Wedgwood’s storied history as an iconic creator of beautiful ceramics art is the focus of American Spirit‘s September/October issue.

In 1759, Josiah Wedgwood, an apprentice potter in England, left his job at an established potter’s workshop and opened his own pottery business. This year, to celebrate its 250th anniversary, Wedgwood will join the DAR Museum as it presents a new exhibition, “Wedgwood: 250 Years of Innovation and Artistry” from October 3 through February 27, 2010. Our story illustrates the legacy of a talented visionary and encourages visitors to check out the exhibit, which will feature 200 diverse pieces dating from the 1700s to today.

A New Lens
August 31, 2009

Summer was wonderful in so many ways (kayaking! filmmaking! travels out West!), but I can’t wait for fall. One reason? Megan Morris and I are taking a photography class at a nearby art school in a couple of weeks. I even have new school supplies! Yep, this shiny new (used) camera is taunting me with all its buttons that I don’t yet know how to use. I expect the class to help me unlock the potential of the camera, and I hope it gets me just a tiny bit closer to the photographic talents of Hammock friends like the other wonderful Summer I know.

Ready to shoot some autumn leaves—bring ’em on!

Always a Marine
Posted in Clients, Magazines, by Bill Hudgins
August 31, 2009

The cover of the Sept-Oct. issue of Semper Fi, the magazine of the Marine Corps League, is devoted to LtCol. Timothy Maxwell, founder of the Corps’ Wounded Warrior Regiment. Grievously wounded in an IED attack that sent shrapnel into his brain, LtCol. Maxwell battled ferocious odds to regain motor skills and mental capabilities. During his long recovery, he realized wounded Marines needed to be together to share their travails and triumphs. He organized the Wounded Warrior Barracks aboard Camp Lejeune, NC, which grew into a full-fledged regiment. LtCol. Maxwell retired in June, but has not given up fighting to help Wounded Warriors of all services. His story is an inspiration to all.

Summer gardening season is winding down, but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy fresh produce through the winter, too. It’s not too late to start planting your winter vegetable seeds (although, if you plan to garden this winter, you better jump on it quickly). Leafy greens, beets, carrots, turnips, parsnips, broccoli and cauliflower can all be planted now and harvested later this fall.

To protect your fall garden from frost, be sure to keep an eye on the weather forecast. Although these fall veggies can survive a light (and oftentimes even a heavy) frost, you’ll want to protect your plants from the cold with polyethylene blankets, corrugated fiberglass covers or even used milk jugs with the bottoms removed. Here are a few tips for fall planting:

  • Use the empty plots once you’ve harvested your end-of-summer produce to keep the soil fertile for spring planting — and to give you a spot to grow some fare for wintertime.
  • It rains less in the late fall, so be sure to keep your provide constant soil moisture in order to increase seed germination.
  • Don’t forget that beautiful Indian Summer weather usually follows the first frost, and can be the best weather of the fall season for growing vegetables.
  • Seeds should be planted deeper in the fall, since moisture levels lie deeper in the earth than they do in the spring.

Now, the question remains: What do you do with your remaining summer produce? Now that my CSA is winding down, I’m seeing lots of corn and plenty of potatoes. If you’re like me, eating baked potatoes can get old pretty quickly. Luckily, being a part of a large Italian family makes me privy to my grandmother’s traditional Italian recipes, like gnocchi — and it’s not as hard to make as you might think.

Ingredients:
2 pounds potatoes (any variety will work, but I prefer to use red potatoes)
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups flour

Step 1: Poke holes all over the potatoes with a fork, and bake uncovered at 350 for about 45 minutes.

Step 2: Once the potatoes are cool enough to handle, peel them and use a potato masher (or if you’re like me and don’t own one, a fork will do) to mash them until all lumps are gone.

Step 3: Add the egg and salt to the potatoes and mix well.

Step 4: Add flour to the mixture a 1/2 cup at a time and knead into a soft dough with your hands.

Step 5: Separate the dough into 4 balls, roll each ball into a long tube, and cut the dough into 1-inch pieces.

Step 6: Boil the gnocchi until they float to the top of the pot, drain, and top with a marinara sauce, or quartered roma tomatoes.

Struggling through what speaker after speaker acknowledged is one of the most challenging times ever faced by the association community, there was still a strong note of determination and resolve among the attendees, panelists, speakers and exhibitors at the ASAE Conference and Expo.

One such call to be open to the opportunities found in times of crisis and challenge came from best-selling author and consultant Gary Hamel, who first sounded a warning to those married to the status quo.

“Problems happen when the leaders of an association are behind the thinking of their members,” he said. “That’s when denial occurs. That’s when digging in and protecting the status quo occurs.” It’s also when most great changes take place, he declared.

Being open to experimentation — and the failure it often brings — was another theme heard throughout the event. Again, as Hamel said, using acorns from an oak tree as a metaphor: “It takes a thousand nutty ideas to come up with one or two that take root and grow into giants.”

