way in keeping your editor happy. For the freelancer in a competitive freelance market, it will increase your chance of publication. Veteran writer Angela Hunt will discuss how to omit needless words, add punch, and trim your work down to publishable size. Any manuscript can be improved, so make it easy for your editor to say, “Yes!”

You will learn:

• Knowledge of needless words and passive verbs
• Computer techniques that make editing faster and easier
• How to think like an editor

Typography: The Essential Art of Great Design

Anne Elhajoul – Creative Director, Knight Marketing

Type is more than typing! As we proceed through the digital age of design, where we can just type in a title and flow in copy that is tagged to style sheets, everything looks okay, but not necessarily great. We forget to invest the time necessary to design engaging typography, which inhabits the largest portion of our publications. So if you’re typing rather than designing type, you might just be missing out on the fun of design, wasting money-saving opportunities, and ignoring a superb way to enhance your stories. Learn how going the extra mile for great typography will launch your publication into the design stratosphere. In addition, we’ll check out WhatTheFont, discuss the tricks and travails of TypeKit, and whine a little about Web type.

Stills to Motion: Photographic Reporting

Kenny Irby – Award-winning Photographer, former Faculty of The Poynter Institute

Description pending…

How to be a Social Media Ninja

Al Tompkins – Senior Online Faculty, The Poynter Institute

Journalists will learn how they can get the biggest return from the least time spent producing for social media. We don’t want our reporters spending all of their effort filing for Facebook when they have TV or newspaper or online stories to report. So let me show you how to push your social media readers to the “mothership” that we monetize. You will learn the secrets that Facebook uses to decide what your follower see and you will learn the poison words that will get your posts buried.

Thursday, April 5   •   2:35 – 3:30 p.m.

  Writing for Those Who Don’t Believe . . . Yet

Randy Petersen – Director of Scripture Engagement Content, American Bible Society

When we write for people outside the Christian culture, we can’t assume they know the Bible, read the Bible, or feel compelled to follow its teachings. This requires a whole new mode of communication. Can we issue an effective invitation to read the Bible and consider the claims of Christ without scolding or judging? The Bible itself challenges us to respond to this challenge with “gentleness and respect,” with “reasonableness,”” and with grace. For those seeking to connect with an audience outside the church—or perhaps with seekers inside the church—or for those instructing Christians on how to communicate more effectively with others, this session will identify assumptions to avoid and values to uphold.”

The Art of Content Strategy (Part 2 of 2)

Lou Ann Sabatier – Media & Communications Consultant, Sabatier Consulting

This is a continuation from Part 1, not a repeat.

Good content strategy has many benefits. We create, use, and publish an astonishing amount of content. Whether we’re conscious of it or not, we need strategies to deal with it. Content strategy is iterative over time within a long-term life cycle. Bring critical thinking about your content to a new level.

You will learn:

• How your content delivers on vision and mission for the organization
• Content you might want to add
• How to rethink content you may not want to continue publishing
• Content sourcing and aggregation
• How to use your content strategy for business purposes…to market for members, subscribers and advertisers
• Success metrics — How do your measure if your content is meeting goals?

Getting Beyond White: Multicultural Magazine Approaches for Christian Audiences

Michael Longinow – Department of Media, Journalism & Public Relations, Biola University
Nicola Menzie – Founder and Editor, Faithfully Magazine

Census data show that the U.S. is increasingly a nation of growing minority populations. Magazines that can produce the writing, the visual stories and the parallel social media that will reach diverse groups of Christian believers are much in need. This workshop will explore how audience racial demographics have changed and how you can re-think your approach in sustainable ways.

Tell it Online

Al Tompkins – Senior Faculty Online Media, The Poynter Institute

Online storytelling involves more than pouring a newspaper or TV story on the website. Learn the secrets of what kind of video stories become online hits. See why graphics and images are vital to online content and let us show you how to take your legacy media story and make it interactive online. The word to remember in 2017 is “engagement” and the way to get it is “interactivity.” You can do this. Let us show you how.

Show Me: Visuals and Design that Pull in the Post-Literature Generation

Kenny Irby – Award-winning Photographer, former Faculty of The Poynter Institute

Description pending…..

Friday, April 6   •   9:50 a.m. – 10:45 a.m.

