Most cover letters are boring, formulaic. Applicants are too afraid of offending to risk standing out. And in an era of robot screeners, one can wonder: Do cover letters even matter?

This workshop lays out the roles and goals of a good business letter, and explains why yes, indeed, cover letters do still matter. The session will outline core principles of persuasive writing that will help writers pitch themselves successfully to a range of readers. Through analysis of letters that worked, attendees will come to a new understanding of strategy, and learn to distinguish elegant flourishes from cheap gimmicks. The workshop will demonstrate how applicants can use audience insight to showcase themselves to greatest effect, and offer a framework for taking calculated risks in professional prose.

Presenter:
Edith Updike is managing editor of FundFire, a daily Financial Times publication covering institutional asset management. From 2008 to 2012, she was a full-time lecturer in the master’s degree programs in Strategic Communications and Communications Practice at Columbia University’s School of Continuing Education. She taught business writing, critical thinking, media studies and communications strategy. Updike earned an MS in Journalism at Columbia, and has covered business, politics and social issues for a range of publications from New York Newsday and Business Week to Slate and Travel Journal International. She has served as a consultant on media, communications and management strategy to internet start-ups as well as major companies such as PriceWaterhouse and Honda.

Sitting at the intersection of business strategy, digital development, user experience, communications, and publishing, content strategy has emerged over the last few years as a discipline examining the purpose behind content (in all manifestations) and how it supports business, organizational, and user goals. While it originated in digital web design and user experience, content strategy now encompasses a much broader set of considerations and addresses content creation, distribution, and governance across multiple channels, especially the interplay among digital, social, and traditional media. Content strategy provides a holistic approach for unlocking the value behind content and for increasing its effectiveness in achieving business and organizational objectives.

This seminar will present the fundamentals of content strategy and explore the discipline’s approaches, techniques, and tools that participants can apply directly to the content situation in their own organization. It will draw parallels with – and highlight distinctions among – traditional communications strategy, publishing, and content strategy, and provide attendees with a framework to create a sustainable program grounded in meaningful, actionable content.

Christopher Collette is the Associate Director for Digital Programs and Content Strategy at Weil, Gotshal & Manges, a global law firm headquartered in New York City. In a career spanning close to 20 years and covering both digital and traditional media and communications, he was practicing content strategy long before it had a name or was a discipline. In both corporate and consulting roles, he's lead digital marketing and content strategy programs for leading corporations and organizations including IBM, The College Board, Goldman Sachs, Legg Mason, Standard & Poor's, MasterCard, and The Kennedy Center. A graduate of Denison University, he holds advanced degrees in communications from the University of Cincinnati and in library and information science from Pratt Institute.

Download Presentation:
Content Strategy: Fundamentals, Techniques, and Tools (PDF)
Selected Bibliography (PDF)

Communication has not changed. People are connecting through conversation - oral and written - as we have always done. What has changed, and is changing every day, is the speed with which we communicate and the channels we use. Today, marketers, communicators and business stakeholders have direct access to their audiences in multiple channels, 24/7/365. Now more than ever, the pressure to communicate, relate, promote, interact and engage is constant. Fortunately, we have tools and knowledge to help us focus our goals, our energy and our communication - - as well as monitor, analyze and improve upon them. In this seminar, we will explore how to transform your digital strategy into one that is founded in business objectives and in methods to quantify and measure your efforts, and analyze the data provided. You will understand how to take the digital strategy to the next level – to help you become digital rock stars who can prove success in the digital landscape.  

For over 10 years, Alex Lirtsman has led high-level digital marketing efforts for national brands. As Digital Strategist/Partner of Ready Set Rocket, Alex focuses on innovation, strategy and measurable results. Alex has significant experience in creating and executing digital strategies that result in conversions, growth and substance, having worked as the Director of E-Commerce at Freshpair prior to working as the CMO of digital agency Purple, Rock, Scissors. With a BBA from Pace University and an MBA from Baruch, Alex's education and experience drive conversions and revenue/donations for a range of clients, including ACLU, Meredith Corporation, Michael Kors, New York Life, Univision, and more.

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The Art of Analytics, Measurement and Success (PDF)

Whether you’re trying to influence, educate or inspire, Thought Leadership can help attract audiences, build trust and protect your brand reputation.  This seminar will help you evaluate your Thought Leadership potential, create timely, informative and entertaining content, and develop a social media content strategy that produces business results.

Jeanine Moss is a branding and marketing strategist who has also been a publisher, journalist, media relations director, digital communicator, advertising copywriter, media buyer, membership marketer, entrepreneur and strategic communications advisor. Moss is also the founder and president of Turning Point Solutions, Inc., providing branding and marketing strategy, thought leadership marketing, positioning and messaging and integrated marketing campaigns for clients like Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel & Readiness, Booz Allen Hamilton, Accenture, Hewlett-Packard, The September 11th Fund, New York City, United Way, Lighthouse International, and other technology, healthcare, association and non-profit organizations.

Download Presentation:
Thought Leadership Resource Guide (PDF)
Moss: Discover Your Inner Pundit (PDF)
Boatner: From Stretched to Strengthened (PDF)
Lirtsman: Ready, Set, Rocket (PDF)

In the age of a fundamentally new media environment, does traditional television image advertising still have a role in brand building? Consumers are expecting brands to maintain a dialogue with them and are rejecting the 'interruption' model of traditional television advertising. But does traditional TV do things that cannot be done through the new media channels--mobile and social marketing? Can major brands develop full, powerful consumer equity without old-fashioned TV?

This workshop will explore whether new media can convey what traditional advertising communicates-emotion, quality, personality-and if the critical and essential parts of brand building are being left behind in the mad dash to the future.

Speaker

Jeff DeJoseph is a recognized leader in the fields of brand planning, agency management and entertainment marketing. His expertise spans local and global, consumer and B2B, corporate and entrepreneurial business.

As chairman and CEO of ConstellationNY, LLc he runs a business-to-business marketing services company providing growth strategies that use branding, communications and content solutions for diversified industrials, financial services, pharmaceutical and media clients.

When DeJoseph was chairman of Omnicom's corporate branding unit, Doremus & Company, he successfully reoriented a traditional financial advertising agency into a strategy driven consulting shop with a national presence in the corporate space. During his six-year tenure, Doremus was named BtoB Magazine Agency of the Year three times. DeJoseph led the creation of a proprietary media planning model focused on the real media habits of senior business decision makers.