Perhaps the most universal theme heard was the challenge to association executives to drop their belief in certain “myths” that are preventing them from moving forward. Here are just a few of the myth-challenging assertions we heard association executives and presenters discuss:

It’s not just the economy: We’d strongly advise anyone who is an executive at an association to review the most recent ASAE research report on the impact of the economy on associations. (You can download the PDF here.) After reading it, you may want to believe that yes, it is the economy as membership and participation in associations — especially professional associations where dues and expenses are covered by an employer — have been greatly impacted by the downturn. However, the research also shows there are factors beyond the economy that are fundamentally changing the association landscape. Some of them have to do with the ways individuals are organizing and sharing knowledge online, others have to do with generational shifts and others relate to the perception and expectation of the value one receives from membership in the association. Bottom line: Don’t fool yourself into believing that the economy recovering is going to translate into the recovery of an association who does not address other fundamental issues.

The solution is not technology: Of course, a stroll through the ASAE Expo hall would astound anyone not familiar with the array of technology now available to organize, administer, track, communicate with and train staff and members of an association. But presenter after presenter warned that placing too much belief or faith in a “platform” instead of into “relationships” or “innovation” can lead to failure. Charlene Li, author and new media analyst, said in a keynote address that captured the message of many of the conference panels: “Don’t trust a specific technology to be the answer. Next year, there will be a new set of technologies, so it’s not about technology — it’s about strategy, approach, being wherever your members are.”

Let go of control: The economy may have been the backdrop of the conference, but “social media” was the topic most discussed in general sessions, learning lab panels and in the hallways. Frankly, trying to decide what exactly the term means was a challenge for some association executives. By the end of the meeting, however, the message was clear: Social media is not something an association can “own” or “control.” Associations can participate in conversations and help members connect with one another — within the association context and outside it — but the idea that “social media” fits within the paradigm of association staff talking “to” the members was clearly dispelled. Time after time, in panel sessions or in the hallway, we heard examples of how associations were struggling with groups of members who were “setting up their own websites” or “planning their own ‘un-conferences.'” The best advice we heard was when someone in a hallway conversation responded to another attendee who complained about such a situation where a member had organized an unauthorized meeting that corresponded with the group’s national gathering: “That’s who I would be recruiting as a board member.”

Yes, there was a lot of fear and dispair at the meeting. But we heard a lot of optimism and hope, as well. Innovation, creativity and new business models are all going to be a part of the future of successful associations.

And the future has already started.

The cover of a magazine—its colors, words and images—determine how quickly a reader will pick it up off of a newsstand or coffee table. With this in mind, editors and designers look for an inspiring or provocative shot to grace the cover—something that represents what the audience wants to see or read about the most, or speaks to a particular demographic. So what happens when there are two (or more) equally compelling stories that are cover worthy? When faced with this dilemma, some editors are choosing multiple covers for one issue.

Nothing makes me want to close my browser tab faster than a website littered with graphics, ads and text all jammed in there together, filling up the entire page. Like with print, using white space online is crucial — especially since web readers’ eyes are likely to be taxed more from reading a web page than a printed one.

5 Tips for Focus Groups
Posted in Research, by Barbara Logan
August 20, 2009

Associations can use focus groups as a valuable research tool. They are often used to test new initiatives or concepts with a sample group of members before rolling them out to the association. Before your association dedicates the time and resources to a focus group, be sure to review our five tips:
State your goals
It’s important that you are clear about what you want to accomplish with the focus group before you start the project. Get input from key decision makers and use their input to structure the development of the focus group.

Your magazine — whether it is a custom magazine, member magazine, consumer magazine or b2b publication — is on Twitter. So now what? Here are six ways that you can utilize Twitter as an integral part of your magazine’s web presence:

Share articles. When you post new articles to your magazine’s website or find those related to your magazine and the passions of your readers, share them with your followers. A URL shortener (like bit.ly, urlzen or tinyurl) will help you share the URL and still be able to make the most of the 140 characters that Twitter allows.

Engage and interact. First of all, follow folks back — especially those interested in your magazine’s focus or your industry. Don’t just use your magazine’s Twitter account to push web links and articles, make sure you’re engaging and interacting with your followers. Ask them questions, reply to theirs, get their opinion.

Brag. If someone you’re following tweets a compliment about a recent article from your magazine, a writer or a photograph, that is the perfect item to consider retweeting. It lets the rest of your followers in on the compliment, and it’s one more way to interact with those you’ve connected with on Twitter. Retweeting someone lets them know you’re listening.

Do something special. Offer special subscription discounts for your Twitter followers, give away t-shirts or share links to members-only content. A tiny token of appreciation is not only fun for your followers, but it is just one more way to engage them and get their attention.

Find sources. You probably have an extremely diverse group of followers from all over the country — if not the world. If you’re looking for sources for articles, your biggest fans and creative contributors might be waiting for you in your followers list. Reach out to them with the opportunity to be featured in your magazine. You might be surprised at the wealth of information and inspiration your followers can be.

Promote something new. If you’re be changing your body font or cover banner, or adding a new section to your magazine, share that news with your Twitter followers. It could help create some loyalty in your followers by helping them to feel “in the know.”

