Intro to Table Stakes News University | Poynter Institute June 12, 2018

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- 1 Session 5: Performance driven change model for Table Stakes Table Stakes program, Season 2, preview and application

Creating an Audience-Focused, Digital News Organization: Intro to Table Stakes News University | Poynter Institute June 12, 2018

With funding support from

- 2 Welcome to Table Stakes at Poynter

Cheryl Carpenter Poynter faculty; Table Stakes coach for Season 1; former managing editor for a regional newsroom.

Quentin Hope Ashley McBride: Co-author of the Table Stakes book; co-lead of Season 1 Poynter NewsU.org program; coach/faculty member for the Sulzberger producer; writer of a Table Leadership Program since 2010; former McKinsey consultant Stakes newsletter.

- 3 Thank all of you for joining us to today …

Broadcasters, podcasters and digital and newspaper organizations from 27 states, D.C., and four continents: • Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, N.C., Arkansas, Ohio, Alaska, New Jersey, Utah, California, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Indiana and Florida • Canada • Australia • Japan • Africa

- 4 Recap: Two parts of this webinar series

The “what” + The “how” Managing Achieving the performance and Table Stakes change • May 15 - Table Stake #1 ★ Today • May 22 - Table Stakes #2 • Performance Driven Change and #3 model overview • May 29 - Table Stakes #4 • 2018-19 Poynter Newsroom and #5 Innovation Program overview and calendar • June 5 - Table Stakes #6 and #7 • Program application process

Webinar recordings and slides are available any time on the NewsU course page - 5 The what: The 7 Table Stakes to be in the game

1. Serve targeted audiences with targeted content

Audiences first 2. Publish on the 3. Produce and publish 6. Partner to platforms used by your continuously to match expand your targeted audiences your audiences’ lives capacity and capabilities at lower and 4. Funnel occasional 5. Diversify and grow more flexible users into habitual, the ways you earn cost valuable and paying revenue from the loyalists audiences you build

7. Drive audience growth and profitability from a “mini-publisher” perspective

- 6 The how: Performance-driven change model Challenge Statement • What will be done • How we will know success • How we will do it

Design Do

Problem definition Strategy People & change Performance

Balcony view of forces Snowman and strategy Constituency mapping Cycle of sustainable at work trees performance Power/opinion matrix Performance gap 7 Table Stakes Smart outcome goals assessment (Table DVP Stakes quizzes) 4 underlying strategy The S curve frameworks 4 types of wins From > To statements Assumptions vs. of the needed change knowledge

Challenge statement

• What will ! what will be created, accomplished or be done established through your challenge; the transformation envisioned by the challenge

• How we ! how achievement of your challenge will be will know objectively assessed in terms of SMART success outcome goals

• How we will ! The key actions (“3 to 7 things”) for achieving do it your challenge as further developed in your strategies and tactics

What We will achieve explosive growth in our local, loyal audience with a laser will be focus on creation of content streams that are relevant to those readers and done an audience-focused strategy that ensures we are creating content that readers will pay for through digital subscriptions. We want engaging with The Denver Post to be the dominant media habit among Coloradans.

How We will know we were successful when we have increased returning users we will by 25% to account for one-third of our total users (2.7 million). We will also know have increased our local users from 22 percent of our audience to 30 success percent (2.4 million) by May 2018. This will be done while maintaining or growing our total number of monthly uniques.

How we We will mine the available data and invest in new tools to bring clarity to will do it what our local and loyal readers want and are currently consuming. Armed with meaningful metrics, we will move resources to cover those subjects and publish when those readers need their content. Both reporting and production staff will take ownership for creating local and loyal audience through targeted content, sophisticated production and aggressive promotion. - 9 3-part challenge statement Example: native advertising

What will We’ll shift our focus from selling boxes on websites to building creative content be done experiences that engage audiences on behalf of advertisers.

How we’ll In doing so, we will triple native revenue from 2016 to 2017 by building our know product portfolio and quadrupling new native clients (2H 2017 vs. 2H 2016), success growing average time spent per article and quality* clickthrough rate by 20% each and growing average social referrals/article by 50% (2H 2017 vs 2H 2016).

