Strictly Business 2- Los Angeles

                                                                                                      photo © by Sean Kernan

January 25-27: Los Angeles
February 22-24: Atlanta
March 7-9: Philadelphia
April 11-13: Chicago

For more details go to:

http://www.asmp.org/sb2/details.php

Strictly Business 2

ASMP’s Strictly Business 2 is a weekend conference that will teach you real-world business skills and help you thrive in our highly competitive industry. SB2 brings you consultations, lectures, video presentations, a keynote address, workshops, hands-on negotiating training, and social gatherings to share and learn from your peers. This weekend will change the way you look at your business — join us.

Who should attend? Are you struggling to put the business pieces together? Are you overwhelmed with the pace of change in the industry? Is your career meeting your creative and financial goals? Attend SB2 and get a road map of answers. Strictly Business 2 is for those starting out in the business and those needing a boost. Have you been working in retail photography and dabbling in commercial? SB2 is for you, too. Are you a student or emerging professional? Treat yourself to an intensive weekend packed with the information you need to  build a career as a photographer.

The original Strictly Business series was a transforming event in the careers of many of ASMP's most prominent members. Read their testimonials. Today, Strictly Business 2 can transform your career too.

Traveling to SB2? An extra benefit of SB2 is the community it creates. By staying at the conference hotel, you'll experience even more opportunities to interact with fellow photographers, the educators and our sponsors — both formally and informally, on-the-fly. Each location was specifically chosen to ensure ease of travel for those flying or driving. Use the conference hotel and take advantage of incredible ASMP secured rates. ASMP has secured discounted room rates — along with two meals a day and two social hours that are included in the conference fee!

The Details

Curriculum   •   Presenter bios   •   Registration info   •   Hotel info

Besides the scheduled sessions listed below, there will be ample breaks for the informal hobnobbing and serendipitous encounters that make a conference truly worthwhile.

Friday

All times are tentative and subject to change.

Registration: 9am to 5pm
Private Consultations: 9am to 5pm — more info
ASMP Leadership Meeting: 3pm to 5pm — more info and separate registration
Opening Reception: 5pm to 7pm
 

Saturday

All times are tentative and subject to change.

Breakfast on us: 7am to 8am
Setting the stage An introduction by Judy Herrmann
Industry Overview by Richard Kelly & Susan Carr
Hold on for this fast-paced introduction to professional photography, the basics of owning a small business, and a glossary of terms you need to know.
Under the Hood of Your Business with John Harrington
How do you operate a successful freelance photography business?  What paperwork do you need? What about taxes? Collections? Expenses? Find out how to maximize your profits and determine your minimum charges. Get a copyright refresher and see just how easy (and important) it is to register your images. Learn ways to make digital production profitable. John shows you a road map for applying sound business skills to today's industry reality.
Marketing with Leslie Burns-Dell'Acqua
Marketing is in some way in everything any business does. It's no wonder it often feels overwhelming, especially for photographers who usually have little-to-no formal training in the discipline. Emails and postcards and websites and books and sourcebooks -- the list of tools alone can get daunting! A better understanding of marketing can make a significant difference in your bottom line, even without a single creative change.

