Welcome to the world of higher ed magazines. Join us as we walk through the basics together in an informative, interactive session. We’ll cover how to shape your magazine’s identity and mission as well as how to build an editorial structure and a design that supports it. Along the way we’ll talk about how to find and build stories — from the first idea to that final illustration — that will keep readers engaged and intellectually curious. We’ve built in time for audience interaction and your burning questions, from the basic, “What’s an alumni magazine for anyway?” to the more complex: “How do I navigate internal politics and conflicting expectations from different constituents?” We’ll send you back to campus with food for thought and resources, too.

Some of the most engaging books and stories these days are a blend of narrative and reportage. When writing her forthcoming book, "SLIP," Mallary Tenore Tarpley embraced the narrative nonfiction genre and gleaned valuable lessons learned that are applicable to writers of all kinds, but especially journalists and magazine writers. Drawing upon lessons learned from her book-writing process, Tarpley will offer practical tips for those who want to explore complicated topics through a mix of reporting, research, and narrative. She'll share ideas about how to capture details and nuances when writing narrative nonfiction, with a focus on four key steps of the process: interviewing, outlining, writing, and editing. Attendees will come away with newfound inspiration and ideas that they can apply to their university publications and their own personal writing projects.

You've edited so many standard-issue profiles that your eyes are bleeding, and if you have to hear about one more next big thing you might scream. How can you explore some less-likely ideas without immediately alienating your readers, and balance risk-taking with accessibility? We'll talk about ways to find those unexpected stories — like the origin of a podcast bit, a daily look at long-forgotten jazz history or feature that uses high school football as a lens for gun violence in America — that will reward a reader's curiosity, rather than confuse or bore them, and how digging deeper doesn't always have to mean getting lost in the weeds. Then we'll explore ways to report and research that don't necessarily require a huge amount of resources (or at least, will make the most of the unique resources available in higher ed), as well as ideas for how to make all that research pay off on the page.

A conversation about the successes and challenges of publishing serious journalism in today's Higher Education space. The session will include tips and strategy and talk about the importance of impactful, hard-hitting editorial stories and Art Direction in the current media environment. The panel discussion will include Joseph Wakelee-Lynch and Maureen Pacino of LMU Magazine, Christie Henry of Coloradan Magazine , Liz Anderson Hilton of Texas Law Magazine and moderated by DJ Stout of Pentagram Austin.

In an era characterized by shrinking budgets, it’s become increasingly essential for an institution’s magazine to serve multiple audiences. Gone are the days of one-trick magazines; now, publications should build consensus among a campus community, connect with corporate partners, engage with alumni from all over the globe, and stand out in a higher ed influencer’s mailbox during rankings season.
Now, do ALL of this with brand guidelines that no longer reflect the spirit of an institution in a period of enormous growth.
This session, led by Bryant University’s Casey Nilsson and 2Communique’s Kelly McMurray, who partnered on the relaunch of Bryant’s biannual institutional magazine, will delve into methodologies for leveraging both qualitative and quantitative research to inform a robust magazine branding strategy that maximizes impact. McMurray and Nilsson will emphasize a storytelling-first approach to craft editorial and design plans that resonate, ensuring your magazine becomes a key tool for engagement across stakeholder communities (and, we have to add, a thing of beauty that will linger on coffee tables until the next issue arrives).
Key topics include: building consensus among campus leadership; data-driven decision-making; best practices for cultivating visual identity; and brand journalism as the north star.

Some stories are naturally visual, and when recognized and developed, this visual potential can take the story in new directions, expanding its impact across different mediums. We’ll walk through a case study showing how a story originally intended for the page evolved into a short documentary and photo series, which later sparked an ad campaign. This and other examples will highlight the power of visual storytelling, the process of finding visual metaphors, and the benefits of embracing new ideas when strong visual opportunities arise.

The summer 2024 issue of Hue was unlike any our team has produced to date. We scrapped the features and departments and devoted all 50 pages to the sketchbooks and journals of FIT alumni, faculty, staff, and students. We crowdsourced the entire magazine and created a keepsake that told our college's story in a new and compelling way.
In this session, I will share what we learned from disrupting the whole concept of an alumni publication.
You will learn:
How we came up with the concept and why it worked perfectly for our audience.
How we connected with our community and spread the word about the project.
How we selected the sketchbooks for inclusion to represent the broadest possible cross-section of our community.
How we attained a consistent look for photography with crowdsourced images.
How we collaboratively laid out the whole issue in one afternoon.
How the issue communicates FIT's strategic goals in a fun and engaging way.
You'll walk away with lots of ideas for shaking up your publication and making each issue a surprise.

Our readerships and communities are full of diverse voices with fascinating stories to tell, and editors understand the need to platform under-represented groups. But how do we bridge the gap to actually produce stories that authentically showcase experiences and viewpoints different from our own? This session takes mission statements and messaging concepts and translates them into tactics. Learn how to take stock of the voices in your publications with curiosity rather than shame or blame. Get proven strategies for avoiding common pitfalls and for coaching non-writers to tell their stories in your pages. Learn how to make the case with leadership for the value of amplifying authentic, fresh voices in your publication.

Most editors dodge fundraising stories at every chance. But what if your magazine’s primary purpose is to set the stage for successful fundraising?

Learn how a new foundation magazine delivers results — $1 million and counting — by leaning into stories that prove philanthropy’s impact and connect readers with causes they care about.

This session will show you how to:
• Harness a multichannel content universe
• Ask what readers care about
• Deliver a hyper-tailored editorial mix — different readers see different versions of the print magazine and e-newsletter

Whether you’re editing a traditional alumni magazine or a special-interest title, you’ll learn helpful strategies to start a conversation with readers — and also to stay ahead of the tedious “we’ve got a campaign” stories you’ve avoided for years.

Who’s afraid of the big bad fundraising story? You shouldn’t be.

Even in today's fast-paced digital marketing landscape, content remains king. And who better to craft compelling narratives than the seasoned professionals behind a university magazine?

Discover how TCU Magazine transformed traditional print features into a powerful marketing tool. By partnering with the university's marketing department, we recast existing feature stories into high-impact digital ad campaigns that resonated with audiences far beyond the alumni community.

Without changing our core mission, which will always be to deepen bonds between alumni and institution, we increased TCU Magazine's page views by more then 500%. Learn how this strategy solidified institutional support for the primary print product and ensured ample resources in a time of shrinking budgets.