How we We’ll do this by: will do it 1. Creating a Content Lab (“Innovation Inq”) within Advertising that can leverage new storytelling tools developed by the newsroom or acquired from vendors. 2. Forming a cross-functional native advisory group that meets regularly and on demand to identify opportunities, share best practice and brainstorm solutions. 3. Deploying the full range of our audience development expertise in service of native campaigns, and, where appropriate, use our branded social platforms to extend reach. 4. Building a sales commission structure that incentivizes new business in native. 5. Developing a B2B marketing strategy that positions PMN as a leader in innovative digital content creation.

- 10 The challenge statement as the focal point of the program

Defining, shaping and Identifying committing to Pursuing and achieving your next your challenge your challenge challenge(s)

Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun

Reporting to your peer group on your progress • What’s working • What’s not working • What’s being learned • What progress against your performance goals

- 11 Problem Definition tools for …

Challenge Statement • What will be done • How we will know success • How we will do it

Problem definition • Stepping back to see and understand the “forces at work” affecting your organization • Getting clear on the gaps that need to be closed • Prioritizing and scoping where you can make the most progress with the greatest value • Envisioning and describing the shift from your present state to your desired state

Maximum score (biggest gap) is 16

- 13 Strategy tools for …

Challenge Statement • What will be done • How we will know success • How we will do it

Strategy • Getting clear on building your target audiences: who, how, where and when • Breaking your challenge down into strategies (“3 to 7 things”), tactics and action items (drawing on the Table Stakes) • Ensuring strategic alignment and across your organization and making the connections between high level strategies and “me and my job” • Identifying and tracking “what must go right” for your strategies to succeed. Copyright © 2018 Douglas K Smith, Quentin Hope, Charlie Baum - 14 Example: Line-of-sight from high- level strategies to actions for today

Local uniques from 5 target audiences Better newsletter vendor

New newsletters for local foodies, entrepreneurs and civic activists

Challenge: Create a voice Grow digital What I need to do because of the challenge Greater Give a sense of subscriptions “here and now” Newsletters reader from 5,000 to Add active, local 10,000 by engagement How what I do directly contributes to the challenge visuals 1/1/20 Me and my Reach out to job readers

Newsletter audience dashboard User sign-up experience

Challenge Statement • What will be done • How we will know success • How we will do it

People & change • Understanding the dynamics of behavioral change • Mapping-out who must be involved and in what ways • Identifying and working with individual’s interests and motivations to achieve the needed behavioral changes • “Shifting the curve” of those “getting and doing” and gaining the “critical mass” needed to bring others along

shifting the curve

Don’t get it/ Might get it/ Might get it/ Really get it won’t get it not trying trying and do it now consistently consistently

- 17 Example: tracking “doing and getting”

Polling of 20 news organizations participating in Round 1 of the Poynter Tables Stakes program

Might get it/ Might get it/ Don’t get it/ not trying trying Really get it won’t get it consistently consistently and do it now

Editorial 19% 28% 29% 24%

Business 27% 28% 25% 23%

- 18 Performance tools to …

Challenge Statement • What will be done • How we will know success • How we will do it

Performance • Very clearly defining success outcomes that matter (audience and revenue) • Using good goal grammar in defining specific outcome goals • Creating and using “scorecards” to track progress and drive constructive discussions and actions • Identifying wins (small and large) to target, achieve and celebrate along the way

SMART Outcome goal tracking

Monthly “Wins” tracking (insight, milestone/process, capability, outcome)

- 20 Design-Do

Challenge Statement • What will be done • Define the • How we will know success objectives for this • How we will do it cycle • Consider possible • Get going immediate • Execute actions • Follow- • Make a choices/ through decisions on actions for this cycle

Copyright © 2018 Douglas K Smith, Quentin Hope, Charlie Baum - 21 Recall from Session 1: Use quick experiments to test, learn, adjust 2. Devise an 3. Conduct the experiment to test experiment Put one reporter on Publish a series of stories “military families” working various angles for one month on “military families” 1. Identify an opportunity Potential target Test & learn 4. Track the audience audience – “military data families” 5. Assess success Assess “military families” story performance 6. Drop “military “Military families” not against overall local story families”; Next test performing better – averages “local military families have consumers” (food, other sources for needs entertainment, etc.) and interests; local as a target audience perspective isn’t catching

