Our Process
Conference communications are not just a portion of what we do. They’re the reason CustomNEWS was founded – and the reason we’re thriving decades later. We continue to adapt with the rapidly changing times, applying long-held processes and best practices to meetings of all kinds, whether in person, virtual or hybrid.
Before the Event
Advance planning is the key to success.
Pulling together a conference – whether onsite, virtual or hybrid – takes significant staff time and effort. Even though a show daily might seem like a good idea, it might also feel like just too much.
That’s where CustomNEWS comes in. We run the gamut from done-for-you to done-with-you production services, so your staff can be as hands-on or hands-off as they like. That’s one of the first areas we’ll tackle in our early planning meetings: Are you looking for a turnkey solution? Will the staff want to be involved in every aspect? Or somewhere in between?
Ideally, an advertising and editorial conference call or meeting takes place between client staff and CustomNEWS three to six months prior to the event. On the agenda: rates, advertising sales strategies/timetables and an editorial game plan for issues before, during and after the event.
Live, onsite show dailies make up the majority of what we do. If that’s in your plan, an editorial/production conference call will take place between the client and CustomNEWS staff six weeks before the event. During this call, we’ll discuss and onsite logistical needs, including requirements for the press room setup.
Three weeks before the event, CustomNEWS will prepare advance pages. The client will send over available copy, and story priorities and placement are provided in list form.
Two weeks before the event, the client and CustomNEWS will finalize ad sales, issue sizes, advance pages, color specifications and the last batch of advance editorial copy.
Ten days before the event, proofs of advance pages are reviewed and approved by the client, and sent to the printer for production.
For live, onsite show dailies, the CustomNEWS staff will arrive the day before the event to set up, confirm last-minute coverage changes, and get ready to coordinate all the elements that will make your show daily publication precisely what you want it to be.
During the Event
Each organization has unique needs – and unique capacity.
CustomNEWS show dailies are always published at our clients’ busiest times. During a convention, the staff is already tasked to the hilt, involved in many other important things.
That’s why CustomNEWS’ turnkey conference communications services are a popular solution. Our experienced and dedicated CustomNEWS production team can manage the project with very little involvement from your staff, particularly at the meeting itself. This could include any (or all) components: advertising sales, reporting, writing, photography, design, printing and distribution. We’d require only a single association staff member to act as a liaison. That person could work with us as little as an hour a day, mostly during final proofing and to answer the occasional question.
Some organizations – especially those with a larger staff – want more direct involvement with the dailies. CustomNEWS is happy to integrate your contributions into the mix, whether onsite or virtually. Sometimes, publication editors will contribute an article or two, or they’ll edit all the copy written by our staff. Your involvement just makes the publication that much better.
We frequently work with in-house advertising sales operations or with outside ad reps who already work for you. We’ll structure an agreement that makes sense for your operations – not make you accept some cookie-cutter arrangement that a vendor wants.
We also frequently work with trade publishers, both association-based and others, who view show dailies as a full extension of their other publications. In this case, the client will have handled advertising sales, and during the event, the editorial staff actively contributes to coverage. CustomNEWS works alongside, providing expert production assistance, printing and distribution coordination.
CustomNEWS has resources and connections in virtually every convention city in the country. We’re ready to help you meet your show daily goals and objectives, regardless of how understaffed (and overstressed) you may be.
After the Event
It’s not over, just because it’s over.
Post-event highlight issues, whether print or digital, are highly popular with event attendees. They also provide an additional opportunity to encourage engagement, bring in additional ad revenues, and extend learnings from the event into the future. We’ll work with you to provide just the right mix of coverage for the final issues, including the ability to include video.
Then it will be time to put those feet up and revel in an event – and show daily – well done.
“CustomNEWS is our eyes and ears in the marketplace, seeing what works and what doesn’t, and bringing solutions that will work for us.”
Paul Graller
Vice President
Hall-Erickson