General manager of MagNet Barbara Zatyko says this year’s event will offer a good mix of big-picture discussions and practical, informative sessions for magazine professionals.
Editor-in-chief of Esquire, David Granger, will kick off the four-day conference with the MagNet Marquee on June 1. “We think it’s a bit of a coup to have him.” Zatyko says. Granger has a reputation for pushing the envelope with his unconventional Esquire covers. He will discuss how to keep print relevant and captivating in today’s market and field questions from the audience. “It could be quite an interesting chat.”
Other speakers include The Economist senior vice-president of marketing Alan Press, New York designer Luke Hayman and Dutch B2B expert Ian Bedwell. There will also be three “state of the nation” discussions for consumer, cultural and B2B magazines. These big picture talks are designed to “get people thinking and brainstorming,” Zatyko says.
MagNet will also play host the KRW Awards and a slew of professional development sessions on a wide variety of topics. Zatyko says one topic receiving a lot of interest is how to capitalize on digital content, and it will be addressed in several sessions. This year they’ve added some B2B-specific seminars but 80 percent of the sessions “apply equally for consumer and business publications,” she says. The goal here is to provide tools to professionals to help them succeed.
Zatyko says MagNet is gaining visibility in the U.S. and overseas and becoming an “internationally acclaimed event.” In 2009 MagNet hosted about 1200 people and they are expecting at least the same amount this year.
MagNet is held at 89 Chestnut, Toronto from June 1 to 4.
For more information: MagNet
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| Jaded says: | |
Wow, Torstar really seems to be on a mission to bankrupt one magazine after another.... |
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| Lorene Shyba says: | |
Full of terrific information, Thanks!... |
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As for the speakers, I salute the opportunity of learning from others in the industry. But why must we import "experts" from the USA to tell us how to succeed in Canada? Time to stop kissing up to big brother and believing in our own home talent.
We all need to re-think the content itself. Content is the business that we're in and that content can now go far beyond "pictures and script of a magazine". Now, we can tell our stories with video, audio and interactive charts. We can create content that literally reads itself to our audience, content that develops over time just as the stories we tell develop over time.
A website is not a magazine, but either is a piece of paper. The nature of the content is what distinguishes a newspaper from a book, from a magazine, from anything else, whether it's delivered on paper, on screen or on a phone. For us to build the limitations of paper into our (sorry) digital publications is a mistake.
Railroads went bankrupt when cars and planes came along because they saw themselves as being in the railroad business and not the transportation business. We shouldn't do the same.
Offended and Tired makes some good points too, but seems to not realize that what's pushing digital is not "accountants who have realized they can save printing costs" but by users/readers (kids are growing up digital) and, more importantly, ADVERTISERS and marketers, who can reach more people, more quickly, cheaper and for quicker results.
Liz, screens are improving constantly, that's not going to be a limiting factor for much longer.
Ga and WTF (nice handles ;), great points. What drives me crazy is the siloing that's happening in many areas of our industry. Our products will only succeed if everyone sees the value of every platform and works together to maximize all of them for the value to bring to readers. Print people who don't want to touch digital are hurting both platforms by not contributing to a collaborative vision.