Florida Magazine Association - Conference Review

The Florida Magazine Association Board 2013-2014,
minus a few key players.

It's the middle of a long week for me, and I wanted to take a second to write about the fantastic few days I had at the annual Florida Magazine Association conference last week. It's an amazing group of people who attend the conference, and they all joined us during a revolutionary time in the industry. The publishers, writers, art directors and others who attend the conference are the ones who are on the ball. They are craving knowledge on the industry and how to grow themselves as individuals. (I may have a seat on the board of directors, but I'd like to think I am not biased.)

The amazing speakers who joined us are top dogs in the industry right now. Josh Field and Jeff Piersall, founders of SCB Marketing and publishers of SpaceCoast Living and SpaceCoast Business, gave us an inspirational "coaches pep-talk" on evolution and revolution amongst magazines and the industry. Our keynote speaker and CEO of Sandow media, Adam Sandow, emerged from the shadows for a rare talk about how he started New Beauty Magazine during a recession and his methods of expansion during a downed economy.

My favorite talk was with Kristen Standish, publisher of Boston Magazine. Just over a year after the Boston Marathon bombing, she went into descriptive detail about how the staff, who does not normally cover timely news, handled the news-worthy event that hit them so close to home. She talked about how their owner missed being in the middle of the bombing within seconds, and how Kristen heard the blast and began running on the sidewalk while pushing her daughter in a stroller. The issue to be released had just gone to press, and they had to completely stop the presses. The team came together to rebuild the feature and the cover within a few days. The cover lines changed from "Why Everyone Hates Boston", referring to the city's sports teams, to "We Will Finish the Race". (What horrible timing for the original cover lines!) Runners who ran the race were profiled in the feature and their shoes, some still covered in dried blood, were photographed. I feel honored to have heard the story first-hand from someone who was in the heart of it all.

One more thing. I want to take a quick second to thank the board for inviting me to speak about photography. I got rave reviews from everyone who attended, and I am humbled to have shared my knowledge and experience to those who listened. Thank you!

Make sure you sign up next year!
http://www.floridamagazine.org