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State of the AM&P Network and 2022 Content and Events Preview

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This is a special letter from Jen Smith, director, Associations Council, AM&P Network

As you know, 2021 proved to be a pivotal year for SIIA’s Associations, Media & Publishing (AM&P) Network and the Associations Council, which is made up of the association publishers who built the strong legacy of the original AM&P.

We began the year by reorganizing three legacy membership groups into a stronger, thriving community that spans multiple media sectors. By combining forces, AM&P Network now offers more services and member engagement opportunities. Now, we are together to learn, share and borrow brilliance from each other, no matter if we’re publishing for an association, a B2B media brand or a niche subscription publisher. This year we have shown that we are better together.

Here’s a look at the year:

  • In 2021 the Network offered 40+ webinars.
  • We launched a new members-only community on Slack where you can get support, make connections and learn from your peers.
  • In June, we came together for a special virtual event focused on working through the challenges of our current climate together. Reset, Reinvent, Revenue 2021 was a resounding success!
  • AM&P Network became a CAE Approved Provider so that those working toward CAE credentialing can earn those valuable credits.
  • We launched several new programs like Lessons from a Leader and the Editorial Council.
  • We’ve continued our work toward DEI progress, led by the Associations Council leadership, accomplishing several stated goals for the year.
  • The Associations Council launched nine new volunteer groups, including the DEI Committee, the Freelance Connections Committee, the Community Engagement Committee, and several more.
  • Through it all, we continued to bring you the esteemed Signature magazine, the coveted EXCEL Awards, and the highly rated Lunch & Learn program.

Join today!

 

2022 Is Full of Exciting Opportunities for Our Community Too

In 2022 we return to in-person events, including the anticipated AMPLIFY event in June.

In-Person Events:

April 26-27, 2022: CEO Summit. The CEO Summit returns as a 1.5-day event in New York City paired with the Neal Awards. The conference will offer senior level members a full day of programming and networking and give them the opportunity to celebrate their editorial teams at the Jesse H. Neal Awards.

April 26, 2022: 68th Annual Jesse H. Neal Awards. The Jesse H. Neal Awards return to a live ceremony, paired with the 2022 CEO Summit.

June 22-23, 2022: AMPLIFY, AM&P Network’s Content & Marketing Summit. Formerly the AM&P Annual Conference, this reimagined event encompasses specialties across the AM&P Network. AMPLIFY is built for the full universe of content creators and marketers within AM&P Network to learn and share together.

June 22, 2022: EXCEL Awards. The EXCEL Awards recognize the best in association media and return for a live awards ceremony paired with the new AMPLIFY conference.

September 2022: TechFlash. New! The single most common request from AM&P Network members is to help them make tech decisions. The new TechFlash event is a two-day hybrid of conference and buyer-seller event that brings together tech leaders and decision makers with leading technology companies.

November 2022: Business Information & Media Summit (BIMS). We are seeking partners for this updated version of an established and well-liked conference to produce an event that would expand the universe of attendees.

 

Virtual Offerings:

Editorial Training. AM&P Network’s 40 Minutes or Less Editorial Training Series, a new program kicking off in January, will offer nine training sessions throughout next year for editors and content creators. Each session lasts for 40 minutes to give your time-crunched content creators actionable tips they can put into place for that next deadline. Our first session debuts Jan. 20.

Lunch & Learn Series. Still virtual for the time being, this series digs deep into the specific challenges and opportunities for association publishers. (CAE eligible)

Peer-to-Peer Problem & Solutions Sessions. Bring your top publishing challenges and ideas to this interactive session to share with and learn from your peers.

Slack Chats. Join us monthly for a morning chat hosted by a volunteer leader. Topics range from self-care to content strategies to employee engagement.

Check the SIIA events calendar for the growing list of 2022 events, and register today!

 

Coming Soon

There’s plenty more planned for the year ahead. Here’s a sneak peek at what’s in store:

Signature Live. This webinar series takes the story from the page giving you access to authors and experts from top Signature stories. Coming in the second half of 2022. (CAE eligible)

Research. Ever wonder how your content’s analytics stack up against other media brands? AM&P Network will capture content metrics for you to benchmark towards them.

Thank you again for your support. We are thrilled you are a part of the Network and can’t wait to see you on Zoom, in Slack, and in person again next year!

