What I learned once again while visiting Colorado
I don’t know why I’m surprised by anything anymore. As long as I’ve been traveling all over the map to work with newspapers, I still dread trips just before I leave. Then, like clockwork, I wish I didn’t have to return home so soon.
This week, I traveled to Ouray County, Colorado (christened the “Outdoor Recreation Capitol of Colorado”) to work with co-publishers Mike Wiggins and Erin McIntyre, and, like always, I almost didn’t want to leave at the end of our week together.
My assignment was like other assignments I’ve had of late. For two days, I met with everyone on the Plaindealer staff to discuss various elements of running a newspaper. We covered design, photo editing, sales, and other aspects of newspaper production.
We took a break from the office on my second day in Ouray County to meet with local advertisers. We gathered in a local community center, where I led a presentation on creating effective marketing plans. Afterward, I met individually with attendees to review their marketing plans and ads and make suggestions. Before leaving, one advertiser said, “We should do this regularly!” Everyone seemed to agree.
While I was there, Mike asked if we could set up a photo server to house all their photos and make them easily accessible in the future. They seemed surprised and pleased when we set up a photo server in less than an hour using software they already had on their computers (Adobe Bridge). Fortunately, they had recently purchased a NAS server (a small desktop server that works perfectly for small newspapers), allowing me to set up the photo server on a portion of its hard drive space.
We spent another day setting up a newspaper workflow for everyone involved in reporting, editing, and designing the newspaper. Using Adobe InCopy – another app already on everyone’s computers – the staff learned how multiple users could edit an InDesign document simultaneously, allowing editors and reporters to change headlines, cutlines, photos, and stories. At the same time, a designer works on the same page.
My primary assignment, however, took place outside the newspaper office. In preparation for a total redesign – with a first issue this summer – I met with 23 community volunteers to hold a focus group to determine what steps we should take to create an even better newspaper in the future. For almost four hours, the focus group – divided into five subgroups – completed questionnaires and discussed every aspect of the Ouray County Plaindealer. This was one of the most serious-minded focus groups I’ve seen, holding in-depth discussions while answering each question.
After finishing our work, several focus group members stayed behind to tell me how much they loved their newspaper. One told me, “I haven’t read the paper much since moving here, but I’m going to read it every week now.” Several mentioned they didn’t always agree with what was in the newspaper but loved their local paper anyway.
I won’t know the focus group results until I’ve had the chance to review the questionnaires later this week. That’s a process that generally takes about eight hours. After I’ve reviewed the questionnaires and sent the results to Erin and Mike, we’ll determine how to incorporate what we’ve learned into the redesigned Plaindealer.
On my last day in Ouray County, I visited the United Church of the San Juans in Ridgway, the largest town in Ouray County. Steep forested mountains and cliffs surround Ridgway on the south, east, and northeast, and it is a pristine setting for this congregation that represents four different major denominations. I found the appeal of this unusual church too great to resist.
Upon entering the church, I was recognized by several folks who had participated in either the focus group or the advertisers’ gathering earlier in the week. Before long, it seemed like everyone in the congregation of 80 knew who I was and what I was doing in town. Parishioners I hadn’t met formed a line to tell me how much they loved their newspaper. I learned the folks living in Ouray County really do love their newspaper.
Mike and Erin moved to Ouray in 2019 to take over the weekly newspaper. They made international news when a local man was arrested after stealing more than 200 newspapers from racks after a story about a reported sexual assault at the local police chief’s house was published. Like many publishers, they’ve been threatened in their efforts to inform the public. I suppose it comes with the territory.
One thing I learned while in Colorado is that the people of Ouray County have some understanding of the efforts it takes to publish a community paper each week. They love their paper, and they admire and appreciate their newspaper publishers.
In just a few weeks, I’ll be heading to Minnesota to work with two of my favorite publishers, Reed and Shelly Anfinson, beginning this process once again. I’ll probably dread the trip beforehand, then have the time of my life with Reed and Shelly while meeting the readers who make up their community.
Kevin Slimp has been a popular consultant and speaker in the newspaper industry since developing the PDF remote printing method in 1994. His upcoming webinars on design, circulation, and software can be found at newspaperacademy.com.
Kevin Slimp is former director of The University of Tennessee Newspaper Institute and founder of NewspaperAcademy.com.
