• 2009 "Build Your Business" Conference highlights •

"The New Marketing 101: Using Today’s Technology to Attract Tomorrow’s Clients"

September 25 and 26, Staybridge Suites-Rochester University, Rochester, NY

We had a great time at this year's conference, learning how to use today’s online and social networking tools to make our business ventures stand out from the crowd, get known and recognized, and grow in today’s competitive marketplace, and overcoming much of our confusion about how best to use things like Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook to promote our business efforts.

Neil Hair, PhD, internationally known expert on social media trends, applications and branding; assistant professor of Marketing, Rochester Institute of Technology/E. Philip Saunders College of Business (http://www.neilhair.com/), preesnted the keynote session on “Personal Branding in the New Age” and wrapped up at the end of the event with "homework" assignments for participants - several of whom launched their brand-new Twitter accounts and enhanced their LinkedIn profiles during the conference!

Steve Tylock, author of The LinkedIn Personal Trainer: Using LinkedIn to find, get found, and network your way to success! (http://www.linkedinpersonaltrainer.com), helped participants figure out “Making the Most of LinkedIn as a Marketing Tool: Beyond the Basics.”

Dick Margulis, noted publishing pro and owner of Dick Margulis Creative Services (http://dmargulis.com/), showed us how to use “Self-publishing as Part of a Marketing Plan/Marketing as Part of a Self-Publishing Plan” for our own and our clients' book ideas.

Emily Carpenter, owner of WhizBang! Web Solutions, president of the Rochester Professional Consultants Network (RPCN) and popular blogger and networker (www.whizbangweb.com, http://www.twitter.com/emilycarpenter, http://tr.im/NetworkingMatters), focused on “Using Twitter, Facebook and New Outlets to Market Your Business” - after rescuing a lost dog on her way to the conference!

Neil Hair, Steve Tylock, Emily Carpenter, Dick Margulis

Pre-conference workshop on getting your business started

At “Get Your Business Up & Running,” this year's pre-conference workshop, Communication Central co-owner Ruth E. Thaler-Carter provided the basics on launching a new business, from identifying your product or service to finance concerns to getting the word out when you're ready to open the doors.

Thaler-Carter is author of this year's "Freelancing 101: Launching Your Editorial Business" (http://www.the-efa.org/res/booklets.php#freelancing) and of “Get Paid to Write! Getting Started as a Freelance Writer” (www.writerruth.com) and is a frequent speaker on starting a nonprofit or communications business. She worked in a variety of in-house positions before starting their own businesses, and have great insights to share on how to launch and manage a business, whether with employees or as a freelancer/independent contractor.

More photos and more highlights to come!

2009 conference speaker bios

This year's conference speakers represent a major-league brain trust on today's marketing techniques. Rarely will you find so much expertise under one roof! Whether you need to feel more comfortable with social networking in general; Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn in particulare; or getting your or your clients' experience into print, this is the place to come for how to make it happen.

• Neil Hair, PhD (www.neilhair.com) is an assistant professor in the Saunders Business School of the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and holds Chartered Marketer Status from the Chartered Institute of Marketing; a Ph.D. from the Cranfield School of Management, Cranfield University, United Kingdom; and degrees from the Sheffield and Cardiff university business schools. He teaches classes that focus on the use of the Internet in enhancing business-to-consumer, business-to-business and consumer-to-consumer experiences. Hair is also a co-founder of the Saunders Digital Business Group (http://ritdigient.ning.edu).

Hair’s cutting-edge research looks at how and why people form bonds in electronic communities, as well as brand equity and students’ positive learning experiences. His recent projects include understanding perceptions of advertising and customer value in online social networks such as Myspace and Facebook, personal branding in virtual space, and virtual ethnography in popular online worlds such as Second Life. Hehas received a number of prestigious awards for his teaching and research, including RIT’s highest teaching award for online learning in 2007–’08. He has been awarded several research grants for pursuing pedagogy research, including teaching the world’s first program on the commercialization of Second Life.

Hair is also a fully trained Professional Bartender, certified in the state of New York.

• Emily Carpenter, the owner of Whizbang! Web Solutions/Whizbang Marketing (www.whizbangweb.com), president of the Rochester Professional Consultants Network (www.rochesterconsulting.com) and co-founder of FreeNet, is a business owner, avid networker and lifelong learner who is known as a topnotch networker and social media pro. She often helps colleagues navigate Facebook, Twitter and other new ways to communicate with current and prospective clients. Her blog for the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle newspaper (http://tr.im/NetworkingMatters) offers networking trends, tips and techniques. She can be followed on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/emilycarpenter.