How to Acquire New Readers from Facebook

Heidi Thompson – Director of Social Media Marketing, Shanley & Associates, LLC

Learn how to find new readers and revenue on Facebook. We’ll look at case studies showing how publications are using both organic (free) and paid strategies to grow readership, acquire email addresses and sell subscriptions.

You will learn:

• The key Facebook metrics to watch — and which ones to ignore
• Three kinds of Facebook paid ad campaigns you should test
• How Facebook is changing and what it means for publications

Millennials Talk Back: How To Reach Twenty-Something Readers

Student Panel

National media research data show young people are least likely to pick up a newspaper or magazine. Yet they know what they like. And twenty-somethings do find ways of reading publications (generally online only or in an online version of a print publication.) Come hear the insights of young people who probably don’t read your publication and how you can help them care about the topics you want them to read and understand. Come with questions and the means of taking plenty of notes.

How Christian Publications Can Better Serve Christian Women of Color

Nicola Menzie – Founder and Editor, Faithfully Magazine

Women are 50 percent of the U.S. population and women of color are projected to be the majority of women by 2060, yet they remain woefully underrepresented in many areas, including in Christian media. This workshop aims to help participants consider how to embrace the lived realities and experiences that shape the perspectives of Christian women of color, without approaching their stories of import as “special” or outside the “norm.” If stories impacting Christian women of color require a banner announcement on your website or separate section in your publication, then it’s likely these stories aren’t viewed as “mainstream” or part of the fabric of Christian life. For starters, publications must listen to Christian women of color, hire Christian women of color and trust Christian women of color if they want to reach—and keep—this segment among their readership.

Asking Why in New Ways: Trends, Relevance and Solutions for Today’s Readers

Manny Garcia – East Region Executive Editor, USA TODAY Network
Michael Longinow -Department of Media, Journalism & Public Relations, Biola University

For Christian magazines to survive into the next half of the century, they will need to think beyond what happens year by year in their sphere. This session, led by a Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist and a long-time journalism educator and writer will get you thinking about how the local, national and world events and trends speak into the lives of your readers. And it will help you see how younger readers want to hear about them. The “so what” question is changing. Come hear how, and share your stories of the change happening in your story planning.

Publication Redesign: Strategies for Success

José Reyes – Founder and Creative Director, Metaleap Creative

Publications need to regularly consider if their design is keeping up with the quality and relevance of the content and with its readers’ creative expectations. As creative director at Metaleap, José Reyes has spent 15 years redesigning publications large and small. He will share suggestions for when to do a redesign, what to consider throughout the process, and evaluating success when all the work is done.

You will learn:

• When to tackle a redesign
• How to think about a redesign
• Key workflow and process considerations throughout

Friday, April 6   •   11:15 a.m. – 12:10 p.m.

  Your Online Titles Matter More Than Ever. Here’s How to Win Without Clickbait

Jeremy Weber – Senior News Editor, Christianity Today
Kate Shellnutt – Associate Editor/Online, Christianity Today

Tired of your best, well-written and well-researched stories from print dying sad, lonely, unread deaths on the Internet? Come behind the scenes with Christianity Today and learn how to craft titles and decks that will draw clicks without being clickbait. Deputy Managing Editor Jeremy Weber and Online Editor Kate Shellnutt will model the back-and-forth they do to winnow out the best titles from the rest — and will even retitle your provided pieces on the fly. A fun, interactive, and informative session that you can put into practice as soon as you get home.

25 New Revenue Ideas for Faith-Based Publishers

Kevin Shanley – President, Shanley & Associates, LLC

In rapid-fire fashion, we’ll walk through 25 ideas for increasing or adding new revenue streams for your publication. From advertising sales to subscription offers to fundraising approaches to new product development, you’ll hear about the best direct mail, email, social and web campaigns we’ve run over the past year. We conduct many marketing tests and will be passing along some of the success stories.

You will learn:

• How to convert 30% of the subscription base to donors
• The most important question to ask when thinking about new product development
• The best direct mail, email, and web subscription offers
• Record setting ad sales offers

The Art of People Photography for Print or Online

Guy Gerrard – Photography Manager, Cru

What makes a compelling photo of a person or group of people? How do you connect with your subject? Why are backgrounds important? Improve your skills at photographing people. Learn about proper posing and good composition. Develop a plan for your next photo assignment.

