Chancellor Dan Jones and Director of the Magazine Innovation Center Samir Husni during the opening reception for the ACT 3 Experience in 2012
Leaders in the magazine industry will speak on campus this week as part of the fifth annual ACT Experience.
The conference falls on the 30th anniversary of The University Of Mississippi’s magazine program. The program was started at the university in 1984 by Samir Husni. Husni later started the Magazine Innovation Center in 2009 and currently serves as the director of the program.
Husni said he believes the print industry will not diminish in a digital age, but that the two will continue to grow together.
“(I was) one of those few people back then in ‘09 who really believed that our future is not all digital,” Husni said. “Our future is going to be print plus digital and not print versus digital.”
He said that since then, more people have begun to support the notion that print and digital media will coincide.
This year’s theme for the conference is “The Future of Digital Begins with Print.” ACT, which stands for Amplify, Clarify and Testify, will consist of a series of over 40 speakers who hold different roles in the magazine industry.
Husni explained there will be speakers representing numerous magazine companies, both from the United States and international locations.
“We have people coming from Russia,” Husni said. “We have people coming from Norway, people coming from Denmark, people coming from the Netherlands, people coming from Finland and of course, from these United States. We almost have every major magazine media company represented. We have every major printer represented. We have every major marketing ad agency represented.”
Husni also explained the conference is a valuable resource to journalism students at the university. ACT Experience allows students to network with people in the industry and learn from them first hand.
Bob Sacks, president and publisher of Precision Media Group, said he finds the ACT Experience unique because of the intimacy it provides between speakers and students.
“As a publishing professional, who has been in the business for over 44 years, I take great pleasure in coming to the ACT publishing events at The University of Mississippi,” Sacks said. “I speak at many universities each year, but this event is special to me due to the unique construction and intimacy of the conference. It is rare when you get an equal number of professionals and students in the same room, each pitching industry thoughts and observations to each other. The broad range of invitees adds to the cross-pollination of ideas, which is helpful to all who attend.”
John Harrington, publisher of “The New Single Copy Newsletter,” has attended every ACT Experience. He said he enjoys coming to the conference because of what he learns from the students.
“Every year, the pace of change in the magazine business has accelerated,” Harrington said. “But each year, I leave enthused, and it’s because of what I’ve learned from the students: That magazines, in whatever format or platform they developed on, are an exciting and vibrant form of media.”
Roy Reiman, founder of Reiman Publications, said he finds the conference to be unique because it allows students and other attendees to learn from experienced professionals.
“Over the years of my publishing career, I’ve attended many publishing conferences and seminars,” Reiman said. “I’ve now attended five ACT Experience gatherings, and they’re easily the best. Why? The topics and speakers are carefully selected. They’re all ‘do-ers’ and entrepreneurs, who have put their ideas — and their money — on the line have learned from those experiences and are willing to share them.”
Jim Elliott, president and CEO of James G. Elliott Company, said the conference appeals to him because of the networking opportunities.
“I have been at all the ACT experiences,” Elliott said. “I come because one can meet and talk with people in the industry in a very relaxed setting over a three-day period. I have made good friends, connected with folks who needed my services and met and hired Ole Miss students. Now I can add that I am at the greatest football school in the nation.”
ACT 5 Experience will begin at 6 p.m. Tuesday and will go through noon Friday. More information can be found at www.maginnovation.org/act/agenda.