Internationally respected Creative/Marketing Consultant & Coach Leslie Burns-Dell'Acqua will discuss some of the larger marketing issues facing photographers: finding and respecting your vision, finding the right targets and developing your best lists, budgeting for marketing, making your marketing tools (like your website and book) more effective, and client relations. She'll also spend some time discussing the rep-photographer relationship and offer some often forgotten marketing ideas that photographers can use to make a big (positive) impact.
Lunch on us: 12:30pm to 1:30pm
Pricing and Negotiating with Blake Discher
Are you a skillful negotiator? Do you know what the three critical elements in any negotiation are? Every negotiation that results in a win-win outcome provides you with the opportunity to work with that buyer and, even more importantly, carries with it the potential for a repeat client and their referrals! This conference will discuss effective strategies and tactics to help generate options that will enable both you and your counterpart (not your opponent!) to accomplish your goals. You'll discover how to take (or keep) control of the negotiation, when to compromise and when to hold firm, and how to sharpen your listening skills. With a fair and trustworthy negotiating style, you'll develop a roster of clients.
Keynote presentation
Time to focus on creativity and remind us why we do this.
• Sean Kernan -- The Opened Eye Sees More (presented in LA and Philadelphia)
• Joyce Tenneson -- A Life in Photography (presented in Atlanta and Chicago)
Wrap up
ASMP President Judy Herrmann wraps up the day with a talk on "Managing Change."
Questions and Answers: 5pm to 6pm
Stick around and chat with the educators. Ask questions, share experiences.
Social Gathering hosted by Digital Railroad: 6pm to 8pm
Extra: Book signing by the Keynote speakers Joyce Tenneson (Atlanta, Chicago) and Sean Kernan (LA, Phildadelphia).
 

Sunday

All times are tentative and subject to change.

Breakfast on us: 7am to 8am
Negotiating training
Breakouts into facilitated small groups, in which you will get hands-on experience at honing your negotiation skills to promote better prices and terms. Attendees of the original Strictly Business conferences reported that this exercise was (and remains) tremendously valuable.
Lunch on us: noon to 1pm
Mini-workshops
Each 90-minute workshop is given twice, so attendees may select any two of the four options.
Workshop A -- Marketing to Move Your Business Forward

Leslie Burns-Dell'Acqua will apply the information from Saturday's talk to teach you in detail how to write your own personalized marketing plan. You'll learn how to define your own unique visual voice and verbalize it, and then to find the right targets for your vision. With these foundations, you'll then learn how to make your marketing tell your individual story effectively and with passion, in ways that will attract your best targets. Time will be spent on the pros and cons of many marketing tools like sourcebooks, mailers, and email promos, enabling you to make the best choices for your needs and budget. Sunday's work will also include practical suggestions for how to actually work your plan, in your real world, even if you'd rather poke yourself with a stick than do your marketing.

Workshop B -- Business Workflow to Bring You Profits

John Harrington will give you the perfect balance of sound business practices and practical digital workflow -- a combination critical to a successful photography business. This workshop will cover the need for clear estimates, writing good emails, delivering files (and billing for them), registering your work, building a stock file, and nurturing the client. Through examples, step-by-step instructions and resources, John will show you how to make your production time pay in profits now and in the future.

Workshop C -- Taking Control of Your Career

In this session, Judy Herrmann of Herrmann + Starke digital photography will share real-world tactics for developing and implementing a plan that will take your career where you want it to go. You'll learn how to achieve your creative and financial goals, anticipate and adapt to business and technological change, and build a satisfying and stable photography business. Herrmann will also provide important information and resources to help you bring your business practices into the digital age. Whether you're just starting out or have years of experience, the tools and techniques shown in this program will give you greater control over your future. Are you satisfied with the work you're creating? Do your clients appreciate what you bring to the table? Are you protecting yourself from the increased liabilities of working digitally? If you can't answer yes to all these questions, this workshop is for you.

Workshop D -- Is Your Website Doing All It Can to Get You Work?

Are you feeling overwhelmed when it comes to optimizing your studio's website for high search engine rankings? Torn between usability and aesthetics when designing your site? In this session, Blake Discher shares his experience in how he succeeds in having his website consistently place at the top of the major search engines. This has led to increased visibility for his business and increased billings.

You will learn about the importance of proper keyword phrases and links, site design, and copywriting that is search engine-friendly. There are several ways to get your website highly ranked; learn more about pay-per-click search engine marketing and how to achieve excellent organic search results. In addition, Blake will discuss how to effectively implement a link-building campaign to increase Page Rank, perhaps the single most important aspect of search engine optimization.

Conference closes: 4:30pm

For more details go to:

http://www.asmp.org/sb2/details.php

photo © by Blake Discher               photo © by John Harrington                         photo © by Herrmann + Starke     photo © by Joyce Tenneson