The Conference Publishers

August, 2008
UPDATE

The power of cornerstone content

This year The Conference Publishers has reported on conferences from Halifax to Houston, from Istanbul to Northern British Columbia, delivering the newsletters and summary reports that have helped build our reputation.

But we've also developed a new approach to conference reports: online nested content. This approach allows our clients to present content coverage online in three tiers:

  • An initial landing page that lists our story lineup by day, with links to...
  • A series of 225- to 450-word stories, with links to...
  • A collection of longer summary reports, each providing coverage of 1,000 to 2,250 words, the equivalent of two to five typescript pages.

People meet to share views, ideas, and information—to build cornerstone content, the breakthroughs and insights that fuel and propel knowledge development and action. But why should that high-level sharing be limited to a single conference or meeting? Why not encourage participants to continue building cornerstone content even after the conference has ended, the chairs have been folded, and everyone has returned home? With our online publications that serve as gateways to blogs, wikis, or discussion groups, The Conference Publishers is doing just that.

We've also begun to demonstrate the power of replacing long, expensive verbatim recordings with audio or video podcasts to create pithy, compelling summary interviews. Integrating these summary podcasts as a part of our online nested content adds yet another layer of value to the conference experience.

By helping clients optimize the technological options for building and delivering cornerstone content, we enhance participants' onsite learning and ensure that dialogue continues for weeks or months after the event.

Mitchell Beer, CMM
President and CEO

Woody Huizenga, CMM
Vice President and COO


In This Issue
 
Nested content: Test-driving the podcast

It's an innovative—almost daring—way to deliver onsite content, and it could only have originated at The Conference Publishers.

Use the principles of nested content to let readers choose the level of detail they need, from a brief journalistic summary covering the high points of a presentation, to a longer, more intensive discussion of the issues raised and evidence presented. Then integrate print reporting with radio-quality podcasts that sum up an hour's presentation in five minutes.

Last November, while our team of writers delivered both concise and expanded reports on the American Kennel Club Canine Health Foundation's Breeder's Symposium in Ames, Iowa, podcaster Mark Blevis of Ottawa reported on 11 sessions. The resulting podcasts combine podium presentations, interviews with speakers, and commentary. Blevis describes the podcasts as synopsis coverage that "entertains, educates, and demonstrates that news can be engaging."

Erika Werne, CHF's director of education, communications and club relations, credits The Conference Publishers' president, Mitchell Beer, with creating and developing this new approach.

The podcasts are being released on the Canine Health Foundation website at two-week intervals, Werne says, "so that people are more likely to listen to all of them." The CHF is using the podcasts to promote future programs, as well as to educate dog owners, veterinarians, breeders, and researchers.

"Even vets have trouble keeping up with latest developments," Werne says. "Podcasts offer an alternative to slogging through articles." Beer sees podcasts as a practical option for people with limited time.

"Busy people can listen to the summaries while they jog or commute," he says. "And now we can deliver onsite content to people with lower literacy skills, or visual impairments."

Werne is delighted with the results, calling The Conference Publishers "wonderful to work with.... Developing a relationship like that is really important to us."

"Holding the pen" for public health
Dr. David Butler-Jones at CPHA conference

Dr. David Butler-Jones at CPHA conference.
Photo: Joe Szostak

An innovative approach to online content highlighted the strong relationship between The Conference Publishers and the Canadian Public Health Association (CPHA) at their annual conference, Reducing Inequalities through Evidence and Action in Halifax, Nova Scotia, from June 1–4.

For the fourth consecutive year, The Conference Publishers delivered a bilingual daily newsletter each day of the conference. But this year, we also produced extended coverage of selected sessions, now available on the CPHA website.

“Online coverage is a better avenue for extending the life of the conference,” says Ian Culbert, CPHA’s director of corporate and business development. “There’s an intrinsic value to covering conferences, even for individuals who were able to attend. On top of that, with more online content we were able to cut printing costs and reduce our environmental footprint.”

“It’s rewarding to work with CPHA when we know that they have such a fundamentally important purpose,” says The Conference Publishers President Mitchell Beer, who served as onsite project manager.

“We’re excited to grow with the CPHA as a partner, and it was brilliant to see how they aligned what we produced with what they were trying to achieve onsite.”

The Conference Publishers also helped prepare the call to action on health inequalities that CPHA delivered at the end of the conference. “We held the pen while they guided us in the right direction,” Beer said.

Creating tools for organizational transformation

“A very powerful citizen engagement tool” is how Jim Murphy, Correctional Service Canada’s director of community initiatives, describes the onsite newsletter that The Conference Publishers produced for the agency’s Citizen Engagement Community Initiatives Advisory Committee Conference & National Executive Committee Meeting, March 27–30 in Ottawa.

Murphy says the CSC is entering an important and challenging “period of transformation,” and he sees The Conference Publishers as a very useful part of the process.

“Not only did you meet our primary goal, but the instant feedback you provided for our members was phenomenal, engaging, and positive,” says Murphy. “Everyone felt like their voice was being heard.”

In May, The Conference Publishers produced two other publications for CSC events: an onsite newsletter for the Executive Development Symposium for Senior Management in Cornwall, Ontario, and an onsite newsletter and post-conference summary report for the International Mental Health Symposium in Ottawa.

Office updates
 
Biljana Zelenovic and Kate McAteerAdam Hardiman
In May, we welcomed Senior Project Manager Biljana Zelenovic back to the office, after her year’s maternity leave. Project Manager Kate McAteer, originally hired as Biljana’s maternity leave replacement, has joined our permanent staff. And Adam Hardiman, after a brief stint in project management, has become our newest account manager.
 
In February, The Conference Publishers sponsored its first annual educational bursary, as Susan Stobo, an event management student from Ottawa’s Algonquin College travelled to MPI’s 2008 Professional Education Conference-North America (PEC-NA). Meanwhile, our first intern from Algonquin College’s Print Journalism program, Jenn McIntosh, joined our editorial department for six weeks in March/April. Jenn has since been hired by the Smithers Interior News in B.C.—we wish her the best of luck!