Convention Connection
Annual Kentucky Press Association event scheduled for Jan. 25-26 in Louisville

By David Greer
Kentucky Press Association

Innovation. Customer service. Research. These and other important concepts in the future of newspapers will be an integral part of the 2007 KPA annual convention on Thursday and Friday, Jan. 25 and 26 at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Louisville.

Whether you want to brush up on award-winning page design techniques or learn how your paper can retain your best advertising account representatives or get tips on covering Kentucky’s political landscape in 2007, the KPA convention will offer something for everyone. We’ll even find a way to entice music lovers with some top-notch entertainers.

The convention kicks off on Thursday, Jan. 25 with two great speakers – Kevin Slimp and Alan Jacobson. Slimp, director of the Institute of Newspaper Technology, a training program for newspaper designers and publishers headquartered at the University of Tennessee, will present a three-hour morning program on “What’s new in newspaper technology?” Slimp speaks to about 100 newspaper industry conferences and events annually.

Jacobson, head of Brass Tacks Design, will present a three-hour afternoon program on award-winning newspaper design. His consulting firm provides editorial, advertising, marketing, research and technical support for newspapers, magazines and web sites worldwide. The Society for News Design has given Jacobson special recognition for his work.

There will be a separate registration fee to attend the Slimp and Jacobson workshops.

Advertising topics take front and center stage on Friday morning as Kelly Wirges, a 20-year newspaper veteran with experience as a sales manager, account executive, creative director and sales development and training manager, leads a two-hour breakout session on how to successfully sell against the Yellow Pages.

The Yellow Pages are a formidable competitor in every newspaper market, she said, and papers can learn how to direct a bigger share of ad revenue to their own bottom lines.

Speaking of increasing ad revenue, Marc Wilson, CEO/general manager and founding partner of Town News, will present a 60-minute morning program on innovative ways to increase your online revenue. Wilson’s breakout session will be repeated in the afternoon. TownNews.com, a firm with deep roots in community journalism, now helps more than 1,500 papers – weekly and daily – publish interactive editions online. Among their clients are Lee, Landmark, Boone, Stephens Media, Schurz, Rust, Paxton and a host of other publishing firms.

On Friday afternoon, Gregg Gregory, a veteran human resource manager, will do a breakout session on how to retain your best advertising sales reps. “In this session, you will learn six essential things you can do immediately to increase your ad rep retention regardless of your current turnover rates,” Gregory said. “By the way, none of these strategies involve giving the employee an increase in salary.”

On the editorial side, Friday morning will start with a gubernatorial candidate forum co-sponsored by KPA and the Associated Press and moderated by retired AP Louisville Bureau Chief Ed Staats.

Veteran Minnesota weekly newspaper editor Don Heinzman will present a 60-minute breakout on “Writing for the Reader.”

“This is not a workshop on how to write stories,” Heinzman said. “It’s designed to help you write better stories by knowing your readers. You will examine your own news and feature writing against the latest news writing standards. Emphasis will be on finding the good story, analyzing it and writing a good lead.” At the end, Heinzman promises you will be able to think more like a reader and write stories aimed at getting 100 percent readership. Heinzman’s session will repeat during the afternoon.

Also on Friday afternoon, Al Cross, the dean of Kentucky political writers as a former Courier-Journal reporter and columnist and now director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, headquartered at the University of Kentucky, will lead a breakout session on covering Kentucky’s 2007 gubernatorial campaign.

This year’s KPA convention features an excellent round of circulation-related breakout sessions. Friday morning begins with a session comparing the pros and cons of delivery methods, primarily mail vs. carrier. Greg Haynes is circulation sales manager for Jones Media in Greenville, Tenn. and has experience converting mail papers to carrier and carrier papers to mail. He’s a 28-year newspaper veteran with experience in the newsroom as well as working as a supervisor and manager in the circulation departments of several Wisconsin papers, including the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

Steve Wagenlander, corporate director of circulation of the Evening Post Publishing Co. in Charleston, S.C., and a frequent newspaper industry speaker, also has day-to-day oversight of the circulation department at the Post & Courier in Charleston. Wagenlander spent seven years at the Indianapolis Star and seven years at The Herald-Leader in Lexington. He has a degree from Berea College. He’s also served as a faculty member for Inland Press Foundation’s Circulation Academy.

