The tranquil Tigh-Na-Mara Seaside Spa Resort & Conference Centre in Parksville was the setting for this year's Camp BCAMP (January 29–31), where 50 magazine professionals stole away for information-packed sessions, networking, brainstorming, and for some, a dip in the spa's mineral pool.

Below is an overview of the weekend's sessions, along with some noteworthy points.
Session 1: BC Arts Council
Chris Gudgeon, communications director for the BC Arts Council, opened the event with an informal "State of the BC Arts Council" talk, focusing on the impact of recent provincial arts cuts to the council's literary and publishing program. His advice for applicants was to ask for what they actually need, not a lower amount that assumes there is less to go around than before. Gudgeon expressed that a desire to sit down with BCAMP and its members in the spring to review the program guidelines, with the possibility of creating a broader definition of arts periodicals that would open up the program to more magazines. We'll keep you posted as details are confirmed. 
 
Session 2: Keynote Dinner Address
Industry consultant D. B. Scott shared his views on the changing publishing landscape (the iPad was discussed) and the role publishers have played in devaluing their content. Said Scott (excerpted from the quote provided on Scott's Canadian Magazines blog), "Right now, a typical magazine sells for substantially less than an hour’s labour at minimum wage. It’s little wonder if people don’t value what we do in the way that they should; it has been our doing."
However, a self-proclaimed "cock-eyed optimist," Scott lauded those magazines who are getting it right and embracing new initiatives and technology. After, he entertained questions from the audience, helping to start the weekend on an insightful, positive note. 
 
Session 3: In-house Fulfillment
Faith Drinnan of The Oyster Group reminded publishers the goal is "fulfillment in every sense of the word," to continue the magazine experience for your readers beyond the pages and maximize the return on your circulation marketing investment. Drinnan provided tips on training fulfillment staff and compared database software.
 
Session 4: Cover Critiques
Using a host of examples, including BC magazines represented at the session, D. B. Scott gave an engaging talk on why some covers work and others don't. He pointed out that in addition to the actual newsstand, covers also need to sell themselves to subscribers when they arrive in mailboxes and convince them to invest their reading time. Ultimately, he pointed out, a cover belongs to the publisher, not the art director.
 
Session 5: BCAMP Brainstorm
Participants were asked to come up with ways BCAMP could better serve its literary/arts journals, consumer publications, e-magazines and trade publications in the areas of advocacy, professional development, marketing and circulation. All members are invited to send additional ideas to Rhona MacInnes at exec@bcamp.bc.ca.

 
Session 6: Brand Building Online
Michelle Hoar, business director for TheTyee.ca, moderated a panel of web experts: John Bucher, digital editor for BCBusiness, Shannon Emmerson, director of digital media for Canada Wide Media Limited, and Linda Solomon, founder and publisher of the VancouverObserver.com. While successful business models for the web vary widely and are not yet well defined, the panel stressed the importance of knowing which online strategies work best for your magazine and focusing your resources accordingly. For example, Flickr works well for GardenWise readers to connect and share photos, while Youthink's younger readers prefer Facebook. And no matter how much traffic online networks generate, the content you're driving readers to still needs to deliver.
 
Session 7: Rules for Editing a Manuscript
Gary Ross, editor-in-chief of Vancouver magazine, ran down eight simple rules for tackling manuscripts that writers and editors alike could benefit from, with a focus on being concise. One good suggestion was that editors could come up with a list of words and phrases that are "banned" from their magazines, for offenses such as being too cutesy, trendy, redundant, overused or just plain meaningless (e.g., "at the end of the day"). 
 
Session 8: Contract Publishing
Marion Lavigne, founding co-publisher of Up Here magazine, delivered the nitty-gritty on contract publishing, including the risks and rewards, and common models (providing fee for service, entering into reciprocal agreements, sharing the wealth, becoming the officially sanctioned publication for an organization, and pitching an idea for a publication to an organization with similar interests). Lavigne shared bottom-line figures from her own contract publishing ventures that proved savvy publishers can be handsomely rewarded to their efforts. 
 
Session 9: Web Wordsmithing
Lisa Manfield, editor of the new online magazine BCLiving.ca, talked about adapting print content for the web and how people read differently online. A YouTube video about Web 2.0 demonstrated that no one simply "browses" the web anymore, so online content providers need to focus on what their readers are looking for, and offer it up quickly. Manfield talked about the "bite, snack, meal" approach: guiding and enticing readers with meaningful (not "clever") headings, subheadings, summaries and other "microcontent" so they know what a page is about before they click or continue on. This might mean you may need to create an online version of a print article with a different headline or a descriptive introduction. 
 
Thank you to all our presenters, participants, committee members and sponsors for your contributions to this event. We're thrilled with the feedback we've received: attendees rated the overall event an average of 4.6 out of 5, with comments such as, "This conference allows small magazines (especially those with few or no paid staff) to have access to the knowledge and skills of gifted professionals. Camp BCAMP is invaluable—no small magazine could gather (and afford) the array of talent that BCAMP can."
 
We look forward to seeing you at next year's Camp BCAMP!