In alumni magazines, there’s no bigger award than the Sibley. And this year, I was thrilled to see HBS Alumni Bulletin take home the crown. I’ve written for the publication several times over the years, and they run an A+ shop — high standards, great ideas, and (from my perspective at least) a smoothly running […]
Every conference I go to, I hear about the death of print publications at colleges. When I first heard that schools were ditching their print publications years ago, I thought I understood why. Digital was the waaaaaaave of the fuuuuuture! Focusing on cool websites and social media posts and videos made sense. These kinds of […]
Recently, Skidmore’s Mary Monigan weighed in on the pros and cons of ditching your printed alumni magazine based on her school’s experience — as well as a survey she conducted of more than 40+ institutions. If you missed it, you can read the full interview here. Today, I’m excited to share a story from Lynette […]
Do you really need print magazines for your alumni? It’s a controversial idea to ditch a magazine entirely. But there are plenty of rational reasons to consider it. Your school’s website is as close to your alumni as the phones in their pockets. You can send email newsletters to thousands of alumni as frequently as […]
Head down on big projects? I know the feeling. Still, it’s worth it to take the occasional breather to see what other folks are doing and to get new ideas. Here are some cool things worth your time this week. • Focused ambition. When a lot of us think about ambitious pieces in our publications, […]
Do you publish your print magazine and put its stories online after it arrives in most of your readers’ mailboxes? If so, your process looks a lot like many — perhaps most! — alumni publications. But is it possible that you’ve got the process exactly backwards? Recently I was at a breakfast where editors were […]
At many schools, telling stories about the great research that faculty members are doing is essential and alumni magazines are a great place to showcase this work. Unfortunately, getting faculty to share research papers and journal articles can feel like pulling teeth. It doesn’t have to be that way. What it looks like when faculty […]
One of the challenges of putting together a major feature package for alumni magazines — on a new campaign, on alumni in the food industry, or on the future of higher education, for example — is finding a structure that gives all the different pieces a sense of coherence within the whole. Certainly, putting together […]
One of the most frustrating parts of working in magazines is trying to get enough feedback to fill a letters page. On Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, getting a figurative thumbs up is no more difficult than the push of a button. And it’s so satisfying to get dozens of “likes” within minutes of posting a […]
As a writer for alumni magazines, one of my favorite times of year is the announcement of the CASE Circle of Excellence Awards. I love seeing what creative work colleges are doing, and I try to learn from some of the very best ideas and adapt those ideas for my own clients. For alumni magazines, of […]
Capstone helps schools create more effective print magazines through action plans, strategic storytelling, and online courses.