• Dick Margulis (http://dmargulis.com/), owner of Dick Margulis Creative Services, has nearly half a century of experience in putting words on paper for publication. He has written, edited, designed, and printed publications and books of all kinds, for corporate clients, nonprofits, large and small publishers, and individual clients. Since starting Dick Margulis Creative Services in 2004, he has specialized in helping individuals establish their own publishing imprints to publish high-quality books.

Margulis’s popular blog, words / myth / ampers & virgule (www.ampersandvirgule.com), is a resource for self-publishing authors, although it sometimes strays from its main topics of writing, editing, typographic design, web design and publishing.

• Steve Tylock (http://www.linkedinpersonaltrainer.com) is the author of The LinkedIn Personal Trainer: Using LinkedIn to find, get found, and network your way to success! He has used LinkedIn on a regular basis since it was a fraction of its current size and has found that it supports the adages that “It’s what you know,” “it’s whom you know” and “it’s who knows you.” Tylock consults with organizations and businesses that wish to improve their information technology environments.

• 2008 conference highlights •

Our 3rd annual “Build Your Communications Business” conference, “Look Professional in Print, Online and in Person,” held September 26-27, 2008, in Rochester, NY, was a great experience! Participants got excellent information on how to use Word more effectively for writing and editing from Jack Lyon of the Editorium (www.editorium.com) in the pre-conference workshop on Sept. 26, and his conference keynote address on the morning of Sept. 27.Judy Shenouda of Shenouda Associates Inc., Rochester, NY, provided new ideas for effective branding and promotions; Merry Bruns of ScienceSites Communications, Washington, DC, demonstrated how to write effective Web content; and Rich Adin of Freelance Editorial Services/wordsnSync, Poughkeepsie, NY, had dynamite tough-talking tips on making a higher income from editorial work.

The recurring comment about Jack's workshop was "This one tip/answer/method alone made it worth coming to this program!" There are few more satisfying reactions to providing colleagues with a service such as this workshop - that's why we at Communication Central do this.

No matter what kind of work you do, you probably use Microsoft Word to do it. This year's preconference workshop was an unprecedented opportunity to make the most of Word using tools created by Jack for his company, the Editorium, which creates and maintains the programs that colleagues need—“specialized programs that a large company wouldn’t touch and that the Editorium created “because we needed them for our own work.” Along with a strong emphasis on working efficiently, the session reinforced the value of Editorium time-saving tools and approaches for those who do serious, substantive editing.

Jack Lyon's impressive new book debuted at Communication Central conference -
even Jack hadn't seen it in print until he arrived at the conference! Autographed copies were a hot commodity.

The Editorium’s most popular programs include:
• Editor’s ToolKit Plus—comprehensive editing suite of the tools to take a publication from raw manuscript to finished files ready for typesetting).
• Editor’s ToolKit—powerful tools for editing in Microsoft Word.
• FileCleaner—cleans up common typographical problems in electronic manuscripts.
• NoteStripper—strips embedded, automatically numbered notes as numbered text to the end of a document (while retaining italics and other formatting), or converts text notes into embedded, automatically-numbered ones; can strip notes inline with typesetting codes for various typesetting programs; can strip notes to and from the ends of sections and ends of documents; provides a variety of other tools to make working with notes a snap.
• QuarkConverter—converts edited Word documents into XPressTag files that can be imported into QuarkXPress while retaining style names and character formatting; fixes hyphenation and other typographical problems; provides cross-platform character conversion from PC to Mac or Mac to PC; converts Word index entries into QuarkXPress index entries.

At the conference itself, Jack Lyon's opening keynote remarks provided inspiration about the value and rewards of figuring out what you want to do, who you really are, and how to go about making your life reflect those realizations.

An unexpected treat - Jack Lyon entertains the crowd (left) (see it live at: http://tinyurl.com/n6hmmb)
before providing insights into the economics of book publishing (right).

Judy Shenouda, Rich Adin and Merry Bruns (left to right) provide tips and techniques.

More conference presentation highlights to come!

