Block By Block Home | Hotel and Parking Information | Participants | Recorded Sessions
Note: The Block by Block summit agenda is built based on what online community news publishers told us they most want to learn about at the conference.
We will live stream all general sessions here and will live stream two sessions during each breakout on Live Stream Channel 1 and Live Stream Channel 2.
Thursday, Sept. 13
Pre-session: New research about local news in Chicago (Watch Live Here)
2-4 p.m. - All Block by Block participants are also invited to attend a special Chicago Community Trust pre-conference event, where researchers from Northwestern University, Community Media Workshop and Syndio Social will release the results of major research studies about local online community news in Chicago.
Reception and Registration
6 p.m. - Avenue Crowne Plaza Hotel, 160 E Huron, Chicago, Illinois, 60611, Chicago
Dinner (Watch Live Here)
7 p.m. - Avenue Crowne Plaza
Stories From the Field – In a lightning round of brief talks, five Block by Block publishers tell about successes and challenges of the past year.
Moderators: Michele McLellan and Jay Rosen
Friday, Sept. 14
Regents Hall (16th Floor), Loyola University (111 East Pearson St) - All day
9-10:15 a.m. - The Pivot Point (Watch Live Here)
Strong local journalism gets you started, but savvy business practices keep you going. As BxB sites mature, more publishers are making the pivot from running on passion to running a business. In this session, a panel of publishers will share how they are making that turn, how they've changed the ways they think about their site and what works for them.
Panelists: Rusty Coats, Coats2Coats.
David Boraks, DavidsonNews.net and CorneliusNews.net
Denise Civiletti, Riverhead Local
Amy Senk, Corona Del Mar Today
Tracey Taylor, Berkeleyside
10:30 a.m.- 11:45 a.m. - Closing the Deal - and Keeping it Closed (Watch Live Here)
Eleanor Cippel has mad sales skills. She'll share her knowledge on the care and feeding of advertisers: How to close a sale, and then keep that advertiser happy.
Presenter: Eleanor Cippel, E.W. Scripps
11:45 a.m -12:45 p.m. - Lunch. Regents Hall (16th Floor), Loyola University
1:00 - 2:15 p.m. - Breakouts Sessions Round 1. Details Below.
- Business basics - Emily Lowery, Magic City Post (Live Streamed on Channel 1)
- Choosing the right partner - Joe Michaud, Local Interactive Strategies
- Real metrics: Grow and manage your numbers - Susan Mernit, Oakland Local
- Tech tools for community publishers - Kenny Katzgrau and John Crepezzi, Broadstreet Ads (Live Streamed on Channel 2)
Business Basics
Emily Lowery
Details matter in business success. This session will focus on the practices and tools you need to keep your business running, from daily bookkeeping to building a budget.
Choosing the Right Partner
Joe Michaud
What do you do when you’ve taken your site as far as you can on your own? This session will focus on identifying potential partners, what the dating process looks like and how you decide to take the plunge.
Real Metrics: Grow and Manage your Numbers
Susan Mernit
What if you don't have a Google Analytics jockey on staff to help understand the data? Which metrics are really the ones to look at to make decisions about your site? In this hands-on, real-case workshop, find out how to use Google Analytics to build a 12-month growth plan, how to work with metrics to focus your editorial, and how to manage and evaluate your referral traffic.
Tech Tools for Community Publishers
Kenny Katzgrau and John Crepezzi
An overview of inexpensive software and platform plugins that can help publishers lower their costs, increase their traffic, and build revenue without breaking the bank.
2:30-3:45 p.m. - Breakouts sessions Round 2. Details below.
- Revenue – beyond advertising - Ben Ilfeld, Sacramento Press & AdGlue, and Howard Owens, The Batavian
- The discipline to succeed - Rusty Coats, Coats2Coats (Live Streamed on Channel 1)
- Local journalism and search engines - Andy Crestodina, Orbit Media
- Building your team - Emily Lowery, Magic City Post and Joe Michaud, Local Interactive Strategies (Live Streamed on Channel 2)
Revenue – Beyond Advertising
Ben Ilfeld, Sacramento Press & AdGlue, and Howard Owens, The Batavian
An overview of supplemental revenue sources - affiliates, shopping platforms, social/reseller programs, ad networks.
The Discipline to Succeed
Rusty Coats
Every small business operator begins with an idea and passion. Those who succeed figure out the difference between being a business and running a business. This session will focus on the discipline of running your business so that it doesn't run you.
Local Journalism and Search Engines
Andy Crestodina
Journalists can take advantage of the basic search engine techniques that marketers have been using for years. This session will cover on keyphrases, how to choose them and how to use them. Taking 15 minutes to research phrases and using those phrases in certain ways can make the difference between an article that is read that week and an article that is discovered in search engines and read thousands of times over years
Building your Team
Emily Lowery
One of the toughest issues maturing sites face is hiring well, then training your staff to ensure success. Emily and Joe will share tips for hiring, retaining and compensating your team.
4:00-5:15 p.m.- Breakouts sessions Round 3. Details below.
- Turning prospects into dollars - Eleanor Cippel (Live Streamed on Channel 1)
- The money in mobile - Amy Gahran, Oakland Local (Live Streamed on Channel 2)
- Business basics (repeat) - Emily Lowery, Magic City Post
- Choosing the right partner (repeat) - Joe Michaud, Local Interactive Strategies
Turning Prospects into Dollars
Eleanor Cippel
Building a customer base doesn't happen by chance; you have to track your leads and your customers to understand their needs and how to translate meeting those needs into cash for you. This session focuses on free and low-cost solutions for customer relationships management (CRM).
The Money in Mobile
Amy Gahran
Mobile is the key to growing your audience. How can you adapt your business model to capitalize on this opportunity? Learn how mobile can be a viable part of your mix of revenue streams.
Business Basics (Repeat)
Emily Lowery
Details matter in business success. This session will focus on the practices and tools you need to keep your business running, from daily bookkeeping to building a budget.
Choosing the Right Partner (repeat)
Joe Michaud
What do you do when you’ve taken your site as far as you can on your own? This session will focus on identifying potential partners, what the dating process looks like and how you decide to take the plunge.
5:30-6:00 p.m. - Organize Unconference (Watch Live Here)
Saturday, Sept. 15
Regents Hall (16th Floor), Loyola University
9-9:15 a.m. - Opening remarks. Michele McLellan (Watch Live Here)
9:30-10:45 a.m. - Unconference breakouts. - Unconference sessions will be determined on-site based on participant requests.
(Live Streamed on Channel 1)
(Live Streamed on Channel 2)
Suggest topics! We’ll set up a board in the main meeting area at Loyola where you can post additional topics. We’ll post and discuss the lineup before we close on Friday.
Knight News
Innovation Lab – What We’re Working On
Representatives of the lab will discuss and show demos of
projects they have been developing for journalists and online publishers and
they will solicit feedback and ideas for additional projects from session
participants. Rich Gordon, Larry Birnbaum.
11 a.m.-noon - Closing remarks. Jay Rosen, Michele McLellan (Watch Live Here)
