At last year's ASBPE conference, Folio: editor Tony Silber floated the idea of taking Folio:'s conference on the road, doing one-day miniconferences in a tractor-trailer that would drive around the country and stop at various publishing companies. I blogged about it here.

It seems that now a modified version of that idea has become reality. This summer Folio: brought its Road Show, a one-day conference, to Washington, D.C. In August, the event hits Atlanta. In both cities, the seminar addresses the how to combine e-publishing with traditional media, "including specific strategies for trade, specialty and association publishers," according to Folio:'s web site.

So far, at least, the seminars are being held at hotels rather than in trucks parked in publishing-company parking lots.

No word yet on any Boston dates.

At the ASBPE National Conference last week, I was on a panel with Paul Conley and David Shaw on B2B Blogging. I plan to blog a little more about the conference in the next few days, but in the meantime, here's what Dave and Paul had to say about the conference, B2B blogging, the Azbee awards, and B2B publishing in general. Dave's post links to the PowerPoint presentation for his talk, "The 15-Minute Case for B2B Blogging"; here's my PowerPoint on blogging tools (1.3MB zipped file).

Take a look at the comments to Dave's post, too. They're worth reading. There's an exchange about the extra work blogs create for editors and the issue of extra compensation. And on the topic of blogging and workloads: In the first comment to Dave's post, ASBPE Boston board member (and B2B blogger) Sue Pelletier points out that editors can get some of the bonding-with-your-audience benefits of a blog by commenting on industry listservs. I don't think she meant it to be a substitute for blogging, but if you want to interact more with your audience, participating in listservs is one relatively low-effort option. (ASBPE national treasurer Ira Pilchen made a similar point to me after the panel, noting that leaving comments on others' industry blogs can help keep you in the dialogue with others in the industry you cover. ) And in his presentation, Paul Conley pointed out that even if you don't want to add a blog to your magazine's web site, you should be thinking about becoming more bloglike by providing readers with the ability to post comments about on your stories online.

Also, here's coverage of Crain Communications president Rance Crain's keynote speech from BtoBOnline, in which he encouraged editors to add to their skills and embrace new media. (BtoB is owned by Crain Communications.)

Consultant Dave Shaw of Grid Media has followed up on a recent post about The Wall Street Journal selling ads on its front page with this post, which includes some comments on the selling of cover or page one ads from attendees at the ASBPE conference. Shaw links to a few other commentaries on the topic, too.

Two Massachusetts-based International Data Group publications, Computerworld and CSO, received Magazine of the Year honors during ASBPE's 28th Annual Azbee awards banquet, July 20 in Chicago. Computerworld was the top magazine in the 80,000-or-more circulation division; CSO won in the under-80,000-circulation category.

As if that weren't enough, three of the four Magazine of the Year honorable mentions were also based in Massachusetts. In the large-circ division, Boston-based CFO (owned by The Economist Group) and CIO, another IDG magazine, were runners up. And Information Security, a TechTarget publication based in Needham, Mass., got an honorable mention in the under-80,000-circulation category. (An honorable mention also went to Meetings & Conventions, which is owned by Secaucus, N.J.-based Northstar Travel Media.)

Not that this should come as a surprise. Six of the 20 Magazine of the Year finalists this year were from Massachusetts. (And, as mentioned in an earlier post, nine of the finalists were from the competition's Northeast region, which includes Massachusetts and nine other states.)

Magazine of the Year winners Computerworld and CSO were also among the biggest winners of national Azbee Gold Awards, with five each.

All the winners in the Magazine of the Year and the 40 editorial, design, web, and newsletter categories are detailed on the ASBPE web site.

Update, 3:54 p.m.: If anyone from the Boston/New England chapter has winning articles or images (regional or national competition) that they want to link to, please do. Leave a comment to this post with your link. Perhaps we can even start a Flickr gallery with some of the winning entry images.

Web site editor Sarah Lourie of Needham, Mass.-based TechTarget is one of the five winners of ASBPE’s Young Leaders Scholarship this year.

The annual scholarship allows up to five editors age 30 and under -- who might otherwise be unable -- to attend the ASBPE National Conference. (This year's conference is scheduled for July 20-21 in Chicago.) Applicants must be sponsored by their chief editors, provide work samples, and write statements telling where they see their careers in the year 2013.

