Community Newspapers – Hear Them Roar

Brought to you by Suburban Newspapers of America.

If you’re a community newspaper publisher or advertising director, online sales manager, classified manager or retail manager, there’s one conference you shouldn’t miss. And one organization you should be a part of.

Suburban Newspaper of America’s  Fall Publishers’ and Advertising Directors’ Conference, next Wed.-Fri. (October 8-10) in Minneapolis, is full of expertise and ideas to help community newspapers make money and grow their online, mobile and even print products.  Prior to the conference, Tuesday October 7 is a 3.5 hour trade show followed by a Welcome Reception.  Wednesday kicks off with keynote presentations by Nora Paul, Director of the University of Minnesota’s New Media Studies, Kate Marymont, VP of Content for Gannett and other experts.  Dale Peskin, co-founder and manager of iFOCOS will speak, as well as J-Lab’s Jan Shaffer.

How to pay for all the needed innovation is the subject of a panel of media finance experts. These include Mike Blinder, whose training and four-legged sales calls have been responsible for revenue increases of up to $1 million for newspapers small and large. TJX and Best Buy execs will focus on what retailers need from community newspapers, and Joanne O’Connell of Avenue A/Razorfish will share her tips on attracting national advertisers to community paper Web sites.

Other topics include video, mobile, attracting and retaining multimedia ad sales staff, innovations from around the world and best practices of successful community newspapers. Here’s a PDF of the complete agenda. If you can’t make this conference, be sure to check out all that is offered through SNA.  Industry vendors are welcomed with open arms here too. This is an organization committed to putting industry vendors with community newspapers for the success of both.