Long lines and flight cancellations in Chicago… That’s part of the ritual of traveling the conference circuit. Sometimes travel is necessary and desirable (I met my wife at a tradeshow), but for many events a technological and logistical solution would be preferable, such as the one offered by Cnxtd Media Corp. I recently (re)connected with Bill Rutledge, Cnxtd’s Managing Director (and a former Miller Freeman colleague). Bill told me about his company’s Connected Events service, which enables virtual nationwide conferences and tradeshows. Gatherings take place simultaneously in metropolitan areas around the country. In each city, a hotel ballroom is equipped with studios and linked by live audio and video, with Webcasting and interactive technologies. Conference speakers have face-to-face contact with the audience. Exhibitors can present on a broadcast schedule. Event producers can expand their reach while reducing cost. Attendees get the benefit of human contact plus the ability to learn and interact at a distance. That looks like a win for both. (Somebody invite me to a Connected Event so I can try one out. DMK)
Terrella Media’s David M. Kalman has announced he is now partnering with Minnick Web Services LLC as Product Manager/ePublishing. In this role, Kalman will direct new business development for Minnick’s eBook/eMag services. He will also contribute to Minnick’s ePublishing product strategy.
Designed for prominent sponsor and/or producer branding.
While publishing Intelligent Enterprise Magazine at Miller Freeman a decade ago, Kalman was one of Minnick’s first eBook customers. Since then, Minnick has produced more than 500 eBooks and eMags for several publishers.
Kalman says, “A Minnick eBook or eMag provides a Flash-based page-turning interface that supports a variety of media. While it may look similar to other ‘flip-book’ readers, there are critical differences behind the scenes. First, Minnick provides turn-key service. A publisher simply provides source documents (HTML files, Word docs, or PDFs) and Minnick designs, builds, and hosts the eBook. Second, a Minnick eBook provides integrated audience management including registration, tracking, and reporting.”
eBooks can be customized easily to match your brand.
Because a publisher can include qualifying questions in the registration process, a Minnick eBook serves as an ideal lead-generating tool. Publishers can aggregate a few articles on a specific topic, sell a sponsorship around the topic, deploy and promote the eBook, and then share the registration data (qualified leads) with the sponsor. With low overhead and fast turnaround, sponsors see immediate ROI. Minnick eBooks have generated from hundreds to thousands of leads.
Minnick Web Services is now offering a no-risk eBook trial. Contact David M. Kalman, 650-270-6712 or email dkalman@terrella.com.
CA-Modern magazine serves the owners of Eichler homes and other mid-century modern homes across California. This is the very definition of niche publishing, connecting sellers and buyers in a highly-targeted market. CA-Modern’s advertisers consist mainly of contractors and manufacturers who specialize in maintaining and remodeling these stylish homes.
CA-Modern can count many success stories among its advertisers, one of its biggest being Bay Area design and construction company Keycon, Inc. Keycon turns to CA-Modern for marketing programs that keep business flowing its way, and this includes print advertising, Web advertising, event support, and other programs customized to Keycon’s needs. This is what publishing is all about…. bringing people together.
In that vein, I’ll take this opportunity to announce a new Keycon event: If you own an Eichler or other mid-century modern home, you’re invited to attend Keycon’s Eichler Remodeling Faire, May 16, 2009. Find more on the event landing page at: http://EichlerFaire.eventbrite.com. Hope to see you there.
Isuu (pronounced just like “issue”) is a social publishing platform that seems to aspire to be the Youtube of documents. Its strengths include an attractive interface — it converts PDF documents into a surprisingly readable digital editions — and easy-to-use widgets for document sharing and embedding. Its weakness is its production interface, which has serious limitations. First, documents can be either public or private. A private document can be later made public, but a public document cannot be “unpublished” without deleting it. Second, and more seriously, you can’t update a document without deleting and replacing it. Any links to the document or embedded versions of the document are broken. According to a representative responding to a user’s question on the Issuu blog, the company plans to fix this. A blurb on Issuu’s “About” page also indicates that the service is still in beta stage, so we can anticipate that it will change and grow.
Update: Can’t keep up. Issuu now offers Business-class features, and “Platform” capabilities that enable you to customize and program the viewer, and use a new search API. I see Issuu gaining momentum, and customers. I would hate to be competing against them.
Updated 3/5/2009
