One of the Workshop’s key events each year since 1993, our conference is designed for nonprofit communicators: volunteers and staff who are responsible for telling their group’s story through the news media or other channels. We bring them together with journalists looking for stories ‘off the beaten path’ and invite them to join in a dialogue on how to produce news that matters.
“Well-organized conference. Speaker has great passion & energy and used lots of great examples.” – Rachel Dziallo, Erie Family Health
Conference attendees get four key takeaways:
Training: increase nonprofit communicators’ skills and understanding of the news process, allowing them to better access the media in ways that are effective;
Sourcing: journalists get leads and sources from among a group that tends to receive ‘spot’ coverage rather than more focused and influential treatment;
Skill-building:Connecting these two groups with web advocates and nonprofit technologists in order to develop a better understanding of new media to deliver their message and,
Relationship-building: the conference builds relationships between nonprofit and news outlet personnel. Beyond more and better coverage of nonprofits, their constituents, and their issues, the outcome of our conferences has been understanding and consensus on where nonprofits fit in the news cycle.
If you register for Making Media Connectionson or before May 21, 2012, your name will be entered to win a $50 Amazon.com gift card so you can treat yourself to some supplemental reading post-conference!
Need some ideas on how to spend that gift card? Here’s what’s on the Workshop Staff’s reading list:
The Workshop new media associate Marissa Wasseluk breaks down some ways to be an effective blogger and invites you to this year’s Making Media Connections conference. Read the complete post on the NPcommunicator blog!
Blogs share your stories. Across the web, individuals and organizations are doing what paper newsletters did in the past – connecting with an audience of eager readers. Letting advocates know the success of your programs, calling them to action, asking for donations, and garnering new supporters, can all be done more immediately – and perhaps more effectively – with a blog.
The concept behind using blogging as one of your main communications tools is simple: the more content you post, the more real estate you own on the Internet, and the easier it is for your advocates and potential audience to find you.
And how do your readers find you? Post relevant content, often. In the realm of the Internet, content is king.
Effective blog content stems from the following: Read More
The Workshop is excited to announce the lineup for Making Media Connections 2012, our nonprofit communications conference that brings journalists and nonprofit leaders together to talk about news that matters. This year’s conference “Fanning the Flames of Your Communications” will take place on June 14. LinkedIn’s Bryan Breckenridge will keynote the conference and share information about how nonprofits can use the powerful social media tool to tell their stories.
The morning session will consist of half-day workshops on topics ranging from how to fire up your communications plan to kindling the power of social media to blogging around the digital bonfire. The afternoon breakouts will cover topics including: how to write sizzling headlines and subject lines, meeting around the metro news camp fire and fueling the flames of mobile apps. Panelists include Cate Cahan, WBEZ; David Schalliol, Gapers Block; Michael Hoffman, See3; Deidra White, Channel 2; Valerie Denney, Valerie Denney Communications; and more.
Charles Festa, Community Manager at Threadless, speaks to the importance of branding and community engagement during his keynote speech at Making Media Connections 2011
Thursday afternoon’s keynote speech at Making Media Connections 2011 introduced nonprofit communicators to the crazy online world of t-shirts. In typical lively fashion, Threadless Community Manager Charles Festa shared his online video and community engagement tips that helped pave the way to online success.
An early Threadless video screened by Festa proved that videos with low-quality production values can still be successful tools of engagement. In fact, Threadless’s grainy and sometimes pointless videos created quite an online following, appealing to designers and young, hip customers.
Eventually, Festa and his colleagues realized that proper branding and promotion could help grow their community even more. They incorporated simple touches like the company’s name and URL into the beginning frames of each video and even asked its own community to complete scripts for videos to be featured on the Threadless website. While Festa wouldn’t describe Threadless videos as “viral,” he acknowledged that these activities along with cross promotion across marketing channels like Twitter and its newsletters helped spread the Threadless brand and grow its devoted community.
Since its early days of posting silly and random videos online, Threadless has developed a successful online video and engagement strategy that can be applied to nonprofit goals. Festa encouraged the audience to begin with simple online videos and involve their entire organizations in production process.
For more notes from this summer’s Making Media Connections conference and the latest insights on communications strategies for nonprofits, visit the Nonprofit Communicator blog.
Many thanks to all the participants and attendees who made the Making Media Connections conference a success! Recaps of the panels and workshops will be available shortly on the resources and tips section of our site. Check back regularly or sign up for e-notes for updates on their availability. Until then, enjoy some photos from the event!
We’re looking forward to sharing with you our knowledge of groundbreaking new digital communications methods, how to get your story into the media, and how to be the most effective nonprofit communicator you can be! We can’t wait to see you next week!
We asked previous attendees of the Making Media Connections Conference what their favorite part of the conference was, and got some interesting answers!
In the video below, watch Workshop Vice President Nora Ferrell speak about her first time attending MMC at the start of her career as a public relations professional, and how she learned to pitch journalists.
With the rise of online news, traditional news has taken a huge hit in audience and circulation numbers in recent years, but in a major media market like Chicago, it is still the place where, yes, millions of people go for information. Just take a look at these numbers: Chicago Tribune - 414,590 average daily […]
You couldn’t miss him. He made a striking image. He was covered in the shawls Jews wear for prayers, carried a long staff and shuffled slowly among the hundreds of marchers headed for Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s house in skimpy sandals. He said he was a modern-day Moses, waiting to lead the way for the […]
Programming at Chicago Public Media’s Chicago Amplified
Listen to Community Media Workshop special events on "Chicago Amplified" at wbez.org. Select "Community Media Workshop" in the "View Event Archives By Partner" drop down menu.
CAN TV provides coverage of events relevant to the local community and gives every Chicagoan a voice on cable television be providing video training, facilities, equipment, and channel time for Chicago residents and nonprofit groups. Cable channels CAN TV19, 21, 27, 35 and 42 reach more than one million cable viewers in Chicago.