I don’t know why I’m surprised by anything anymore. As long as I’ve been traveling all over the map to work with newspapers, I still dread trips just before I leave. Then, like clockwork, I wish I didn’t have to return home so soon.
This week, I traveled to Ouray County, Colorado (christened the “Outdoor Recreation Capitol of Colorado”) to work with co-publishers Mike Wiggins and Erin McIntyre, and, like always, I almost didn’t want to leave at the end of our week together.
My assignment was like other assignments I’ve had of late. For two days, I met with everyone on the Plaindealer staff to discuss various elements of running a newspaper. We covered design, photo editing, sales, and other aspects of newspaper production.
We took a break from the office on my second day in Ouray County to meet with local advertisers. We gathered in a local community center, where I led a presentation on creating effective marketing plans. Afterward, I met individually with attendees to review their marketing plans and ads and make suggestions. Before leaving, one advertiser said, “We should do this regularly!” Everyone seemed to agree.
While I was there, Mike asked if we could set up a photo server to house all their photos and make them easily accessible in the future. They seemed surprised and pleased when we set up a photo server in less than an hour using software they already had on their computers (Adobe Bridge). Fortunately, they had recently purchased a NAS server (a small desktop server that works perfectly for small newspapers), allowing me to set up the photo server on a portion of its hard drive space.
We spent another day setting up a newspaper workflow for everyone involved in reporting, editing, and designing the newspaper. Using Adobe InCopy – another app already on everyone’s computers – the staff learned how multiple users could edit an InDesign document simultaneously, allowing editors and reporters to change headlines, cutlines, photos, and stories. At the same time, a designer works on the same page.
My primary assignment, however, took place outside the newspaper office. In preparation for a total redesign – with a first issue this summer – I met with 23 community volunteers to hold a focus group to determine what steps we should take to create an even better newspaper in the future. For almost four hours, the focus group – divided into five subgroups – completed questionnaires and discussed every aspect of the Ouray County Plaindealer. This was one of the most serious-minded focus groups I’ve seen, holding in-depth discussions while answering each question.
After finishing our work, several focus group members stayed behind to tell me how much they loved their newspaper. One told me, “I haven’t read the paper much since moving here, but I’m going to read it every week now.” Several mentioned they didn’t always agree with what was in the newspaper but loved their local paper anyway.
I won’t know the focus group results until I’ve had the chance to review the questionnaires later this week. That’s a process that generally takes about eight hours. After I’ve reviewed the questionnaires and sent the results to Erin and Mike, we’ll determine how to incorporate what we’ve learned into the redesigned Plaindealer.
On my last day in Ouray County, I visited the United Church of the San Juans in Ridgway, the largest town in Ouray County. Steep forested mountains and cliffs surround Ridgway on the south, east, and northeast, and it is a pristine setting for this congregation that represents four different major denominations. I found the appeal of this unusual church too great to resist.
Upon entering the church, I was recognized by several folks who had participated in either the focus group or the advertisers’ gathering earlier in the week. Before long, it seemed like everyone in the congregation of 80 knew who I was and what I was doing in town. Parishioners I hadn’t met formed a line to tell me how much they loved their newspaper. I learned the folks living in Ouray County really do love their newspaper.
Mike and Erin moved to Ouray in 2019 to take over the weekly newspaper. They made international news when a local man was arrested after stealing more than 200 newspapers from racks after a story about a reported sexual assault at the local police chief’s house was published. Like many publishers, they’ve been threatened in their efforts to inform the public. I suppose it comes with the territory.
One thing I learned while in Colorado is that the people of Ouray County have some understanding of the efforts it takes to publish a community paper each week. They love their paper, and they admire and appreciate their newspaper publishers.
In just a few weeks, I’ll be heading to Minnesota to work with two of my favorite publishers, Reed and Shelly Anfinson, beginning this process once again. I’ll probably dread the trip beforehand, then have the time of my life with Reed and Shelly while meeting the readers who make up their community.
Kevin Slimp has been a popular consultant and speaker in the newspaper industry since developing the PDF remote printing method in 1994. His upcoming webinars on design, circulation, and software can be found at newspaperacademy.com.
Kevin Slimp is former director of The University of Tennessee Newspaper Institute and founder of NewspaperAcademy.com.