This document discusses Education Week's live and virtual events, including lessons learned from past live events, strategies for developing spin-off virtual events, and conclusions about best practices. Key points include that editorially-driven virtual events can engage readers, provide opportunities for sponsorship, and mobilize the newsroom if operationalized effectively. Developing spin-off events from live events can build the brand and drive engagement beyond just the event. Successful promotions focus on speakers, attendees, and opportunities for interaction rather than just lectures.

2. Matthew Cibellis
Director of Programming
Live & Virtual Events
Education Week
(301) 280-3191
mcibellis@epe.org

3. 1. Overview
2. Live Event Deep Dive
3. Spin-off! Now It’s Your Turn
4. Virtual Event Deep Dive
5. Conclusion
Today’s Presentation

11. Phila., 2012
RICK HESS, American Enterprise Institute,
with GINNY EDWARDS, Former Editor-in-
Chief of Education Week

12. Jersey City, 2013
CHRIS CERF, Governor
Chris Christie’s
Superintendent of Schools

13. Boston, Fall 2012 Nationally renowned
K-12 speakers

14. What Did We Learn?
1. Sponsor Drop-off: Re-framing the Format
2. Lessons Learned: Content
3. Dwindling Profitability
4. Drop-off in Attendance

15. The Swimsuit Issue of Education Week?

16. The Academy Awards of K-12?

18. 2013 ARNE DUNCAN
Former U.S. Secretary
of Education

19. DEB DELISLE, Former Assistant
U.S. Secretary of Education
GINNY EDWARDS, Former Editor-
in-Chief of Education Week

20. DEB DELISLE, Former Assistant
U.S. Secretary of Education

21. Superintendent GAIL PLETNICK,
Dysart Unified School District, Ariz.
President of American Association
of School Administrators
2014

22. 2015
CHRIS CHATMON, Deputy Chief
of Equity, Oakland Unified
School District

24. 2016

26. 2017

27. JIM ROLLINS, Superintendent
of Springdale Arkansas School
District
MICHELE GIVENS, President
and CEO of Education Week

28. JOHN MARSHALL, Chief Equity
Officer of the Jefferson County
Public Schools
MICHELLE DAVIS, Education
Week Senior Writer

29. Follow the Leader

30. Follow the Leader

31. Follow the Leader Networking Break

32. Quality Counts

33. 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Sponsorship
Cost
for Diamond-
level Sponsors
$12,750 $24,000 $24,000 $27,500 $30,000
Attendance 70 142 208 248 270
Videos
Produced
0 10 13 13 13
Leaders Through the Years

34. Creating Spin-off Events

35. Facebook Live?

36. Live Chats?

37. 1. Attract sponsor dollars
2. Engage your readers and turn
them into paying participants
3. Knowing you have a motivated
reporting staff to lead another
editorially-driven event
Spin-Off Events:

38. Spin-off: Now It’s
Your Turn!

39. • Cheaper
• No travel costs.
• No venue costs.
Virtual Event
• Lower lift on your staff.
• Lighter on the budget.
• Opportunities for
sponsorship.

40. www.edweek.org/go/ESSASummit17
Editorially-Driven
Virtual Summit

41. Bethesda Magazine and
St. Louis Magazine

43. Save-the-Date e-Blast – Dec. 15, 2016

44. Video Content e-Blast – Jan 5, 2017

45. Date Sent Qty. Sent Date: # Sign ups from E-
Blast (Taken From
Brazen Analytics)
Percentage
2/1/2017 271,690 1-Feb 625 0.23%
1/30/2017 428,022 30-Jan 437 0.10%
1/26/2017 255,928 26-Jan 291 0.11%
1/19/2017 203,769 19-Jan 410 0.20%
1/5/2017 209,862 5-Jan 412 0.20%
12/21/2016 336,601 21-Dec 279 0.08%
12/15/2016
Save the Date
198,118 15-Dec 738 0.37%
Total Potential from
Readership
1,903,990 3,192 1.30%
Percentage of registrants from e-Blast 4,380 72.88%
e-Blast Analytics

46. Sponsorship

47. Social Media Promotion
December 5 – January 31

48. December 5, 2016

49. January 12, 2017

50. Live Tweeting #ESSASummit17

51. Follow-Up Communications

53. 0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
12:28 PM12:57 PM1:26 PM 1:55 PM 2:24 PM 2:52 PM 3:21 PM 3:50 PM 4:19 PM 4:48 PM 5:16 PM
Attendance Through the Day
Concurrent Attendees
Attendance
Registered vs. Attended

54. Conclusions
Editorially-driven events when operationalized
effectively within your publishing environment
can:
•Provide your advertisers/sponsors with novel ways to
reach your readers.
•Meaningfully engage your readers and
•Mobilize effectively your newsroom, hungry for meaningful
reader connection.

55. Conclusions (cont.)
Developing “spin-off” events from your live
events, extends revenue opportunities and
reader engagement:
• Builds brand awareness,
• Drives reader engagement beyond the event and/or
the writing, and
• Delivers financial results for the business floor and
audience results for the newsroom.

56. Conclusions (cont.)
Build from your editorial-out, not your advertisers-in.
• Doing so supercharges your content.
• Don’t copy what other publishers are doing, if it’s wrong for
your brand.
• Stick with what your newsroom knows.
• Lean heavily on creating audience interaction—not
lectures, panels, and keynotes.

57. Conclusions (cont.)
Promotions: design social and e-blast around
several key pillars:
Speakers
Attendees
Interactions and activity, not sit-‘n’-learn

58. Matthew Cibellis
Director of Programming
Live & Virtual Events
Education Week
(301) 280-3191
mcibellis@epe.org