Get more people doing

Demonstrate Design Do • Showcase and celebrate • Highlight the Early performance results • Explain the “who” and “how” of wins making the win happen • Recognize and reinforce those who have changed behaviors

Performance is the primary objective of change - not change for its own sake Performance focus Personal responsibility Living the change Individuals must take Lead by living the change personal responsibility for you wish to bring about - their own change and take the personal risk performance – they need and publicly commit to to commit, no one can do whatever you are asking it for them others to do Increasing numbers Change is about building momentum by gaining performance commitments from an increasing number of people – up to and beyond the critical mass needed to bring along the rest of the organization

Use the mutual accountability and complementary skills of teams where extraordinary change and performance are required Teams Focused energy Meaningful language Available energy is a Meaningful language is a very scarce resources in highly valuable resource in change - focus it where change - discover, develop performance matters; to and reiterate the phrases free up energy, decide that capture the change what to stop doing for people Just-in-time support First set expectations for performance, then provide the needed information, training and support needed to achieve the expectations

- 26 Who is eligible to apply • Types of media organizations: • Any type of ownership: private, − Newspapers non-profit or public − Broadcasters • U.S.-based institutions preferred − Online-only publications • If you have questions on fit or − Magazines eligibility, please email:

− Student-oriented or university [email protected] publications

Required: An understanding of the 7 Table Stakes standards through viewing of all five of these webinars

- 27 Participants in Table Stakes programs

Major Metro UNC Southeast Poynter Round 1: 2015-2016 Round 1: 2017 Round 1: 2017-2018 • Dallas Morning News • The Daily Dispatch of Henderson • Anchorage Daily News • Minneapolis Star Tribune • The News Reporter of Whiteville • Beaver County Times • Philadelphia Media Network • The Pilot of Moore County • The Chronicle-Telegram • Scalawag magazine of Durham • Citrus County Chronicle (Philadelphia Inquirer, • Star News of Wilmington • The Courier-Journal Philadelphia Daily News, • UNC-TV of Research Triangle Park • The Denver Post philly.com) • WFAE of Charlotte • Detroit Free Press • Miami Herald and El Nuevo • WTVD-ABC11 of Raleigh-Durham • The Durango Herald Herald • Lawrence Journal-World Round 2: 2017 Round 2: 2018 • New Hampshire Union Leader • Bay Area News Group • The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette • Newsday • Reading Eagle • Houston Chronicle • Carolina Public Press • Sandusky Register • Philadelphia Media Network • The Daily Tar Heel • Education NC • The State-Journal Register • Milwaukee Journal Sentinel • The News & Record in • Statesman Journal • Seattle Times Greensboro and The Winston- • Tampa Bay Times Round 3: 2018 Salem Journal • The News-Press/Naples Daily News • Detroit Free Press • Richmond Times-Dispatch • The Post and Courier • Omaha World Herald • The Savannah Morning News • Tyler Morning Telegraph • The Virginian-Pilot • • The Sun News in Myrtle Beach Pittsburgh Post Gazette Round 2 • Sacramento Bee • UNC-TV Public Media • West Virginia Public Broadcasting • To be selected in July 51 news organizations of all sizes and forms of ownership - 28 The support and perspective you’ll receive Learning • Two intensive in-person work sessions at Poynter in St. Petersburg, Florida, where you’ll meet your peers and coaches, get in-depth teaching on the Tables Stakes and managing change and performance, and develop your challenges • Private, recorded monthly webinars covering Table Stakes case success stories, performance change principles and relevant research • The other program participants, a smaller peer group within the program and the wider network of Table Stakes newsrooms that you can call on for advice and to share learning Accountability • A coach who calls you monthly and tracks (and cheers) your progress • Online peer group meetings where you share progress updates and learn from each other