The editor of the magazine Publishing Executive was kind enough to ask me to write an guest column on the topic of What I’ve learned about magazines from blogging. The column can be found on Publishing Executive website. For archival purposes, I’m posting it here, as well:

It’s been 10 years since I set up my blog, RexBlog.com.

Back then, I never imagined that one day I’d be described as “a magazine publishing blogger” or a “CEO blogger” or a “media blogger.” For a decade before blogging came along, my company and I had been involved in a wide array of online community platforms like e-mail listservs and different types of forums. As I had never been called a “forum-er” or “listserv-er” or, for that matter, an e-mailer or telephoner, I never suspected that using a blog would be anything more than just another platform to share information with a few dozen people.

So I was shocked the first time that someone at a magazine publishing-related event said to me, “Hey, you’re that blogger.” I didn’t know if he meant it as an accusation or a compliment. I still don’t.

My blog was started long before marketers discovered them, so I wasn’t weighed down by the responsibility of knowing I was supposed to accomplish anything, “branding-wise,” with a blog. “Monetization” was not a word ever used in a sentence with the word “weblog” back then. Like the show “Seinfeld,” my blog was about nothing. Therefore, I could make it about anything. And since I’m in the custom publishing business and a big part of my professional day is spent creating and publishing magazines, it is easy to understand why a significant percentage of the nearly 9,000 posts I’ve written over the past decade have been about the magazine industry.

No doubt, you’ve missed most of those 9,000 posts. Probably, you’ve missed all of them. So to give you a glimpse of what I’ve had to say about magazines over the past decade, here’s a run-through of some of the recurring observations and discoveries I’ve made and shared:

1. Magazines and blogs are made for each other. Some blogs and new-media companies compete for breaking news and advertising dollars with old-line media companies that publish magazines. However, I can’t conceive of two media, as a medium or media platform, that are more complementary than a magazine and weblog. Blogs can break stories; magazines can explain stories. Magazines can survey and analyze issues; blogs can archive as much data as necessary to back up your analysis. A blog can fill in many gaps that a magazine schedule leaves wide open.

2. People in the magazine industry are consistently inarticulate in their attempts to describe the qualities of the magazine format, especially in comparison to the Web. One of the strangest reasons I’ve heard magazine people suggest the medium will survive forever is this: It’s the perfect format for bathroom reading. It would be funny, if I didn’t hear it used so often. Note to magazine people: Bathroom reading material is not very high on the media food chain. While the magazines my company publishes may, on occasion, be read there, I can assure you it is not the venue for which any of them are designed.

3. No one will ever collect NationalGeographic.com. OK, here is my suggestion to those in the magazine industry who haven’t figured out how to compare magazines with the Web (see point #2). The magazines we love are not merely things we read and enjoy; they are expressions of who we are. We display them on coffee tables and desks the way people wear designer labels on clothes or purchase one model of car over another. People collect magazines, trade them and display them on decorative racks or in frames hung on the wall. Magazines provide us with mementos of our life’s journey. They allow us to savor our passions and save special moments. The magazines we love are so important to us, they make us feel guilty to consider throwing them away. The Web is a wonderful thing when you want to drink information from a fire hose. But the magazines people love are like bottles of fine wine: Even if you have to wait a little before opening it, there’s something a bit exciting about the anticipation.

4. The people who say print is dead don’t actually mean print is dead. People who write blog headlines and book titles have the need to boil down complex issues into catch phrases, so they write stuff like “Five more signs that print is dead.” However, if you actually read what people write under those “print is dead” headlines, you’ll find they’re talking about a business model and not a publishing format. Also, I’ve never heard of anyone who writes about the death of print turning down a book offer.

5. Successful magazines succeed for three reasons. They appeal to a narrowly focused audience of people who share a deep, personal or professional passion. They have content that is required reading if you want to belong to the community of individuals who share that passion. They are published by people who understand the power of aesthetics and good design.

6. More magazines play a role in a non-publishing business model than in a publishing business model. Just think of all those alumni magazines, association magazines, corporate employee magazines. They exist to support a business model that has nothing to do with advertising and circulation revenue. The “magazine business” is not the same as “the magazine business model.”

7. A digital magazine will never replace a printed magazine. While I’m an advocate of e-books and e-publications and all things e-ish, I don’t believe the best use of new media is to replicate old media. Digital magazines can be a powerful “push” medium if they utilize their unique capabilities and become something that offers an experience beyond—or at least different from—what is possible in the printed version of a magazine. But don’t think you can slap a combustible engine on a buggy and end up with a Lamborghini.

8. The magazine format can contain content that is “journalism” or it can contain content that’s anything but journalism. Blogging about magazines has made me appreciate the vast diversity of magazines. Before there was the Web, the closest thing to it was a library magazine section or a big-city magazine newsstand. But those just scratched the surface of what’s out there. I’ve been a part of many blogger debates that never would have taken place had their originator understood that “magazines” aren’t just about serious news and aren’t all published in New York by giant companies.

9. Another thing I’ve learned from blogging: Make lists end on a random number other than 10.