INN Business Intensive: Audience Development – Texas Tribune

Join the Institute for Nonprofit News and friends for two days of jam-packed best practices on audience development strategies and tactics at The Texas Tribune! Leave with practical takeaways to instill at your newsroom. Sign up now. Limited space available.

Register to either spend two days doing audience development training with our experts or attend an audience development workshop during Day 1 and then attend a tour and hear from The Texas Tribune Leadership Team during Day 2.

AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT TRAINING

DAY 1

Tuesday, September 11, 2018

STRATEGY AND TACTICS FOR NONPROFIT NEWS AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT

Audience development experts Tim Griggs and Shannan Bowen bring you strategic guidance on "audience-funnel discipline"—aka, how to get 'em to come, get 'em to stay, and get 'em to pay. Plus, tactics for how to be most effective managing each stage of the funnel: reaching new audiences, building loyalty, and converting loyalists into paying (and ongoing!) supporters. The session combines lecture, breakout discussions, small group and individual exercises. This is a workshop, so bring your most pressing issues and be prepared (with real data!) to share what's working—and what's not.

DAY 2

Wednesday, September 12, 2018

ONE-ON-ONE COACHING WITH TIM AND SHANNAN

Have a particular set of challenges and need more individualized advice? Talk through whatever issues are most important to your organization right now: Examples could include how to focus on metrics that actually matter, how to better leverage social, how to build sticky email newsletters, or how to handle partnerships to cultivate lasting audiences. These limitedprivate sessions are available for an additional fee. Some time slots overlap with the Texas Tribune visit. Make sure to select this track upon registering.

ABOUT THE TRAINERS

Tim Griggs
Tim Griggs is an independent consultant and advisor to media organizations, digital startups, and foundations. He focuses on helping organizations with entrepreneurship, revenue growth, sustainability, product development, consumer user experience and digital strategy. He’s also the Innovator in Residence at the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas at the University of Texas at Austin. Previously, he was the publisher and chief operating officer for The Texas Tribune. During his tenure at the Tribune, he was the project leader for a 2014-2016 RJI Fellowship where he and a team piloted “growth hacking” (using a rapid test-and-learn technology approach to marketing) to spur digital audience growth. He was previously a product and strategy executive at The New York Times.

Shannan Bowen
Shannan is currently a Lead Product Manager for News at McClatchy. She collaborates with newsroom leaders and journalists from McClatchy's 30 local news organizations to produce digital product strategies that engage audiences and build loyalty. This team of product managers focuses on platforms, newsletters, video, content management systems, content distribution, personalization and engagement with our products. Shannan has previously held other roles including Director of Audience Development at National Journal at Atlantic Media and Director of Audience Engagement for The Hill newspaper, both based in Washington DC.

INN BUSINESS INTENSIVE

THE TEXAS TRIBUNE TOUR AND LEADERSHIP ROUNDTABLE

DAY 2

Wednesday, September 12, 2018

The Texas Tribune has 47 million users, 270 million pageviewsand more than $7 million in annual income and has won more than 50 awards since it began in 2009.

Tour The Texas Tribune office and hear directly from the organization's senior leadership executives about their strategies and successes, including their approach to audience development techniques from targeted to broadening, fundraising strategies including diversifying revenue streams, best practices for scaling up, tips for building a robust events business and more! This is a fantastic opportunity to hear directly from one of INN's largest members and pioneers about what works for creating and growing to one of the largest nonprofit news organizations in the country! Leave with practical takeaways to take back to the newsroom and make some new connections. Make sure you select this track upon registering.

TEXAS TRIBUNE

9:30 — office tour of The Texas Tribune
9:45 - 10:30 —

The Texas Tribune Senior Leadership Roundtable

10-minute intro from Evan Smith
Evan Smith is CEO and co-founder of The Texas Tribune, a pioneering nonprofit, nonpartisan digital news organization whose deep coverage of Texas politics and public policy can be found at its website, texastribune.org, in newspapers and on TV and radio stations across the state, and in the print and online editions of the Washington Post. Since its launch in 2009, the Tribune has won international acclaim and numerous honors, including a Peabody Award, thirteen national Edward R. Murrow Awards from the Radio Television Digital News Association and three general excellence awards from the Online News Association.

10-minute strategic plan roll-out from Emily Ramshaw
Emily Ramshaw is editor-in-chief of The Texas Tribune. Under her leadership, the Tribune has won a Peabody Award, nine national Edward R. Murrow Awards, IRE's Gannett Award for Innovation in Watchdog Journalism and eight honors from the Online News Association.

10-minute sponsorship and development convo with April Hinkle and Terry Quinn
April Hinkle spent more than 20 years at Texas Monthly, stepping down as publisher in May 2010. During her tenure, she positioned the publication as one of the top 10 monthly publications in the country based on total advertising pages and was also instrumental in the launch of texasmonthly.com and its ongoing development.

Terry Quinn is a fifth-generation Texan and a graduate of The University of Texas at Austin. She has worked as a volunteer and professional for over 20 years to raise funds to support many non-profit organizations in Austin and around Texas, most recently The Nature Conservancy of Texas and The Contemporary Austin. Terry coordinates the activities and outreach to the Circle Level members of The Texas Tribune and the individuals whose philanthropy make the mission of the Tribune possible.

10-minute audience and membership convo with Amanda Zimora
Amanda Zamora leads the Tribune’s audience growth and engagement efforts. A native Texan, Amanda joined the Tribune in 2016 after spending 13 years on the East Coast working for news organizations including The Huffington Post Investigative Fund, The Washington Post and ProPublica.

10-minute events discussion with Agnes Varnum
Agnes Varnum joined the Tribune events team after five years in membership and marketing at the Austin Film Society. Before moving to Texas, Agnes held positions with Icarus Films, the Center for Social Media at American University and as a freelance writer for Indiewire.com and Documentary magazine.

10:30-11:15 Q&A with INN Members and discussion