GACS Today Is Going Digital:
What This Means for Our Readers

At the first of the year, the GACS Board of Directors charged us with taking GACS Today into the 21st century by going digital. Our goals: to bring the magazine to more readers and to make it engaging.

We hit the ground running: after exploring a wide array of formats and options, we determined that a mobile-optimized publication could be our best bet. It would be faster, more navigable, and scalable; readers could open it and read on any device; and it would give us options to engage readers and advertisers, with live links and animation.

So we built a prototype and presented it to our readers. We conducted three focus groups during the convention:  one with senior leaders, one with advertisers, and one with young professionals.
Getting feedback from the Focus Groups
Feedback was awesome. We learned what folks loved about it, and what tweaks would be needed to make it more successful. In particular, everyone loved the ability to be engaged with the digital magazine – through the live links, through the use of animation, through the ability to have much more frequent news updates, and the ability to develop searchable archives. Advertisers will be able to embed videos and have access to click data, a plus for their ROI. Universally, focus group participants expressed a desire to have the digital magazine connected directly to the GACS website. This, the winter issue, will also be
available digitally; watch your email for a link to the new digital version.
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The theme of each issue will continue to change quarterly. You can engage with the magazine via live links; view animations and click on advertiser videos. As we progress, you will be able to search archives by topic for information, and see even more frequent news updates. Next spring GACS Today will only be available as a digital publication, so look for more news as it develops.
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