Confirmed Sessions:
Breakouts during the Regular Conference will follow THREE TRACKS, with at least one breakout at any given time as part of the Arts Marketing Track, the Arts Development Track and the Theater Track. Delegates may follow a single track or "jump the track" as they please.

Growth Steps: Finding the Best Prospects for Annual Fund and Membership (D)

PRESENTERS:
Rick Lester, Chief Executive Officer, TRG Arts
Joanne Steller, Vice President for Strategic Communications, TRG Arts

Prospecting for new members and annual fund donors can get lost in the shuffle of larger campaigns or caught in a competitive tangle with marketing efforts. The best leads for these campaigns often are missed, overlooked, or under-cultivated as a result.  Ongoing patron behavior studies by TRG Arts show how membership and annual gift-giving form a pivotal phase of growing patron loyalty. Hear what data analysis says about finding the best prospects and deploying the best-timed offers to create more new individual investors.  Learn how some arts organizations have changed long-standing approaches and improved their annual giving results. TRG’s Rick Lester and Joanne Steller provide their firm’s most recent findings and case studies. 

Tactical Tips for the Now Economy (M/T)

PRESENTER:
Jim Royce, Director of Marketing, Communications and Sales, Center Theatre Group

Jim Royce outlines five key strategies to help you get through this sour economy. During any recession, make sure you're on a path to where you want to be when more prosperous times return.

1) All recessions end. Where will you be situated?

2) Follow your customers. Bring them closer. What’s your word of mouth strategy?

3) Strengthen your brand. Don't make compromises.

4) Prices are always readjusted during down times. Have you updated your value proposition?

5) Don't undermine your core values by pandering to short-term financial goals.

Collaborative Marketing and Creative Partnerships (M)

PRESENTERS:
Vicki Higgins, Senior Director, Business Development, The Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau
Michael McDowell, Senior Director of Cultural Tourism, The Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau

Cultural tourism is one of the fastest growing segments in the U.S. travel industry, a $770 billion business. Many cultural organizations, however, overlook this important potential market.  But one leading museum reports, for example, that local residents will spend an average of $10 each when at the museum (excluding admission and parking), but tourists will spend an average of $100 each on meals and gifts while there.  Visiting friends and family can greatly influence and motivate cultural participation by residents as well, serving as the catalyst for locals to engage in the cultural offerings of their own community.

How can cultural groups tap into this key market on a shoestring budget and is it worth it? Who are natural (if not immediately obvious) partners in this effort? Learn the findings of the most recent study of U.S. cultural tourism and innovative ways Los Angeles has used this information to reach across disciplines, identify shared marketing interests, and build cultural promotion partnerships that reach millions of residents and visitors alike.  Michael and Vicki will share the case study of Discover the Arts in Los Angeles.

Vicki Higgins is Senior Director of Business Development for L.A. INC. The Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau. She is on the Executive Staff and is responsible for securing and maintaining strategic partners and funding for the organization. Tourism is LA’s largest industry, and it attracts more than 26 million visitors to the region who spend $14 billion in the local economy each year. 

Vicki created the Business Development area as a new source of funding for LA INC.  by utilizing her experience in strategic partnerships and creative marketing campaigns.  Vicki has aligned strategic partners to create and support dineLA Restaurant Week as well as Discover the Arts in Los Angeles.  Each program aggregates the city’s wide array of restaurants / cultural institutions in to one program with support of a funding partner and promoted by LA INC.   

Prior to joining LA INC., Higgins was the Director of Marketing & Sponsorships for ATA Airlines managing marketing, advertising, public relations and sponsorships in their thirty-eight markets.   

Vicki also enjoyed a ten year career with Pacers Sports & Entertainment in sales and sponsorships for the Indiana Pacers and events at Conseco Fieldhouse.  Vicki brings a unique level of expertise and creativity to the world of Business Development. 

As a volunteer, Vicki is involved with the Children’s Bureau of Los Angeles, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and the Alzheimer’s Association.  Vicki has her BS in Sports Marketing from Indiana State University and her MBA from Indiana Wesleyan University.  She has a wide variety of interests including yoga, dance, running, hiking, art, music, writing, modeling, hosting and social media.  Vicki resides in West Hollywood, California. 

The Secrets to Creating Effective Broadcast, Web and Promotional Video for the Performing Arts (M/T)

PRESENTER:
Mark Ciglar, Founder and Creative Director of Cinevative

Learn how to take full advantage of today's media outlets in performing arts marketing. Think beyond the limitations of print media and increase the impact that moving images can have on your audience. Through case studies, we will discover how to do more than simply show what happens on stage and learn how to create the audience experience on screen. Using principles perfected in network television branding and theatrical film trailers, we will demonstrate how to create promos that inspire your audience to respond.

Cultivating Major Donors (D/T)

PRESENTERS:
Yvonne Bell, Director of Development, Center Theatre Group
Patrick Owen, Deputy Director of Development, Center Theatre Group

Large gifts -- whether outright major gifts or deferred (planned) major gifts -- require the same rules for engagement of donors. The success of Center Theatre Group in engaging and retaining its long term investors, with renewed outright gifts and estate plans, has lessons for organizations large and small. Engaging people in long term investment in the arts relies on the excellence of messages, methods and methodical donor development no matter what your arts focus may be.  Enjoy hearing first hand how this still growing theatre company has built a solid base of significant investors.

Prior to Center Theatre Group, Bell served as the Vice President for Development at the California Science Center and as Assistant Director of Development at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. She received her bachelors degree in art history from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.

Patrick received an MFA in Arts Management from UCLA, is a longtime volunteer and former Board member with PAWS/LA (Pets Are Wonderful Support), and currently sits on the Board of Directors for the Los Angeles Frontrunners.  

