Chat - Melinda Ivey

I've posted a new chat session with Melinda Ivey on the chat archive link. Melinda is the E-Product Manager for Vance's Produce Division, and she gives some perspectives on the scope of the online audience and what she sees coming around the corner. You will find the Q and A with Melinda at the bottom of the chat archive page.

me: Melinda - are you there?

10:03 AM theverymel: Hello!

10:04 AM me: Great - thanks for taking part in another Fresh Talk chat session. First of all, where did you grow up?

10:05 AM theverymel: Thanks for having me! I grew up in Republic, MO, a little town just west of Springfield

It was quite rural then but it's more populated now

10:06 AM me: What was your educational pathway to where you are now - and for our readers, give us a little bit of a job description of what you do for Vance

10:07 AM theverymel: I graduated from Mo State University in Springfield with a degree in communications, and I started out in Marketing positions out of college.

10:09 AM In the mid-90's when the web boom came into full swing, I found myself producing and launching websites as part of my marketing duties, and I fell into multimedia from there

10:10 AM Today I am the E-Product Manager for Vance's Produce division, and I love my job!

10:11 AM me: You do a good job of evaluating a lot of statistics about Web usage for e-newsletters and The Packer's Web site(s). Do we have an estimate about how many readers of the print Packer are now "online"?

I mean to say, how many regularly get online on The Packer's various sites..

10:12 AM theverymel: We average about 15,000 unique visitors to the site each month

me: How do you think the world of electronic publishing may change in the next few years?

10:14 AM theverymel: E-publishing is expected to grow by leaps and bounds. Publishers are looking to take advantage of the cost-effectiveness and vast reach of e-media. Production and distribution is much cheaper than print.

Ad dollars on the web are only expected to increase in the coming years

10:15 AM me: What Web sites do you find useful to your job - do you get any e-newsletters related to Web development, etc?

10:17 AM theverymel: Yes - I find Jakob NIelson's Alertbox very useful, it is more about usability, but also I get MediaPost and newsletters from Email Labs, about trends in e-mail communications and e-publishing

10:18 AM me: Do you try to get away from the computer at home? What do you like to do away from the office?

10:20 AM theverymel: Lol you would think I would try to get away from the computer at home! Sometimes I do feel like I need to hold a book or talk to a real human being! But I still spend a lot of time on the computer after hours, reading, researching, or chatting

Otherwise I do have a teenage son at home and he takes a lot of my time

10:21 AM me: I can relate - we have a soon to be 18 year old.. One more thought about epublishing - how is the trade press different than the consumer press when it comes to how the Web is used - are there any distinctions or is it mostly the same?

10:24 AM theverymel: B to B communications on the web is vastly different than consumer. With consumer publishing, you have a wider pool overall to shoot for. With B to B, sometimes it's harder to reach your audience and harder to measure the results

10:25 AM me: If our readers have any questions about Packer Web sites or e-newsletters, where should they go first?

10:28 AM theverymel: They are more than welcome to contact me, I can be reached at mivey@thepacker.com, but also editor Lance Jungmeyer is very involved in our e-communications, and he can be reached at ljungmeyer@thepacker.com

me: Great . Thanks Melinda for your time and I appreciate your insights!

10:29 AM theverymel: Anytime! Thank you!