(Or, IT’S THE AUDIENCE, STUPID) Serve and empower (Or, IT’S THE AUDIENCE, STUPID)

Who is @adviserdavid? Academics editor, Crimson White, University of Alabama, 1977-1978 Reporter/editor, The Tuscaloosa News, The Selma Times Journal, 1978-1982 Reporter/editor/assistant bureau chief, The Associated Press, 1982-1999 Editor/crime reporter, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 1999-2009 Georgia Perimeter College, coordinator of student publications, 2009-2012 Georgia Southern University, director of student media, 2014-

Simon Sinek (Find him on YouTube)

Why are we here? Start here. Sure. But it’s not just “inform people.” But it’s not just “inform people.”

Why are we here? We build community.

Jeff Jarvis says ... I believe that we must shift not only from print to digital but also from volume to value, building relationships with people based on relevance. The way we will do that is to listen to the communities we serve — communities of geography, interest, demography, or use case — and then find new ways to help them answer their needs and meet their goals with the tools we now have and the new products we make.

We build community We engage and inform our audience.

We build community Those engaged, informed students make a better university and a better world.

We build community How do we do it?

How do we do it? We engage our audience every day.

We engage students who ... would never look at “campus news” on their phone but will read our print newspaper.

We engage students who ... would never pick up a newspaper -- but will accept one if we hand it to them.

don’t know us -- but will look at something interesting We engage students who ... don’t know us -- but will look at something interesting if it’s shared by a friend.

We engage students ... at campus events.

talking to them every day. We engage students ... by interviewing and talking to them every day.

We tell students' stories with words, photography, video and design. We make connections We tell students' stories with words, photography, video and design.

We celebrate diversity because our audience and the world are diverse. We make connections We celebrate diversity because our audience and the world are diverse.

Traditional student newspapers fail at all of this. Bad news Traditional student newspapers fail at all of this.

#collegemediafail We don’t really care if anybody reads us. Or at least we behave that way.

Old model WHAT: Articles HOW: Writers WHY: Assumed readers

New model WHY: Build community HOW: Engage WHAT: A lot

Now what? Print distribution. Print presentation. New content EVERY DAY. Social - be part of the conversation EVERY DAY. Physical (IRL!) interaction with audience EVERY DAY. Video EVERY DAY. Events.

7 people x $10 = $70 per edition How else can advertisers do this? Hand out the newspaper! Press run = 5,500 Street Team hands out 2,800 7 people x $10 = $70 per edition How else can advertisers do this?

traditional newspapers? Print presentation Does our audience read traditional newspapers?

NO Nielsen, 2014

Millennials more than Boomers read: “women’s magazines like Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire and Vogue, music magazines like Rolling Stone, technology magazines like Wired …” --Nielsen Company, 2014

Those magazines look like this ...

… and this .

So why do we look like this?

OK, your cover is better than this. What about inside pages?

Who reads blobs of text? NOBODY.NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY.NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY.NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY.NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY.NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY.NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY.NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY.NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY.NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY.NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY.NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY.NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY.NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY.NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY.NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY. NOBODY.

These are great stories! But ... These are great stories!

So we can just blame our designers? NO. Try not being so boring. Boring article format Boring writing

Is cancer important? Your story: “When you go to the beach this summer … “ So many paragraphs

Most popular WashPo digital headline EVER 7 million views Would your editors write that headline? Source: Emilio Garcia-Ruiz, Washington Post managing editor for digital, speech to Digital Journalism Conference, 3/10/16, reported by http://www.icfj.org/blogs/washington-posts-emilio-garcia-ruiz-shares-tips-successful-news-business-model

And it’s not just print. EVERY DAY: New content Be part of conversation on social media Interact PHYSICALLY Video Lions and tigers and bears ...

I know what you’re thinking! THIS WILL NEVER WORK

Simpson’s Law of Print Gravitational Pull If any part of a student’s job is the print newspaper, print will be their top and often only priority. If you rely on them for anything else, you will fail.

Hey, I’m not failing -- am I? Are you doing everything you would do to engage your digital audience if you did not have a print newspaper? If not, you are failing.

video Which brings us to ... VIDEO!

OMG, how are we supposed to do this? Restructure. The same people can’t do everything. Move jobs from print to digital.

OMG, how are we supposed to do this? Let print be print! Leaner and meaner, focused on a few high-quality elements.

But how do you fill the newspaper? Create a digital-only staff to produce content every day. That feeds your newspaper.

Part of Print’s job is to curate/package Digital output. The Circle of Content Part of Print’s job is to curate/package Digital output. Part of Digital’s job is great digital rollout of Print content.

The first time we created a Digital Division, we got this thecirclegsu.com The first time we created a Digital Division, we got this

If you’re imagining gear and software, STOP Your students take video on their phones. ALL. THE. TIME.

If you have ONE editor to run it ... … you can start a video operation now.

Give your video staff ONE job: Post one video every day by lunch.

Physical engagement: Events Not just “yay, First Amendment” Revenue-producing: Spring Break, etc. Build readership. (In my case, magazine.)

Physical engagement: “Studio” .