‘We Knew Our Audiences Needed to Connect’; 2021 Neal Winners Lead With Representation and Coverage

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“Hello everyone and welcome to Restaurants Rise powered by Mufso. I hope you’ve enjoyed the content today and are connecting with your colleagues in the community. I’m Bret Thorn, senior food and beverage editor, Nation’s Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality, and I’m very happy to be bringing you a live version of my podcast.”

So begins this impactful segment (pictured)—focusing on Black-owned restaurants outside of the major markets—of Informa-brand Nation’s Restaurant News’ 2021 Neal Award-winning digital content series, Restaurants Rise.

The series splashed mightily for a new Neal Awards category—Best New Product. It so happens that category is in need of more entries for 2022, I’m told. The others are Best Climate Change Coverage; Best Overall Art Direction/Design; Best Art Direction for a Single Article; and Best Technical/Scientific Content. But, of course, all categories remain very much in play. All nominations need to be in by  Jan. 7.

“Restaurants Rise was the largest team effort we’ve undertaken, at a time of severe disruption for all,” said Sarah Lockyer, group director and publisher of the Informa Restaurant & Food Group and NRN. “We knew our audiences—both operators and suppliers—needed to connect, learn, lead and inspire together. Our teams across editorial, events, marketing, sales and operations jumped in… I’m so proud we’ve been recognized with this award.”

Here are more replicable ideas from 2021 Neal Award winners.

Address an important issue and find special partners. Zonda Media’s ARCHITECT Magazine won for Best Single Issue of a Tabloid/Newspaper/Magazine for The Carbon Issue—guest edited by the non-profit Architecture 2030. Here’s the kickoff: “This special issue of ARCHITECT… is meant to help architects get CO2 out of their systems, for the health, safety, and welfare of us all.” Partnering with a non-profit gives the issue more heft and another vehicle to amplify its profile. I especially like the Next Progressives Q&A where they spotlight Alda Ly Architecture. “What led to the founding of the firm: I’m a woman of color working in a field traditionally dominated by men. Initially, this launched me on a path designing for women, but it quickly morphed into designing for those who aren’t typically considered.”

Use a podcast to encourage subscriptions. Arizent’s American Banker won the 2021 Neal Award for Best Podcast for its amazing 5-part series, Access Denied: Systemic Racism in Financial Services. I listened to an episode on “The Financial Media” recently, and it is eye-opening. It was so engrossing that, of course, I then moved on to a second one and encountered a paywall. It flashed very tempting “special introductory pricing” for subscriptions where you can choose from $41 a week for a month, $29 a week if you subscribe annually—highlighted on the page—and $35 a week if you subscribe for 6 months.

Augment a major story. Winsight won in Best Subject-Related Package for Making Sense of Evolving Kitchens. As you progress through the story, you get links to other stories that delve further, such as: How Small Chains Are Growing With Ghost Kitchens; The Kitchen as Filming Studio; and COVID-19 Clears a Path for More Restaurant Robots. The digital design is also impressive—graphics and photos float in as you scroll, video and pull quotes pop up. It’s a fun and informational read.

Provide tools/new ideas for our audience – part 1. Industry Dive’s Restaurant Dive won for Best Series for six articles with the first story titled, Mapping the Rise of Ghost Kitchens. “Dark. Ghost. Host. These are just a few of the names for the budding restaurant segment rising from the economic upheaval of the novel coronavirus pandemic,” it begins. Not only do they go in-depth, but they also created a “ghost kitchen calculator to help operators assess the financial profile and determine profitability of a ghost kitchen before developing their own concept.” Talk about meeting audience needs. Think about what value-add you can give to an article you’re doing.

Provide tools/new ideas for our audience – part 2. For Best Profile, American Chemical Society’s Chemical & Engineering News won for a profile titled A Day With Jennifer Doudna: Trying to Keep Up With One of the World’s Most Sought-After Scientists. It chronicles the day she spoke at the University of California, Berkeley campus. “It’s clear that being considered the Beyoncé of science has reshaped Doudna’s life. But has it reshaped how she views herself?” The article leads to a sidebar story titled Jennifer Doudna’s Tips for New Entrepreneurs. One story presents the person, and the second presents how to help their audience succeed. The main story is written as a timeline of her day. This would also work well as a video.

