“Integrity, to me, has degenerated to become a ghetto word — only the editors, bless their souls, are concerned about it (or lack of it), and the rest of the staff can keep doing what they’re doing.” — Rance Crain, in a letter to readers

Crain Communications president will speak on July 20; other speakers announced.

Rance Crain got snared by the ethics trap.

He was recently in the news when he admitted his publication, Advertising Age, for which he is editor-in-chief, blundered into an ethical “fiasco” — his own word for the situation.

“At the recent Ad:Tech conference in New York,” Crain wrote to readers, “we allowed an advertiser to write an interview story on a phony front-page cover wrap of our Nov. 7 issue available to about 1,000 attendees. And we found out about it from reading MediaPost’s ‘Real Media Riffs’.”

ASBPE is happy to announce that Crain will have a chance to discuss this and related issues when he addresses conference attendees during a luncheon keynote on Thursday, July 20, at the Embassy Suites Hotel, Chicago Downtown Lakefront.

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Prior to the keynote, ASBPE will examine its recent member research on ethics and will also discuss the Society’s new Guide To Preferred Editorial Practices, which will be based on this research (see the last issue of Editor’s Notes for a summary of the research findings), as well as the ethics codes of numerous journalism associations and publishing companies.

Ethics “town hall” session

The highlight of this special ethics session will be a town hall-style meeting where all conference attendees will have the chance to discuss and debate various editorial ethics scenarios. The goal is to resolve these ethical problems with practical, how-to advice. The session promises to be interactive and constructive.

Architectural boat tour for the family

ASBPE’s Chicago chapter is sponsoring an architectural boat tour of downtown Chicago reserved for attendees and their families.

A boat on the Chicago River is reserved for Friday, July 21, from 3:30 p.m.– 4:30 p.m.

The tour will be free for registered conference attendees, $30 for each additional adult guest, and $20 for children aged 11 and under. The cost will include boat tour and drinks.

Other speakers announced

Also on the agenda will be sessions about how to write about public companies, blogging, launching new products, making your covers work harder, and digital magazines.

• Making Covers Noticed, Read, and Useful. Our B2B magazines have more competition today than ever before because of our readers’ lack of time and more information available on the Internet and in other media. This session will show you how to develop more competitive and useful covers using your logo, cover lines, and image.

  Audience involvement will come in the form of a special benefit for members, who may submit their magazine covers to the speakers at least two weeks in advance of the conference for a critique in front of the attendees.

  Speakers: Robert Ayers and John Johanek of Publication Design, Inc.

• Digital Magazines. These trendy publications are hot now. A number of vendors offer services to publishers to make these happen. There are significant implications for circulation, editorial, and production. Here’s your chance to learn whether a digital magazine may be for you.
  
  Speakers:
  • Rebecca Fannin, editor, Digital Magazine News, and
  • Russell Haderer, vice president, international operations, BPA Worldwide.
• B-to-B Blogging. You’ll not want to jump into starting a blog without first hearing from our expert panel about the trends, ethics, ways to set them up, the benefits and risks involved, the skills necessary, and other best practices.
  
  Speakers:

• Paul Conley, “Paul Conley”;
• David Shaw, “B or not 2B — A Business Media Blog”;
• Martha Spizziri, “ASBPE Boston Blog.”
• New Product Launches: Understanding the Metrics. The session will help attendees discover and justify their ideas for new products. You’ll find out the steps to take when analyzing a market and circulation, and putting together a proposed budget.
  
  Speaker: Lou Ann Sabatier, Sabatier Consulting.

• Covering Public Companies: Digging Up the Numbers and Information That Matter. This session will include an attendee exercise and discussion of facts revolving around a case study. We expect to examine what the focus of the article ought to be, where to find information, and include a discussion of SEC filings and the hidden information that is useful for the business writer to generate a solid, useful story.
  
  Speaker: Mark Skertic, business reporter, Chicago Tribune; member, Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE).

• ASBPE Magazine of the Year Case Histories. They received their awards at the Awards of Excellence banquet. Learn firsthand about the strategies and secrets for success from the magazines’ top editors in this most popular session.
  
  Speakers: The top editors of the two winning magazines.

Sponsorship opportunities

For companies that provide products and services to the publishing industry, the conference and banquet are great opportunities to mingle with the top people. You can be a part of our excitement by participating as a sponsor of our events.

Find out more.

For more information

Other developments about the conference program will be announced as they become available, including more information about speakers. Updates will be posted on this web site.

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