• The 2007 "Build Your Communications Business" Conference •

We had a great time at the second annual "Build Your Communications Business" conference, held on September 28 & 29, 2007, in Rochester, NY, with two pre-conference workshops on Sept. 28 – one on Acrobat Pro 8 and one on information design – and a full day of conference programming on Sept. 29, featuring continental breakfast, an opening panel, two concurrent morning sessions, a networking luncheon, two sets of two concurrent afternoon sessions each, and a closing reception. There was a Business Development track and a Practical Skills track for each concurrent session timeframe. Topics included launching a business, marketing and promoting that business, onscreen editing techniques, writing for the Web, coping with work-related stress, and more. Popular Rochester-based presenters were joined by prestigious speakers from DC, Montreal, Seneca Falls and Poughkeepsie, representing the software powerhouse Adobe, maker of Acrobat, and a variety of communications businesses.

Lori DeFurio of Adobe has pre-conference workshop morning participants enthralled with Acrobat Pro 8 capabilities.

In the afternoon pre-conference workshop, Geoff Hart explains what it takes to design documents that people will use as you intended.

At the opening session, Victoria Posner outlines key business details of value to new and existing communications businesses.

Merry Bruns weighs ways to make Web content more effective.

Rich Adin explains how to make an editorial business a well-paying proposition.

Jill Marie shows off a lunch entree both elegant and delicious - the food was a big hit at this event!

Great giveaways!

Among the giveaways at this year's "Build Your Communications Business" conference were a signed copy of the new book by Word guru Hilary Powers, Making Word Work for You: An Editor's Intro to the Tool of the Trade, just published by the Editorial Freelancers Association (www.the-efa.org); a free subscription to Byline magazine from publisher Robbi Hess; a copy of Acrobat Pro8 courtesy of Adobe's Lori DeFurio; and custom chocolates and a variety of other promotional items from presenter Rich Adin, as inspiration for marketing a business. Packets included recent issues of the Editorial Eye newsletter and of Byline and the brand-new FPO magazines.

Handouts included these samples of promotional materials - a folder, bookmarks, business card and brochure - from tech business owner and editor Judy Shenouda:

Speakers

The 2007 conference featured business owner/marketing pro Rich Adin (www.Freelance-Editorial-Services.com) • Web-writing trainer Merry Bruns (www.sciencesitescom.com) • Lori DeFurio of Adobe • Tech writer and editor Geoff Hart (www.geoff-hart.com) • Business owner/editor Judy Shenouda (www.easescommunication.com) • Business coach Victoria Posner (www.bizplanrx.com) • and Communication Central co-owners Ruth E. Thaler-Carter (www.writerruth.com) and Kat Nagel (www.masterworkconsulting.com). A special thank you to Victoria Posner, who provided nametags and tent cards for the event.

Adin • Bruns • DeFurio • Hart • Shenouda

About our speakers

Rich Adin has earned a mid-six-figure income from his copyediting services every year for the past 20 years. He started Freelance Editorial Services (FES; www.freelance-editorial-services.com) in 1984 as a part-time business to provide copy editing and desktop publishing services to publishers and has devoted full time to FES since 1991. In 2007, Adin formed wordsnSync Ltd to develop and market editorial enhancement services for freelancers, authors and publishers.

Merry Bruns of Washington, DC, is a renowned online content strategist, Web editor and Web-writing trainer who focuses on communicating Web content to readers clearly and effectively. As principal of ScienceSites Communications (www.sciencesites.com), she has been producing and editing websites since 1994 for business, government, educational and science organization clients.

Lori DeFurio (www.adobe.com) has worked with Adobe Acrobat software for more than 11 years at Adobe, first as a systems engineer involved with the sales team and then as the Acrobat/PDF technical evangelist. Now, she works closely with the Acrobat User Community, writing a blog at blogs. adobe.com/loridefurio and a column at www.acrobatusers.com, and traveling around the world to help people get the most out of Adobe Acrobat.

Geoff Hart (http://www.geoff-hart.com) of Montreal, Canada, is author of the new e-book, Effective onscreen editing: new tools for an old profession, and has been a fulltime independent consultant since 2004, providing developmental and substantive editing, with a specialization in the sciences. He has worked extensively with authors for whom English is a second language, as well as with government and corporate clients.

Kat Nagel is a tech writer/editor, computer coach, and the owner of MasterWork Consulting Services, a technical communications company that offers writing, editing, web development and computer coaching services (www.masterworkconsulting.com). She has worked with PayChex, Kodak, Xerox and other major players in technology. She is also co-owner of Communication Central (www.communication-central.com).

