Congratulations to Carrie Hartin, chief operating officer of Network Media Partners, Inc., on her appointment to the Association Media & Publishing Board of Directors!
Effective June 9, Carrie joins a distinguished group of 14 association publishing professionals and industry partners on the AM&P board. They are responsible for providing leadership, fostering a shared vision and sense of mission, and maintaining the organization’s fiscal health. Carrie and the other board members will be installed at the AM&P Annual Meeting, June 9-11, in Washington, D.C.
“The members of Association Media & Publishing represent a critical niche in the association space,” said Hartin. “Media’s rapid evolution drives the community’s need to have resources and access to peers who are committed to delivering the best publishing products in their space. I look forward to serving the association and its members.”
Carrie joined Network in 1996 and is now a leading expert on association media. She has served on AM&P committees and frequently speaks at industry events and contributes to association media.
“Carrie’s knowledge of the association marketplace, especially the evolving media options for communicating and interacting with members and how to monetize those options, make her an excellent addition to a very talented board,” said Chip Boyce, Network Media president. “Her vision will compliment AM&P’s mission and vision.”
AM&P is the premier membership organization serving the needs of association publishers, business operation executives, communications professionals, designers and content generators and the media they create. For more information, visit www.associationmediaandpublishing.org.
May 3, 2013
If you’re concerned with building a successful event year after year, you’re probably investing in initiatives to grow member attendance and engagement. But are you applying those same strategies to your exhibitors and sponsors?
Savvy associations realize that the more support exhibitors receive, the more success they’re likely to have on the show floor—and that means it’s easy to justify continued investment in your event. The result? More renewals and a more vibrant and relevant exhibit hall each year.
Make it a two-way conversation. Creating an exhibitor advisory board can be a great way to involve key suppliers in the event. You gain a deeper understanding of their needs, and they get to make their voices heard.
Arm them with some secret weapons. A simple “marketing tool kit” will help suppliers promote your event to their own clients and increase their ROI.
Become a trusted coach. You know your members better than anyone. Can you offer tips to exhibitors on how best to engage with attendees, or recommend post-show opportunities to connect?
Explore these strategies and more in the latest issue of Bright Ideas. To download it on your iPad, search “Network Media Partners” in your iPad App Store, then select “Bright Ideas.”
April 8, 2013
Network Media’s design team shares insights in developing visual communication ideas.
Every now and then, the design team at Network Media Partners gets together over lunch for a Design Study—an in-depth discussion of some aspect of what we do. It’s an opportunity to learn from each other, taking a short break from our projects to swap tips and ideas.
Our most recent session focused on an issue we all deal with when designing publications: How do we generate visual ideas for an article, especially those for which no imagery is provided with the content? Here are a few of our favorite tips for this common situation:
Do some research. Sometimes the articles we design address topics we know little about. That’s one of the fun aspects of design: the chance to learn about new things! The deeper our understanding of the subject, the easier it will be to generate appropriate ideas. A quick online search is a useful tool, at least as a first step to better familiarize ourselves with a topic.
Pay attention to what grabs you. When reading the article, words or phrases often jump out, usually the ones that conjure up some kind of mental image. Highlighting those phrases and making notes about those mental images can help generate an initial list of ideas.
Explore stock photography. Stock sites can be great sources of inspiration, even if you don’t end up using stock imagery in the design. The results of a search can sharpen existing imagery ideas—but it’s even better when unexpected results show you the concept from a fresh angle, revealing an additional path to explore. Bonus tip: Looking at an image’s keywords or using the “find similar images” feature can generate even more starting points.
Think about the big picture. What’s the overarching concept of the article? Listing conceptual words (try consulting a thesaurus to come up with more) can spark a different approach.
Ask for input. The editorial team may have a helpful perspective on the topic, and they are usually happy to answer any exploratory questions. Similarly, colleagues on the design team may see the topic a different way, or they can help with classic “brainstorming” techniques where a group of people builds on each other’s ideas.
And the most important tip? Be open to any visual idea at first. There will be time later to narrow down the list to just the strongest ideas!
–Austin Stahl, Art Manager, Network Media Partners
March 5, 2013
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