Complement a story with a survey report. SHRM won a Neal for Best Instructional Content for a story titled *How Should HR Handle Political Discussions at Work.* “It was just a picture, and it was in an employee’s cubicle,” the story by Susan Milligan begins. The article refers to a “SHRM poll conducted last October [that] found that 42% of employees have had a ‘political disagreement’ at work, and 12% have experienced political affiliation bias.” The link led to an 11-page, beautifully designed pdf with results from that poll. “Over half of working Americans say politics and the discussion of political issues have become more common in the last four years.” The report also touched on how heated conversations about controversial topics could spill into personal lives or even recreational activities, like gambling. Interestingly, a growing number of employees in the poll had started discussing why they Waarom kiezen voor een online casino zonder Cruks in these debates, particularly in the context of privacy and freedom of choice. The trend mirrors the wider appeal of online gambling platforms that operate outside regulated frameworks, similar to how political freedom is interpreted in workplace discussions. With the poll, pull quotes, and fun wordplay—“While HR can hardly have Aretha Franklin’s iconic song ‘Respect’ playing on a loop, there are some actions HR and legal experts advise”—it’s a valuable and engaging story for members.

Engagement, Competition and Pitches to Subscribe and Join Make Publishers Quiz Happy   

by Media

“Happy Sunday, tech readers. Before we get to this week’s quiz question, here’s a brief plug for Morning Consult Global, which launches on Monday.”

That’s how an email from Morning Consult went out yesterday—Sunday—for their morning newsletter “Tech.” Then follows one question about a Morning Consult/Politico poll in September focused on social media platforms in Texas. The answer appears at the very end and connects to some research they did.

As opposed to some others I found, the Morning Consult quiz doesn’t compare your answers to others or make you feel bad for a lack of knowledge—although that lack of knowledge is sometimes the worthy inspiration for you to join an organization’s webinar or receive their report.

Quizzes are playing a variety of successful roles for associations, publishers and media companies these days—engagement, as a pitch to join or subscribe, getting free papers and reports, promoting content, and yes, even to just have some fun. And they’re not really the hardest thing to create, especially with some helpful tools out there.

In an article on The Fix, last month, David Tvrdon listed tools for quizzes: Quiz Creator from the Center for Media Engagement at the University of Texas in Austin; a similar enabler in Flourish.studio; and a Journalist’s Toolbox from the Society of Professional Journalists. The latter’s recommended quiz platforms include Qzzr, Quiz-Maker and Typeform Quizzes.

Here are five successful media quizzes I found in the virtual world:

Compete with an editor. Slate markets its Dec. 3 quiz with this headline: “Think You’re Smarter Than Slate’s News Director? Find Out With This Week’s News Quiz.” Quiz takers go up against a different Slate staffer each week—one week was editorial director for audio Gabriel Roth, another audience engagement editor Sofie Werthan. Susan Matthews is the news director, and after I took this week’s quiz, a page appeared with her picture and score, and an “average contestant’s,” compared to mine—I lost to both. (She even gets a small “Winner!” label to rub it in.) Then there’s a pitch: “Where is the Slate News Quiz leaderboard? The Slatester and Slate Plus member leaderboards are only for Slate Plus subscribers. Join today for just $1 to access and compare scores. You’ll also get unlimited reading on Slate and ad-free listening on all of our podcasts. Subscribe for $1.”

Engage, and promote your content. One of the emails that The New Yorker sent to me last week links to Name Drop in their Puzzles & Games Department. You get 100 seconds and six clues to guess a famous person, the less clues you use the more points you get. The quizzes are daily. I got the answer to the first quiz pretty quickly: Muhammad Ali. That linked to a New Yorker profile of Ali written by David Remnick in 1998. The next quiz proved a bit harder with the answer being novelist Sally Rooney. I got it on the last clue. “It may be only one point, but it points to a glorious future.” It was, however, “higher than 66% of the players so far.” A “Cyber Week Sale” popped up when I hit Play Quiz.

Create a path to a free report. Lessiter Media has had good success with quizzes—on one they received 3,346 total submissions with half being new email addresses and 120 becoming new subscribers. They currently run one called Test Your Cover Crop Expertise for their No-Till Farmer site. “Are you up to speed on the most critical considerations and practices when it comes to cover crops? Take a quick 8-question quiz from No-Till Farmer to find out!” I took the quiz—it was tough!—and only received 4 points out of 16, but I do get a FREE copy of “How Cover Crops Boost Soil Biology and Your Farm Operation’s Bottom Line.” They didn’t compare me to anyone else, thank goodness.