Victoria Posner, owner of BizPlan Rx (www.bizplanrx.com), runs business planning and financial management workshops for entrepreneurs; is a frequent speaker at Small Business Administration, Chambers of Commerce, SCORE, etc., events; and writes about small business. She has worked for Chase Manhattan Bank in commercial lending; designed training for the Treasury Department; and served on non-profit, small-business loan funds.

Before starting Shenouda Associates Inc. (www.easescommunication.com) in 1986, Judy Shenouda taught English and Language Arts at the secondary, post-secondary and college levels; provided academic support and career services at the college level; and worked as a freelance writer. She is a senior member of the Society for Technical Communication (STC) and active in Toastmasters.

Ruth E. Thaler-Carter (www.writerruth.com), co-owner of Communication Central (www.communication-central.com), is an award-winning freelance writer and editor whose motto is "I can write about anything!"™; speaker on starting and managing a freelance writing/editing business, as well as other topics; author/publisher of a booklet on “Get Paid to Write! Getting Started as a Freelance Writer”; and author of “Getting Started as an Editorial Freelancer,” to be published this year by the Editorial Freelancers Association.

For a PDF of speaker bios, click here. For greater detail about these stellar presenters and their businesses, go to their individual websites, noted above.

Conference sessions (in alphabetical order)

A Practical Agenda for Dealing with Work-related Stress
Handling stress can be a real challenge for freelancers and business owners, especially when trying to balance the demands of your own business with those of family commitments. Get practical tips on reducing that stress and achieving that balance.

Business Strategies to Make a 6-Figure Income as an Editor
Get to the heart of the matter: the practical aspects of making more money as a communicator. Find out why it’s worth learning to use macros in editing; why the average editor makes more money than the best editor; what your service is really worth in today’s marketplace and ways to combat that reality; and why equipment and software matter.

Designing Documents that People Really Read and Use (pre-conference workshop; available separately)
Learn all about: how readers read, and the implications for writing; how viewers view, and the implications for graphics; the “art” and science of combining words and graphics; how to create effective visual designs; and how to confirm that those designs meet the needs of your audience.

Essence of Effective Editing
Transferring editing skills into the onscreen environment is often challenging. Ease your transition from paper and pick up proven tips and tricks to maximize productivity and effectiveness. This session is based on the new e-book, Effective onscreen editing, based on 20 years of experience as an editor and mentoring other editors.

Getting Over the Fear of Getting Business and Making Money
Learn the ins and outs of marketing, and how to overcome the fear of marketing. Open your eyes to essentials for marketing in today’s global market — the website, the domain and e-mail; what it takes to run a business as a business; and how to compete against off-shoring through smart marketing practices and collaboration.

Getting Started and Keeping Going - Do You Have What It Takes?
Learn about the personal characteristics essential for success, vital aspects of planning and setting up your business, finding markets and clients, financing basics, and more. Even those already in business will learn about ways to be more targeted, effective and profitable.

Making the Most of Acrobat Pro8 (pre-conference workshop; available separately)
The Acrobat software program from Adobe is one of the most valuable and increasingly widely used tools for editors and proofreaders, as well as graphic artists, tech writers and editors, secretaries and assistants - anyone responsible for producing and disseminating documents. Find out what Acrobat has to offer and how to make the most of it from Adobe “Evangelist” Lori DeFurio. There may be a drawing for a free copy of Acrobat Pro*!

Promoting Your Business
How do prospective clients and customers know you’re available for work? It takes more than a press release or website. Find out how to generate publicity about your business with creative peripherals – clever, practical and effective promotional items that can create, rev up and enhance an image, marketing efforts and branding for your business.

Writing (& Editing) for the Web
Writing for the World Wide Web is a specialized skill. Learn what it takes to write for websites and other kinds of Web-based communications – your own and those of your clients. Learn how – and why – to take content from print to Web, move to a Content Management Service, develop a new architecture, or make content scannable and readable.

Our 2006 conference

The first "Build Your Communications Business" conference, held September 29-October 1, 2006, in Rochester, NY, was a great success!

The 2006 conference featured presentations from Peter Bowerman, author of The Well-fed Writer, The Well-fed Writer: Back for Seconds and his newest, The Well-fed Self-Publisher; Hilary Power, popular Microsoft Word® guru; business-development/marketing advisor Mary Anne Shew; tech writer/editor Kat Nagel; and freelance writer/editor Ruth E. Thaler-Carter.