Corporate Partnerships in the New Economy (M/D)

PRESENTERS:
Joan Cumming, Senior Director of Marketing, Autry National Center of the American West
Mercedes Barajas-Tondre, Director of Corporate Partnerships, Autry National Center of the American West

Not-for-profit arts organizations still count on corporations and businesses for much needed dollars.  As the number of potential corporate funders continues to shrink, what can arts organizations do to build long-lasting relationships with business partners in their community?  What are corporate funders looking for today?  Why do some organizations seem to attract corporate dollars, and some do not?  How can organizations develop an approach to corporate support that is the right mix of marketing appeal and philanthropic giving?  The “New Economy” has made us all more creative and resourceful, and working with corporations is no exception! Learn about some new approaches to building relationships with businesses and corporations both locally and nationally.  

Joan Cumming is currently the Senior Director of Marketing for the Autry National Center of the American West.  Prior to that, she served as the Interim Managing Director for La Jolla Playhouse.  Joan's thirty year career has focused on marketing and public relations in the not-for-profit arts world, including working as the  Vice President for Marketing and Communications for the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association from 2000 to 2007 where she was responsible for all of the communications, public relations, and tickets sales for the opening of the Frank Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall in October of 2003 as well as all marketing and ticket sales for the Hollywood Bowl.

Prior to her tenure with the LA Philharmonic, Joan worked as the Managing Director for LaPlaca Cohen, a branding and strategic planning agency specializing in the performing and fine arts. While with LaPlaca Cohen, Joan helped to develop marketing and strategic plans for the Nashville Symphony, Cal Performances in Berkeley, CA and City Center in New York. Joan has worked as the Director of Marketing for the Los Angeles Opera and as the Associate Director of Marketing for Boston Ballet as well as Executive Director of the Los Angeles Master Chorale and the Chamber Music Society of Rhode Island.  She has served on the Advisory Board of the Los Angeles Convention and Visitor's Bureau and on the Board of the Association of California Symphony Orchestras and Center for the Arts in Eagle Rock, CA.

Mercedes Barajas-Tondre is a forty year veteran of the marketing and advertising industry.  Her experience in developing successful marketing and media campaigns spans virtually all categories, from movie marketing, to retail, financials services, home entertainment products, consumer packaged goods and performing arts.  She was an integral part of building an independent media company that reached $600 million dollars in billings.

She has been VP of Client Services at Carat/ICG and most recently EVP Client Services at Palisades Media Group.  She has built solid relationships both with the media and the clients she served based on integrity, attention to detail and an inherent understanding of addressing today’s business challenges through consumer-centric solutions.  

She brings her business expertise to the Autry as Director of Corporate Partnerships with a focus on expanding our partnerships through strategic alignment.

Mail-Phone Fundraising: An Integrated Approach to Annual Funds (D)

PRESENTERS:
Phil Miller, President, DCM
Jamie Clements, President, NPO Direct Marketing

While building your social media strategies, don’t shortchange the two pillars of your annual fund program  direct mail and telemarketing. They continue to yield the vast majority of your contributed revenue, especially when done right and in concert.  This session will present a detailed fundraising model that integrates direct mail and telemarketing to maximize annual fund revenue and minimize program costs.  Actual results from arts organizations nationwide will be shared with session participants along with lead matrices, solicitation strategies, and sample appeals.

Go With the Flow for a Lot More Dough: Smoothly Flowing Copy and Design Pull Patrons to The Finish Line (M/T)

PRESENTER:
Henry Ruddle, President, Ruddle Creative

The saddest lost sales are those not made to the willing prospects who were bored or confused by your brochure, postcard or advertisement. You invested in the production and in the marketing pieces, but your prospects have to want to read them and heed your call to action. Learn how to write copy and design layouts that flow — pulling the potential patron relentlessly toward the final action you so desire — the completed sale — and learn how to avoid creating barriers with confusing or unappealing words, graphics or layouts that stop the flow of ready cash to your organization. We'll look at some good examples, and some bad examples that have been made over, to see and judge for ourselves what makes for good flow.

What if You Spent 100% of Your Advertising Budget on Customer Service? (M/T)

PRESENTER:
Jim McCarthy, CEO, Goldstar

This talk will explore the very real possibility that customer service is a better investment of your marketing dollars than advertising.  Marketers already have a sneaking hunch that this stuff just isn’t working anymore and they’re looking for other places to spend their money.  Once marketers understand the true meaning and potential of customer service, they can go from using dollars to ‘rent volume’ to using that money to buy growth.

The first step is facing reality about the impact of most of your advertising.  For years, results in all media have been on the wane, but now it’s impossible to ignore the truth:  at best, advertising is an expensive gamble; at worst, it’s a money pit.

The second step is getting a new and more ambitious understanding of customer service.  Customer service isn’t just a customer with a problem on the other end of the phone.  It’s the whole process of designing and delivering an experience that makes customers value what you do and want to tell others.  What many people think of as “customer service” is really just “service recovery.”

Third, we’ll look at examples of businesses that have maintained sales and brand growth with relatively low levels of advertising by focusing instead on word of mouth driven by a great customer experience.   We’ll discuss Zappos, Southwest Airlines, and Jim will talk from his own experience in growing Goldstar from an unfunded start-up to a business selling tens of millions of dollars per year and more than a million members.

PRESENTER:
Clint White, President, WiT Media

The rapidly changing world of online and mobile advertising presents extraordinary opportunities for arts and culture organizations. Our target consumers have a growing dependency on online and increasingly in mobile devices as their lifestyles are made possible by its power and efficiency. Learn more about the latest trends, see intriguing, current case studies and discuss the practical ways in which your organization--small, medium, or large in size--can take advantage of it for increasing audience development.