Sarah is site editor for SearchSMB.com and associate editor for SearchCIO.com and its associated print magazine, CIO Decisions. Here’s an excerpt from her application statement:

One of my favorite topics to cover has been regulatory compliance. The last few years brought us the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, HIPAA, SB-1386 and countless other IT-related legislative rulings. These acts have angered, frustrated and confused many companies. They’ve generated tremendous expense, and even led to the imprisonment of a few executives. ...

What I love about the business press is that the news we cover keeps us all a little ahead of the curve. We don't react, we inform. We're there as it's happening, as society is adjusting to business change. We know what people need to know before they know it. Our readers on SearchCIO.com, for example, come for advice on how to handle Section 404 of the SOX act and whether to use an internal or external auditor. They come to us to check up on the latest HIPAA deadline change or to check out how other states are following California's lead with the passage of SB-1386.

Here today in 2013, I've just finished editing yet another story about a Fortune 500 company fumbling because of shareholder lawsuits over intellectual property or lost customer data. I’ve just ventured from one of my increasingly regular visits to Washington D.C., where I can be in the middle of congressional sessions. I'm still mulling over the implications of the passage of the Clinton-Bush Act. Which Clinton do I mean? Which Bush? Just log onto my compliance blog (www.sarah-knows.com) and find out.

And here's what Sarah's supervising editor, CIO Decisions Media Group VP and editorial director Maryfran Johnson, says about her:

I've found Sarah to be an extremely dedicated, creative and hard-working editor. She has played an increasingly significant role in our media group... . Whether in story brainstorming sessions or editorial calendar planning meetings, Sarah always has good ideas, fresh angles, and knowledgeable sources to contribute to the group's effort.

In her capacity as our second-in-command (associate site editor) on the SearchCIO.com website, Sarah has worked directly with many of our experts, columnists and freelancers in shaping the editorial content on the site. She has developed expertise in a range of regulatory compliance topic ... and has an ever-widening circle of IT executive contacts who enrich our coverage of compliance. Her accomplishments as the associate site editor on SearchCIO.com recently led to her promotion to site editor for our SearchSMB.com site.

Please join us in congratulating Sarah.

Read more about Sarah the other winners of the Young Leaders Scholarship.

Note: This post was updated on Oct. 17, 2006, to include the entire story about Sarah; originally it included a shortened version and referred readers to the full story on the old ASBPE Boston web page. This blog has replaced that page.

If you don't check Folio:'s web site regularly, you might have missed quite a bit of recent B2B news that's posted now:

• United Business Media Acquires Commonwealth for $152M
• Former Cygnus President Starts New Company
  (Addendum: The above story refers to purchase of Reed Business Information's New Products division; also see article "Reiff buys Reed's New Products division, forms new b-to-b media firm" from BtoB.)
  
• Grand View Media Acquires NTP Media
• Industry Sources Say Cygnus on the Block
• Ziff E-Trade Shows, E-Seminars Take Off
• Paidcontent.org Receives First Round Funding
  
• Industry Sources Say Cygnus on the Block
  
• CMP Parent Company Says Challenges Lie Ahead in Print
• Kelly Simon Productions Sells Majority Interest in Trade Shows

And, from the June 29 Folio: Wire, there are these B2B stories:

• B-to-B Pubs Ad Revenue Up Slightly Since '05
• Prism Business Media Acquires Transportation Technical Services
• Penton Custom Media Teams Up With American Red Cross
• InformationWeek Launches Spin-off Web Site

along with an item of local interest:

• Money Opens Boston Bureau

The twenty finalists for ASBPE's Magazine of the Year awards have been announced. The Magazine of the Year award is given on the national level only. Two magazines are chosen each year for this top award: One with a circulation of less than 80,000 and one with a circulation of 80,000 or more.

Nine of the 20 finalists come from the Northeast region. The finalists from the Northeast region in the under-80,000-circulation division include:

• CIO Decisions
• CIO Insight
• CSO
• Information Security
• Meetings & Conventions
• The American Lawyer

And in the 80,000-or-more circ division:

• CIO
• CFO
• Computerworld