National Editorial Conference

Kansas City, here we come

ASBPE plans July 24–25 meeting in City of Fountains; will make Day One digital

Spanish architecture, marble fountains and 180 shops and restaurants await editors attending the 2008 National Editorial Conference at the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City, Mo.

The two-day event will be July 24–25 at the Intercontinental Hotel, an 11-floor hotel with 346 rooms. ASBPE has negotiated a room rate of $159/night for this five-star hotel, which is nestled on the top of a hill overlooking the Plaza.

Print and digital session format

Like the 2007 conference in New York City, the 2008 Kansas City conference will feature one day of digital-related topics and one day of print-related sessions.

Print and Web Staffing. On the first day, the keynote speaker will be followed by a panel session on how business-to-business (B2B) publications are staffing to handle both print and the Web. The panel will address how both small and large publications are getting the job done in a pressure cooker environment while maintaining a high level of quality for print and online.

New Breakout Sessions. For the first time, ASBPE will offer interactive breakout sessions after a digital-related roundtable discussion during lunch. We’ll offer hands on learning on how to produce an effective podcast and shooting video. Attendees may also get their Web home page critiqued by a Web expert and sit in on an interactive discussion on Web ethics.

Top Award Winner Case Studies. The next day, the Magazine of the Year winners in the under 80,000 and over 80,000 circulation categories will share their secrets on how they achieved ASBPE’s highest honor. The Web Site of the Year and Multiplatform winners will also speak.

Lifetime Achievement Award Winner. During lunch on the second day, ASBPE will recognize an editor who has made a special difference in B2B journalism and in the industry he or she covers.

The conference sessions provided the insight and solid information I need to make strategic decisions about my own publication.

Can We Talk? The first afternoon session will focus on the art of interviewing, and the final session of the day will feature a panel discussion on how to transform poorly written technical articles from industry experts into works of communication.

An extra inning

On Friday night, attendees will be treated to a Royals baseball game at Kauffman Stadium, one of the first stadiums designed especially for baseball. A $250 million renovation project is currently under way.

Fees

Fees have yet to be established, but they will be in ASBPE’s tradition of providing great content and a value (see sidebar below) better than any other B2B editorial conference.

Young Leaders Scholarship

Up to five editors of U.S.-based publications and two international editors can attend the conference for free each year through our Young Leaders Scholarship. You can get an application form here (600K PDF).