- 29 The rhythm of the 10-month program

2018 2019 in person Topical webinars in person session with case studies from Table Stake participants session (at Poynter) and research and advice from digital experts (at Poynter)

Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun

Monthly progress tracking (via Google docs) Month coaching calls (one-on-one) Reporting to your peer group on your progress (via video teleconference)

- 30 Your responsibilities under the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the program • Committing, as a whole organization, to a performance challenge that is fundamental to the survival and success of your enterprise • Assembling a cross-organizational 4-person leadership team that commits to full participation in the program • Use the tools provided to drive results for your organization • Collaborating with and responding to your coach • Keeping track of your defined goals and progress with “scorecard” spreadsheets we share • Being responsive and helpful to your peer group and others in the program • Contributing to the development of case studies and tools based on your experience

- 31 The costs: One-time fee and travel • The fee for the 10-month program and individual coaching sessions ranges from $2,500 to $7,500, depending on circulation, market size or number of unique visitors. • Travel for two 3-day sessions at the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Florida – once in 2018, once in 2019. − Lunches and one dinner provided each session − Your organization pays for flights, hotel and other meals.

- 32 Advice from participants for getting the most out of the program

Scott Stanford, publisher, Lawrence Journal World in Kansas

“Our initial challenge statement was so flawed because we didn’t know what we didn’t know. Leadership has to make it clear that it is not only OK to tweak the statement as you work through the steps, it is expected. Continue to refine it, make it more focused and tighter, easier to understand….

“Without consistent and committed leadership from the top, then it runs the risk of failure when it gets hard. And it does get hard.”

- 33 What other editors have said …

“It gave us a focus, and working with the peer newspapers were “You must be relentless in your much more valuable attention to this project. Inspect than I could have what you expect. Setting goals is anticipated.” great, but continuously tracking – Virginian-Pilot and holding teams accountable is editor Steve Gunn critical.” – Charleston Post and Courier editor Mitch Pugh “It’s changed our way of selecting and editing stories.” – Denver Post editor Lee Ann Colacioppio

- 34 Important upcoming dates

Application deadline: Tuesday, July 15th for the completed application form and signed memorandum of understanding First webinar for selected participants: Tuesday, Aug. 28, 1 pm ET 2018 in-person gathering: Wednesday, Sept. 5, starting at 9 am through Friday, Sept. 7, ending at 2 pm

- 35 Application at two sites….

https://www.poynter.org/ training-events/poynter-local- news-innovation-program- year-2-table-stakes

The Poynter.org marketing page, where you can view videos, read more about what others are saying

http://www.newsu.org/ courses/creating-audience- focused-digital-news- organizatio/table-stakes- season-2-application The NewsU.org page, where you can review webinars, download slides - 36 Reference for further information

• Table Stakes: A 1. Serve targeted audiences with Manual for Getting targeted content in the Game of News Audiences first • Table Stakes quizzes 2. Publish on the 3. Produce and platforms used by publish continuously • Table Stakes your targeted to match your 6. Partner to Facebook group for audiences audiences’ lives expand your participants in this capacity and webinar series 5. Diversify and capabilities at 4. Funnel occasional grow the ways you lower and users into habitual, • API’s earn revenue from more flexible valuable and paying BetterNews.org the audiences you cost loyalists build

7. Drive audience growth and profitability from a “mini-publisher” perspective

- 37 Read more: Available on Kindle for $2.99

- 38 API’s betternews.org hub

• Incorporates the Table Stakes concepts, strategies and tactics (see “The Essentials”) • Includes cases and tools from Table Stake participants and other sources - 39 A Facebook group We’ll answer questions and offer more to read on Table Stakes

Didn’t get an invite and want one? Email [email protected]

- 40 Full webinar review available at NewsU.org

- The application is live now. See this link on Poynter.org - Deadline for the 10-month program is July 15 - Email [email protected] with questions

All five webinars, slides and videos will be available at NewsU.org shortly after the webinar ends

- 41 Questions?

- 42 Thank You for Attending

Remember to visit Poynter’s NewsU.org for a recording of this webinar.

Journalism Training. • Anytime. • Anywhere. • For Anybody.

- 43