Children in Crisis

Anita Moreland Smith – President, Children’s AIDS Fund

Children in Crisis is the EPA Cause of the Year for 2018

Despite great progress over the last decade in child survival, children around the world remain vulnerable to myriad challenges to their health and well-being. This session will spotlight nutrition, displacement, violence, education, disease and other factors threatening children today. Discussion will focus on strategies to effectively address these issues for audience awareness and engagement.

You will learn:

• An overview of current risks vulnerable children face globally
• Ways to effectively communicate these crises and move the audience to engagement
• Resource materials and organizations available on addressing children’s risks

Lost in Translation — The Relationship between Creative and Editorial

José Reyes – Founder and Creative Director, Metaleap Creative
Cameron Lawrence – Editor-in-Chief, In Touch

An open conversation between José Reyes, creative director of Metaleap Creative, and Cameron Lawrence, editor of InTouch Magazine, in which they will explore thoughts, reflections and the practical ways they approach one of the most rewarding and painful dynamics in the publishing world: that of editor and creative.

You will learn:

• How do we create space for the other to imagine and flourish?
• What does it take and why is it necessary?
• What must we lose in order to gain?
• When does this work well and when does it fail?

Student Career Roundtable: Get out there! Get Hired! Here’s How.

Manny Garcia

The economy is tough for students graduating from colleges and universities and wanting to do journalism. Are you ready? How have you prepared? Bring your ideas and success prep ideas to this roundtable led by a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist who has spent decades coaching students to success before their career entry and as young journalists growing in the workplace. You’ll hear this journalist’s success tips but also those of your peers. Come soak it up.

Friday, April 6   •   2:35 – 3:30 p.m.

  Raising the Level of your Influence: How Your Publications Can Set a New Spiritual Tone for Church and Nation

Roger Palms – Author, Writing Teacher, Former Editor of Decision Magazine

An unbeliever asks, “Why don’t Christians follow their Founder?” Are you answering his question in your publication? To the unsaved, the term “Evangelical” seems to have little to do with following Jesus. Also, conversations with both Christians and unbelievers show that many evangelicals do not understand the basic tenets of the Christian faith. Is the culture rejecting the Savior or only rejecting the clutter we have added to the gospel? This session will help your editorial team to see that we have a correcting job to do. Also we will see how we as Christians may be preventing lost people from meeting the Savior. Some of the stories and examples that will be presented may be surprising, even shocking. But they come from the presenter’s own interaction with both believers and unbelievers. You will learn how you can bring your readers back to a biblical foundation.

You will learn:

• That we can be the change-makers God has called us to be
• That the secular culture is showing us what we need to do to put the light back on the lamp stand
• That once again we can be known as people of biblical truth

Writing to Do Justice, Love Kindness, and Walk Humbly with God

Kent Annan – Senior Fellow, Humanitarian Disaster Institute

This workshop will focus on writing to do justice and love kindness, which includes both a spiritual and social purpose. We’ll focus on doing this kind of writing well, finding an audience, and considering relevant ethical issues. This approach to writing (loving your readers, your subjects, and God) will help you to make a difference both for your readers and those you’re writing about.

You will learn:

• How to write well to serve justice
• How to write in a way that seeks to love your readers, subjects, and God
• How to consider relevant market and ethical issues

How Women Are Excelling in 21st Century Christian Publishing

Nicola Menzie – Founder and Editor, Faithfully Magazine

With the advent of the blogosphere, the ebook and social media, women writers have been able to attract audiences, develop platforms and attain success without running into the kinds of barriers they might have faced 10 or 15 years ago. Some areas we’ll consider in this discussion include: how women bloggers carve out their own niche; how online writing collectives empower women writers; taking advantage of resources; when critics harass and attempt to control women writers online; challenges women writers of color face in online spaces; and looking ahead in Christian publishing. Participants aim to leave the audience aware of challenges for women writers and empowered to overcome them.

A Designers Perspective on Creating Content that can be Trusted in a World of Fake News

Greg Breeding – President and Creative Director, Journey Group

Description pending….

Mock Job Interview Session: Got The Chops? Prove It.

Manny Garcia – East Region Executive Editor, USA TODAY Network

This session for students (pre-registration only) will put you face to face with a seasoned journalist who’s heard it all before and won’t take excuses for an answer. You’ll pre-submit a resume and journalism-related cover letter (aim it at USA Today) and he’ll critique those and your approach to the interview from the moment you sit down. You’ll come away more ready for the real thing.