Tailored Programs

Queries about custom training, services and management development programs for your news organization should be directed to Steve Buttry.

E-mail: sbuttry@americanpressinstitute.org

Phone: (703) 715-3300

API wants to help you and your organization pursue excellence, whatever your needs. Through our Tailored Programs, API will work with you to design a customized training or leadership development program to help you meet your organization's strategic goals and keep up with the swiftly changing newspaper business.

We can design training for individual departments within a newspaper, for an entire newspaper, a newspaper group or another news organization.

These programs are an extension of our Reston-based seminars, bringing the API experience to larger numbers of your staff at a site you choose. API's faculty members have expertise in circulation, advertising, marketing, finance, human resources, writing, reporting, editing, design and business journalism. We can help in cross-departmental training in areas such as leadership, innovation, readership and new media.

If your program requires specialized expertise our faculty can't provide, or if your program would conflict with faculty schedules, we will draw oon a talented array of other leaders in their fields, many of whom have served as discussion leaders for our residential seminars. We also can help you train your own trainers and design an in-house training program for your organization.

API's Tailored Programs help you improve in other ways as well:

• We can help you redesign your paper.
• We can critique your paper, identifying strengths and recommending areas for improvement.
• We can help in your recognition program by judging contests.
• We can help you conduct focus groups to connect better with your readers.
• We can guide you through such important steps as strategic planning or organizational restructuring.

If you have a unique need we haven't addressed before, tell us about it and we will find the experts and design a program to help you improve. We negotiate costs individually with each client, based on the services you want.

API can help your organization a variety of ways:

Leadership Development Program. Ottaway Newspapers used API's Tailored Programs for two seminars for mid-level managers being groomed for top leadership positions.

Newsroom Training. Steve Buttry has provided training for more than 70 newsrooms, journalism conferences and seminars across North America. He has developed workshops on more than 40 topics dealing with writing, reporting, editing and newsroom training. "Some nice new energy is rippling through the newsroom. I'm calling it the Buttry Buzz. Thanks for that," said Jack Brimeyer, managing editor of the Peoria Journal-Star.

Specific Issues. Stars and Stripes identified three specific areas where it wanted help, so API presented seminars in each area: connecting with readers, writing stronger headlines and improving design. Afterward, Associate Editor Robb Grindstaff gave this assessment: "I have nothing but the highest praise for everyone involved from API. But more importantly, I'm hearing nothing but the highest praise from everyone in the newsroom, and most importantly we're already seeing training applied in the daily product."

API also offers Our Readers Are Watching, an ethics seminar funded in part by a grant from the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation. This seminar is custom-tailored to your newsroom and addresses the most critical issues you're facing right now.

Newspaper critiques. Tailored Programs presented detailed written critiques of individual newspapers for Freedom Community Newspapers and Southern Newspapers Inc.

Redesign. API consultants guided redesign efforts for The Daily Oklahoman and Chesapeake Publishing. Click here for more information

Judging. API judges have selected winners for Suburban Newspapers of America and will choose award winners this year for the New England Press Association.