Steve may well be the “Iron Man” of the KPA convention since he is presenting three one-hour breakout sessions – home delivery, single-copy sales and customer service.

The traditional Changing of the Guard luncheon at noon Friday will feature KPA President Alice Rouse of the Murray Ledger & Times presenting the president’s gavel to president-elect Kriss Johnson of the Herald-Leader. Special guest Peter Yarrow, a member of Peter, Paul and Mary, the legendary 1960s folk music group, will entertain luncheon goers with his music. A performer and activist, Yarrow uses music to convey a message of humanity and caring, creating community and inspiring audiences to act on their convictions. Yarrow is a real fan of the newspaper industry’s NIE program and has performed at several NIE functions across the country. His most ambitious undertaking so far is a project called Operation Respect: Don’t Laugh at Me. It’s based on his belief that music, with the power to build community and serve as a catalyst for change, can be a powerful source of inspiration for children. His song, “Don’t Laugh at Me,” has become an anthem for the growing movement to build safer and more respectful school environments for children.

Mark Weiss, educational director of Operation Respect and a 20-year veteran New York City school principal, will present an afternoon breakout session on Operation Respect. The “Don’t Laugh at Me Project” transforms schools into more compassionate, safe and respectful places for children by reducing ridicule and bullying.

But don’t think this is all of the convention program. As the announcers on those late-night informercials say, “Wait, there’s more!”

Steve Buttry, director of tailored programs at the American Press Institute, will present a Friday morning session on Newspaper Next: Blueprint for Transformation.” N2, as it’s called, is a very specific and results-oriented plan for newspapers to reduce their declining revenues and circulation and to find new and profitable business models. The goal of N2 is for newspapers to achieve long-term survival and growth through innovation, according to the project’s web site.

Buttry is a 33-year newspaper veteran having been a reporter, editor and writing coach. Before joining API, he was the writing coach and national correspondent for the Omaha World-Herald.

Following Buttry, Mary Nesbitt, managing director of the Readership Institute at the Media Management Center of Northwestern University, will lead a breakout session on newspaper branding through specific editorial content enhancement.

On Friday afternoon, Russell Viers, an Adobe certified instructor in InDesign and PhotoShop, among others, presents a program on speeding production flow page. “InDesign is willing to do a lot of the work for us – we just have to know how to ask,” Viers said. “In this session, you will see many of the ‘automatic’ features in InDesign that will allow you to work smarter, not harder, to get your projects done faster.”

Also on Friday, we’ll hear from three Kentucky newspapers creating innovative content – either on their web sites or in other media. The Herald-Leader site’s features several blogs. Herald-Leader blogger and editorial page writer Larry Dale Keeling will talk about his paper’s efforts. Kim Kolarik, the Courier-Journal’s new media editor, will talk about his paper’s addition of local news video to its web site. Meanwhile, in Bardstown, the Kentucky Standard helped found PLG-TV, a local cable TV station, several years ago. PLG-TV, using news content generated by its sister newspaper’s newsroom, broadcasts a local TV newscast via the local cable TV system five nights a week. Publisher Ron Filkins will discuss the paper’s venture into cable TV. There will be time for questions from the audience.

The KPA Associates will present an afternoon session by Marty Kish, vice president, communications and marketing, of the Kentucky Association of Manufacturers. He will speak about his organization’s efforts to re-brand itself from the former Associated Industries of Kentucky.

And finally, country music fans can delight in equal time at the convention as Kyle Wyley, a rising country music star from Nashville, performs during the receptions before and after Friday night’s KPA awards banquet. Wyley and his band are sponsored by Publishing Group of America/American Profile.

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