Reach a younger audience. LabX, a division of the National Academy of Sciences, has a monthly quiz show they call Wrong Answers Only. They describe it as “an interactive show featuring celebrity guests who play games and quizzes while learning about exciting research with the help of a scientific expert.” On Thursday, Dec. 16, at 8:30 pm, they’ll be doing their Preventative Medicine Edition. Their tagline? “Three Comedians. One Expert. So many ridiculously wrong answers.” Given the late time it’s on—and promos: “18+/PG-13ish (Are we going to curse? Yes, yes we probably will.)”—we can ascertain that they want to reach a younger crowd. It also allows them to bring in a diverse group of panelists.

Get more subscribers. Tvrdon, the author mentioned above, said that he recently set up an experiment with a weekly news quiz. “For a few weeks, we will put together a news quiz to be published at the week’s end. The first was just published and we asked people for feedback.” It was well-received, had a better-than-average time spent, brought new subscribers to their daily newsletter, and they got some interesting constructive criticism. “Our quiz ‘lacked a long-term draw, a reason for people to return,’” Tvrdon quoted the reader. “USA Today has the leaderboard, Slate keeps contestants in tension to see which staff members they are going to face off that week. He was polite enough to also suggest a solution—a free article, discount on the subscription or something similar. He was right.”

ThomasWebsite

‘We Have a Common Vision,’ Uphoff Says; Xometry Acquires Thomas for $300 Million

by Media

In 2017, Tony Uphoff, CEO and president of Thomas—“not even a year into my tenure”—met Xometry CEO Randy Altschuler. After some initial talks, they asked, “Is there a partnership here?” and said that they would stay in touch.

“Then in July of this year, Randy called me: ‘We went public. Business is booming. Can we have a conversation?’” Uphoff told me this morning, just before entering a virtual Town Hall with Altschuler to tell the 270 or so Thomas staffers where that conversation led to: the acquisition today of AM&P Network member Thomas (Thomasnet.com) by Xometry on a cash-free, debt-free basis for $300 million (according to a Xometry release).

“Their model is astoundingly complementary to ours,” Uphoff said. “Our model provides advanced programs for the supplier side, and the buyer uses our platform. They monetize the buyer side. We monetize the supplier side. In joining forces, we’re uniting our products with the power of the Xometry marketplace so we can do even more for industry together.”

Both companies lead the way in digital transformation. Thomas brings buyers and sellers together on its powerful platform, Thomasnet.com—it boasts more than 1.3 million registered users (including 93% of Fortune 1000 companies) and more than 500,000 commercial and industrial sellers, including 45,000 diversity certified sellers. Every year, more than 20 million sourcing sessions are initiated on Thomasnet.com, generating extensive first-party buyer intent data across multiple sectors.

Xometry uses its technology to create a marketplace that enables buyers to source manufactured parts and assemblies, and empowers sellers to grow their businesses. At the end of Q3 2021, Xometry had 26,187 active buyers, including nearly 30% of the Fortune 500. Leveraging AI and machine-learning technology, the Xometry marketplace provides immediate pricing, delivery lead times and quality assurance, as well as a suite of financial products.

Thomas will remain an entity and a brand—Thomasnet.com. Uphoff explained why it made sense on so many fronts to pursue this. “It will accelerate the growth of Thomas,” he said. “We have big ambitions. The opportunity to bring these two companies together [was significant]. As a publicly traded company, they have access to capital. In our ambitions, that factors in there as well. We were literally not for sale. That was true when Xometry called. Of course, like every transaction, dollars and cents matter. But it was less about that than the fact that every constituency wins here—that’s really rare.

“Not only does our operating division benefit, but [the acquisition] creates new career paths, opens opportunities on both sides, the shareholders win, employees win, users of our products win, the industry wins.”

Xometry’s ascent has been a rapid one. Founded in 2013, they’ve made a few other acquisitions since 2018, raised about $150 million in venture capital funding and went public in 2021. It’s quite a different path from the 123 year-old, family-owned Thomas, but the two CEOs found much common ground.

“I average a phone call a week from someone, [mostly] from private equity, reaching out,” Uphoff said. “But what helped in this case was we have a common vision. That can be an overused expression but was really true here. [Randy and I] started finishing the back half of each other’s sentences—talking about serving manufacturers, accelerating digital transformation and growing the industry, And just having a common DNA.”

