Webinar explores how Canadian magazine media brands are adapting to digital landscape

Magazines Canada is offering another of their ad webinar series on March 31 at 2 p.m.

The focus of  "Magazine Media Brands in the digital age" is how Canadian magazine media brands are adapting to the ever-evolving digital landscape. Representatives from Cottage Life, Today's Trucking and Chatelaine will present case studies across both print and digital platforms., discussing strategies about working with agencies and advertisers, as well as lessons learned. The free webinar (capacity is limited) is designed for those in sales, editorial, media planning and publishing.

Panelists are:

• Haley Overland, Senior Editor, Social Media,Chatelaine 
• Dan Robinson, Director, Digital Marketing, Newcom (Today's Trucking)
• Sue Haas, Director, Digital Media Operations, Cottage Life
• Moderator: Sharon McAuley

Mags Canada presents free webinar on making the most of digital editions and their advertising

Magazines Canada is offering a free webinar on February 26 called Making the Most of Advertising on Tablet Editions. The expert presenters are Jessica Ross, tablet publishing manager of TC Media and Sylvain Coutu, director of operations at TVA. Moderator is Sharon McAuley, publisher, marketer and business consultant. Learn how Canadian publishers are making the most of their digital editions.  Registration is online; capacity is limited. 

AMPA conference March 21 offers free webinars and keynote

The Alberta Magazine Publishers Association (AMPA) is offering free live webcasts of some select sessions from its 2014 annual conference on Friday, March 21. These include the 1 p.m. keynote luncheon speech by Andrew Loswsky, talking about how digital is the best thing that ever happened to print. Other free sessions are:

9 – 10:25 a.m. Making Social Media Make Sense for Your Business
Using real-life case studies from media brands using Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest, Jennifer Reynolds (digital media strategist at Reader’s Digest) will teach you to create and maintain a social footprint that fits your publication, and will expand your audience, promote your brand, and drive more revenue. 

10:45 – 12:10 p.m. Business Planning in a Shifting Environment
John Milne (president of Breakwell & Company, a business communications and publishing consulting firm) explores the many factors publishers must keep in mind—from reader research and budgets to platforms and salaries—as they manage today’s challenges and plan for the future. He’ll help clarify priorities, highlight challenges and separate needs from wants.

2 – 3:25 p.m.  Designing for Readers
Matthew Bates (group creative director at Active Interest Media, publishers of award-winning Backpacker magazine) explains why, in an increasingly visual world, readers connect with far more than just the words on the page. Learn how audience research can help guide a redesign process, and how the look of your magazine can speak not only to the readers you have, but also to those you want.

AMPA offering March 3 webinar on data journalism to help accelerate stories

The Alberta Magazine Publishers Association is offering a webinar on data journalism on Monday March 3 from 12 - 1 p.m Mountain Time. with Glen McGregor, a national affairs reporter for the Ottawa Citizen. He'll be talking about how investigative reporters who once used print documents are increasingly turning to electronic data to research stories and will discuss how new stories can emerge from thousands of lines of texts and numbers, and introduce the tools and techniques of data journalism that today's journalists can use to accelerate their stories.

McGregor is a leading advocate for data journalism in Canada, and has taught data skills to journalism students at Algonquin College. He regularly leads hands-on data sessions for the Canadian Association of Journalists.

The webinar fee is $25  for AMPA members and students, $45 regular rate. Register by 10 a.m. March 3 The AMPA rate is also offered to members of  provincial magazine associations: Magazines Association of BC (MABC), Manitoba Magazine  Publishers Association (MMPA), Atlantic Magazines Association (AMA) and L'Association québecoise des éditeurs de magazines (AQEM).

Magazines Canada launches professional development webinar series

Magazines Canada has launched a series of webinars, an initiative to bring professional development to more of its Canada-wide members and non-members alike. The program kicks off May 19 with a seminar by Wayne MacPhail, exploring the potential for magazines of the new iPad. This is followed by a seminar on June 17 with Amber Mac, talking about using social media to grow a magazine brand and on June 29 with a session on copyright with lawyer Warren Sheffer.

The webinars are $25 for members and $35 for non-members of Magazines Canada. A bundle of all three is $60 for members and $80 for non-members. Registration for the sessions closes at noon on the day of the session and the first three webinars all start at 2:00 p.m.

Magazines Canada has been pondering for some time the challenge of delivering professional development to far-flung people, particularly as recent research showed that work demands and travel costs have been making traditional seminars a harder sell, even when done periodically in various cities across the country. A recent study by Kim Pittaway found that there was an appetite for such distance education.

• Magazines on the iPad: Sidebar or Feature Story?
• Getting Social: Using Social Media to Grow Your Brand
• Copyright 101