It’s a challenge every industry professional faces in 2017: How should events evolve in the age of Donald Trump? Faith Smith, 37, the director of live programming for the political magazine Slate, thinks smart content and diverse representation are key.
“People are turning to Slate for smart analysis,” says Smith, who produces roughly 60 events per year, from live podcast tapings and technology conferences to movie screenings and members-only gatherings. “We’re seeing this online and at our events—people look to Slate’s journalists as guides to the world of politics, the courts, justice, and community issues.”
Smith joined Slate two years ago and immediately worked to transform and professionalize the magazine’s events division—dubbed Slate Live—as well as to improve production values and develop programming in cities outside of the brand’s Washington, D.C., home.
“We’d been doing live podcasts and panels sporadically before [Faith] came on board, and the audience engagement had always been promising,” explains Slate’s editor in chief, Julia Turner. “But she has taken that promise and created a real business. We’re doing more shows than ever, before bigger audiences, in venues as varied as Edith Wharton’s country manor and Sydney, Australia’s Town Hall.”
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Due to Slate’s political focus, attendance—and event formats—evolved substantially during the 2016 presidential election. The title teamed up with Second City to host a national political comedy tour called “Unelectable You,” while a live taping of the Political Gabfest podcast drew a large crowd to Georgia Tech University. Post-election, one of Slate’s newest podcasts, the “Trumpcast,” has also hosted popular live tapings.
“My priority is to let the topic and the people shine,” Smith says. “I want our audience to leave feeling as if they’d been part of a great conversation—to feel as though they spent time with really smart friends, and that they’ve been challenged or encouraged to think about a topic in a different way.”
Smith works hard to build panels that represent diverse genders, ethnicities, and sexualities—particularly in the brand’s Future Tense initiative, a series of some 25 annual events plus an editorial channel focusing on emerging technology. She also seeks out political diversity: While Slate readers undeniably skew liberal, Smith booked Evan McMullin, a conservative-leaning 2016 presidential candidate, for a Political Gabfest live taping in May. She was drawn to his base of knowledge and the way he approaches politics.
“I want the audience to see themselves on stage, and I want the most dynamic conversation possible,” she explains. “That will only happen when the lineup is diverse and inclusive.”
Turner echoes that statement. “There’s no one better at facilitating smart conversations among a diverse array of thinkers [than Faith],” she says.
Smith never expected to be an event planner. Growing up in the small town of Grove, Oklahoma, she studied international development at U.C.L.A. before joining the New America Foundation, a nonpartisan think tank. Over the course of seven years, Smith rose from intern to researcher to program associate; she was eventually tasked with building out the foundation’s presence in New York and was promoted to director of events and external relations.
In addition to planning large-scale conferences and events for New America, Smith helped launch the Future Tense initiative in partnership with Slate and Arizona State University—which created a smooth transition when she was hired by the magazine in June 2015. Smith continues to lead Future Tense, now working with her former and current employers to produce the technology-focused events.
Smith—who recently gave birth to her second son and is on maternity leave until July—plans to keep expanding the scope and style of events at Slate. The magazine was the exclusive podcast partner at the Tribeca Film Festival for the first time in April and has several big projects in the works for later this year. Slate also hired a second event producer in early 2017 to assist with the growing demand for events.
“I want to build out Slate Live outside of our podcast brands, and bring more Slate journalists and talent to the world,” Smith says. “There’s nothing like the joy of watching a satisfied audience leave a great event after having been entertained and challenged.”
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