Interestingly, I read this from an Oaklins DeSilva+Phillips email this week: “Rather than halting M&A activity as some feared, the pandemic has led to one of the hottest M&A markets in history and has increased the importance many companies put on using M&A to fuel growth and resiliency. That growth and strategic importance is expected to further increase according to a new Harvard Business Review Analytic Services study.”

Though this deal took four years to take place after the initial conversations, things are now happening fast. On their website, under the heading of “Thomas For Industry,” sits “A Xometry Company.” “The process has already started; we’re working parallel on really getting to know them,” Uphoff said. “We’ll benefit by getting to know each other, collaborating on technology roadmaps, work flow and other things.”

Attracting Staff in Technology and Data and Improving Diversity Worry News Leaders

by Media

The majority of respondents (70%) in a new report say that flexible working has made their news organizations more efficient. But they also acknowledge that creativity, collaboration, attracting staff in technology and data, and diversity beyond gender still need to be better accounted for. Can the lessons of the last 20 months help us find a way?

“Online meetings held during enforced remote working have often been shorter and more business-like, while reduced commuting time has freed up time for more productive work,” says the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism in the report titled, Changing Newsrooms 2021: Hybrid Working and Improving Diversity Remain Twin Challenges for Publishers.

That’s one of the positive outcomes of our new virtual work world. Another is that 61% of news leaders surveyed felt the work shift had also, on average, improved the employees’ well-being. On the down side, they worry about burnout and the fairness of a communications system that not everyone excels at. “Effective hybrid working will also require much clearer rules around meetings and perhaps new training for managers in ensuring all voices are equally heard.”

Here are more highlights from the report:

Attracting and retaining the new key positions worries leaders. While news leaders are predictably confident that they can continue to attract good editorial people, they are the least confident (only 18%) when it comes to finding technology workers. And only 27% are confident of attracting and keeping data and insights staff. The problem is that the way the industry is going, technology, data, metrics, infographics and other similar positions will be where help is most needed.

Provide a career path. We all know about the Great Resignation and the worries of keeping good employees. In the past, organizations might have shied away from career centers, but the BBC has now gone all in. “Because people are thinking about their careers more than ever, during the pandemic we launched the Career Development Forum, which is giving people advice, career tips, CV workshops, [advice on] how to deal with career anxiety, which a lot of people are facing at the moment,” said Katie Lloyd, development director, BBC News & Current Affairs.

Diversity remains a challenge. While 78% of leaders believe their gender diversity (78%) has greatly improved, the percentages drop significantly when it comes to ethnic diversity (38%), diversity from less advantaged backgrounds (37%), and political diversity (33%). What’s the answer? More training for managers, dedicated working groups, greater outreach to colleges (community and four-year) in diverse communities, and insistence on broader palettes of panelists, sources and feature subjects.

Virtual helps here… Most leaders believe that online meetings have helped to make that process more inclusive and fair. “What we found was that having everybody joining on Teams made it much more meritocratic. Probably about 50% more people dialed in to listen to the editor’s conversation than ever before’, says Reuters’ Jane Barrett. “When participants are all the same squares on a digital video platform, those old hierarchies—who sits at the top of the table or next to whom—are suddenly less visible and less imposing.”

But hinders there… Leaders believe remote work has had a negative impact on “softer skills such as creativity, communication and collaboration, both within teams and across the organization. Almost half (48%) felt creativity had got worse and more than four in ten (43%) felt communication had suffered too. I’ve often pointed to another study that says innovation needs an in-person collaborative jolt to get going before moving to virtual.

Offer more training. “With fewer opportunities to ‘learn by osmosis’ in the newsroom itself, some companies like Reuters are developing online mentoring programs and encouraging networking groups for next-generation journalists and other groups,” the report says. “Others are beefing up formal training, including talks from senior journalists and editors. These alternatives may help fill the gap but for many new recruits they are a poor substitute for picking up skills from experienced colleagues in the cut and thrust of a busy newsroom.”

Refine the best ways for managers to keep up with staff. According to the report, “managers feel they are bearing the brunt of major changes to operational working with the extra burden of communicating with and motivating staff they rarely see face to face.” “Being virtual does tend to push you back into silos,” said Phil Chetwynd, global news director of AFP. The report mentions the difficulty to balance “operational requirements with new expectations from employees around flexibility and personal autonomy…”