I just received an email from MP Greeson, president of The Diffusion Group. They are a research and advisory firm focused on the connected consumer, in particular the broadband media ecosystem and the “Internet of Things.” Greeson writes that he grew up in the town of Moore, Okla., actually attending the schools that were destroyed by the tornado. “I rarely put my name on a cause, but this one hits home,” he writes. “Donations may be made online at www.unitedwayokc.org or by mail to United Way of Central Oklahoma, P.O. Box 837, Oklahoma City, OK 73101 with notation for May Tornado Relief.” Thanks for that.
A new member, Wilkinson Publishing in Melbourne, Australia, sends a very interesting daily ezine featuring well-written stories that often plug books they are selling. For instance, a story this week on the retirement of Manchester United Manager Sir Alex Ferguson led to a discussion of leaders. “Management theory is it is best to make a clean break. Don’t let an old master hover over the new leader. According to Nicholas Barnett and his team at Insync Surveys…‘A 100 per cent rigid rule is not always best these days.’…Alan Hargreaves, author of the new book, 60 Second Recharge [offered by Wilkinson], sees the good, the bad and the ugly transitions as he consults [internationally]. ‘There are leaders and there are leaders. Call it the Recharge factor. The best have an amazing ability to stay young, innovative and passionate.’”
Here’s information about members who are coming to SIPA 2013, June 5-7, in Washington, D.C.:
You might want to talk about video to someone from Editorial Projects in Education, publishers of Education Week. They have an excellent feature called Leaders to Learn From with 2-3 minute videos of school superintendents from across the nation. (And catch today’s SIPA webinar on video if you can.) Look for Ryan Lanier, digital content sales & marketing manager.
eLearning is definitely one of the next big things in our industry, and PaperClip Communications will be a member to talk to in Washington. They have jumped into it with The Residence Life eLearning Training program and done a great job with the landing page, giving plenty of information and providing both a short and full demo for customers. Look for Andy McLaughlin, president, or Katherine Bitgood.
Interested in getting more advertising for your website? Talk to Dawn Sweeney, Donna Jefferson and Heather Grant from Jefferson Communications. A quick look at their Chesapeake Family website shows ads for the state of Maryland, an orthopaedic center and a water park. Click to a blog page and see more ads, for a health center, summer camp and music festival.
Barry Graubart has joined Connotate as VP, Product Strategy. Connotate is a market leader in web content extraction. They enable pricing intelligence, job posting aggregation, automated background checks, financial data aggregation and lots more—all done at scale.
Jack Farrell & Associates, an executive search firm, is a new SIPA member that will be represented at the Conference. They are dedicated to recruiting the top talent for clients in publishing, media and digital health information.
If you’re looking for a company that has been successful in social media, check with David Burns, VP/publisher and Katie Christianson, senior marketing planner, of Magna Publications. At the start of 2012, Magna created new groups on LinkedIn and worked to establish a more consistent and visible presence on their existing Twitter and Facebook accounts. As their social communities grew, the multiplier effect helped amplify each like, share and retweet.
Want to get on the airwaves? Guy Cecala of Inside Mortgage Finance Publications and Bob Coleman of Coleman Publishing would be good people to ask. Both have frequently appeared as industry experts on national news shows. You might have to be prepared to put an occasional dinner on hold, however. They would be happy to speak with you about the plusses and minuses of their relative stardom.
If you have a copyright question, be sure to attend the session of—or corner—Lesley Ellen Harris of copyrightlaws.com on Wednesday. She is a popular speaker and has another conference in San Diego to head to on Thursday.
Almost every person attending SIPA 2013—all 300-plus—probably has something to tell you that can be valuable to your business. But there’s only one way to get that information—come to Washington, D.C., June 5-7 and join the crowd.
Ronn Levine began his career as a reporter for The Washington Post and has won numerous writing and publications awards since. Most recently, he spent 12 years at the Newspaper Association of America covering a variety of topics before joining SIPA in 2009 as managing editor. Follow Ronn on Twitter at @SIPAOnline