Show Launches in a Tough News Industry

LAS VEGAS—According to several exhibitors and attendees at the inaugural Newspaper Assn. of America mediaXchange, the conference and tradeshow for the advertising, management and infrastructure side of the newspaper industry, the event might have the right intentions, but there’s still room for improvement.

Held Mar. 9-11 at Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, the tradeshow attracted about 220 exhibitors spanning 53,000 square feet. According to show management, the event expected about 1,400 attendees, but final numbers were not available at press time.

The conference is a merger and replacement of NAA’s Marketing Conference and NEXPO and is geared towards newspaper professionals seeking audience and revenue development strategies for print and online, with an increased focus on emerging digital platforms.

In light of that fact that other shows in this sector are having serious problems – such as the annual convention of the American Society for Newspaper Editors, which was forced to cancel its annual event next month in Chicago because of a severely stressed industry – it wouldn’t appear to be a good time to launch a newspaper show.

However, according to Kevin McCourt, NAA vice president of advertising and exhibition sales, unlike ASNE’s event, which focuses on the editorial side of the industry, mediaXchange is geared toward the professionals responsible for advertising, audience and infrastructure seeking short-term solutions to help develop revenue and manage content.

“The folks that are here want to attend the sessions and get smart about the things they can do (in the next 12 to 18 months) to promote revenue and increase the audience of their newspaper,” McCourt said.

However, participants appeared to be taking more advantage of conference sessions and networking opportunities, rather than the tradeshow. Traffic was light, with many exhibitors standing or sitting alone in empty booths.

Although some exhibitors said the show was busier on the first day and earlier on the second, many were disappointed with the turnout and felt show management needed to do a better job of figuring out how to draw conference participants onto the floor.

“Compared to previous (NAA) shows, there’s not a lot of interaction between vendors and attendees,” said exhibitor Tricia Etienne, consultant at Data-Dynamics. “In the past, the show would be open for one period of time, and it would be flooded.”

Attendee John Dickinson, president of CNI Corp., said it made sense that many attendees weren’t walking the floor.

“People come to events to network, to innovate and to find answers to problems,” Dickinson said. “You’re not getting that (at the tradeshow). People need answers, and they’re not getting it out there.”

Taking steps to improve the show will be one of NAA’s main focuses after the event, McCourt said. The association will gather feedback from exhibitors, attendees and its board of directors at the NAA’s Annual Meeting next month in San Diego and will make the necessary adjustments to fine-tune the event, he added.

“Unless I’m completely wrong and the newspaper media business completely disappears, … our members want to get together, talk to each other and learn from their customers,” McCourt said.