WCAA Gears Up for 2008 Conference: The Classified Reality

Conferences have always been a key element for professionals to learn and network. The classified advertising industry is blessed to have several such conferences at the international, national, regional and state level.

The following story about the Western Classified Advertising Association conference will appear in the November 2008 issue of Inside Classified. To learn more about the organization, visit www.wcaa.info.

WCAA Gears Up for 2008 Conference: The Classified Reality
By Dana E. Blozis

The Western Classified Advertising Association (WCAA) is gearing up for another stellar conference. This year’s conference, named The Classified Reality, will be held in Portland, Oregon September 7 – 10 (see sidebar for details). This year’s program promises to be an ideal opportunity for members to network with colleagues, visit with leading industry vendors, see the newest technology, compare products and services, and share ideas with their peers.

WCAA President Deanna Whitmore of The Modesto (California) Bee is excited about the upcoming event.

“There isn’t a newspaper classified department that isn’t struggling right now. There’s so much competition for our business,” she said. “I’m anxious to hear from local employers, auto dealers, real estate folks and from other classified managers about how they are dealing with all of it.”

History

WCAA was established in 1950. It represents the 13 western most states, including Alaska and Hawaii, and western Canada. It is the largest regional classified advertising network in North America. In 2002, the California Classified Advertising Executives Association merged its membership with WCAA, bringing with it the organization’s treasury and two board members including Whitmore. WCAA currently has approximately 100 newspaper and affiliate members.

2007 conference

Amidst a struggling economy, last year’s conference theme was Positioning Classifieds for the Future. With 98 newspaper attendees and 28 vendors and sponsors, the programs focused on growing revenue without raising rates and appealing to Generations X and Y. According to Whitmore, last year was a banner year for new attendees, drawing 18 first-timers, the highest total in the last 10 years. Whitmore credits their “buddy up” program for the success in attracting new participants. With this program, a WCAA board member buddies up with a new attendee to introduce him to colleagues and vendors and to make sure he gets the most from the conference.

“You can’t beat it for networking,” Whitmore said.

This year’s program in brief

According to program coordinator Rebecca Bradner, the 2008 conference is being segmented into three main categories – Automotive, Recruitment and Real Estate. Each of these segments will include (1) an expert’s overview of the current conditions and an outlook for the near future; (2) a panel of industry experts to discuss what’s working for them and what they see in the future; and (3) a group idea exchange.

“We’re focusing on more alternative solutions – online, niche, etc.,” Bradner said.

“If you are a category manager, we’ve made it easy for you to attend just your specific sessions, since they are clustered together in segments,” she added. “If you are a CAM/CAD, you’ll want to attend all the sessions. “

The schedule includes:

September 7

Cocktail reception and registration

September 8

Morning: Keynote speaker: Tony Marsalla, Ranger Data, “Making Difficult Changes to Adapt to the New Realities of Classified”

Afternoon: Recruitment Session with Shannon Kinney, Classified Intelligence, and Tony Lee, Adicio. Session will include a recruitment customer panel and Bright Idea Exchange.

Evening: Fun Night aboard the beautiful Willamette Star, a casual evening of dinner, music and informal networking

September 9

Morning: Real Estate Session with Shannon Kinney and Tony Lee. Session will include a real estate customer panel and Bright Idea Exchange.

Afternoon: Automotive Session with Shannon Kinney and Tony Lee. Session will include an automotive customer panel and Bright Idea Exchange. Guest speaker will discuss motivating your staff in a down economy.

September 10

Morning: A session on outsourcing and a guest speaker will discuss motivating yourself in a down economy.

Conference highlights and extras

Whitmore points out that Fun Night is always a highlight of the conference. It is a casual evening aboard the luxurious yacht the Willamette Star where attendees and vendors can visit, network and have fun while cruising the Portland skyline.

Whitmore is also excited about the three category-specific sessions and the idea sharing that takes place. The Bright Idea Exchange will also be category-specific; these informal sessions provide an opportunity for participants to share revenue-generating ideas that are easy to implement. Participants are asked to bring in samples, tear sheets or written explanations of their ideas for sharing with others.

Ideas are collected and shared in a printed booklet and each participant who offers an idea, gets his or her name entered into a drawing for a $100 cash prize…an added bonus!

“These are ‘rapid fire’ networking and idea sharing sessions,” Whitmore said, a top request from last year’s attendees.

Ideally, Whitmore added, a participant will take back a collection of ideas to her newspaper that can be immediately implement with little assistance from the paper’s IT or online department.

“They should bring enough ideas back with them that should more than cover the cost of the conference,” she said.

Other “don’t miss” sessions include the pros and cons of call center outsourcing and the keynote presentation.

“No one will want to miss Tony Marsalla’s keynote speech Making Difficult Changes to Adapt to the New Classified Realities,” Bradner added.

Another conference highlight is the level of involvement of the vendors, who are included in all of the events and whose booths are located in the back of the conference rooms where sessions are held.

“The conference does a good job of getting the vendors involved and allowing them to participate in all of our activities so they can network with others,” Whitmore said.

Sidebar #1:

2008 WCAA Annual Conference: The Classified Reality
Double Tree Hotel – Lloyd Center
Portland, Oregon
September 7 – 10, 2008
$475 conference fee
(Fee includes the conference, 3 breakfasts, 2 lunches and Fun Night. Airfare, hotel and the Tuesday evening meal are not included.)

To get more information or to register for the conference, visit www.wcaa.info or contact Rebecca Bradner, Las Vegas Review Journal, at rbradner@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0316.

To renew your membership or to become a member, join online at www.wcaa.info or print the form and mail it to Linda Farmen, LVR-J, P. O. Box 70, Las Vegas, NV 89025. Membership costs vary depending on your newspaper’s circulation size.

Sidebar #2

Don’t take our word for it. Read what Sarah Sinclair, Michelle Ackerman and Sandra D. Riggins said about WCAA conferences.

Sarah Sinclair, Client Services Manager, Classified Concepts
Past Ad Director and Classified Manager, Santa Barbara News Press

“Even with today’s abilities to teleconference, webinar and collaborate remotely, nothing replaces face-to-face interaction. At WCAA conferences, the emphasis is on idea-sharing and networking. This is true during the conference sessions, but it also spills over to the lunch breaks, the Fun Night conversations and the feedback walking the halls after the sessions. Some of the best take-home ideas come from brainstorming with colleagues around a cocktail table in the wee hours.

“I will most definitely be at this year’s conference in Portland. I am excited to see how the structure of this year’s conference with a ‘block schedule’ emphasis on each of the big three verticals lends itself to an in-depth look at the challenges, opportunities and vision for the future…especially the ‘idea exchange’ portion of each session.

“I also always look forward to talking to the vendors about new offerings. Now that I am working with a vendor company, I’m even more excited to have like-minded solution providers in one place to see and hear what’s new.”

Michelle Ackerman
Classified Products Director, Denver Newspaper Agency

“It’s tough in Classified right now, so it’s more important than ever that we attend conferences to learn and network. The WCAA conferences are full of great speakers on current topics. I always take away great ideas that I can bring back and implement at my paper.

“There are over 25 vendors which I believe are an important part of our business. We can’t make money without them, so it’s a great chance to talk to them and learn what’s new and what’s hot.

“Finally, near and dear to my heart is the networking with other classified managers. These are people I call throughout the year when I need help or need to bounce ideas off someone.”

Sandra D. Riggins
Classified Advertising Manager, Tucson Newspapers

“My first WCAA conference was in 1983…it made such an impact on me personally and professionally that I knew I would always want to be involved. I had no idea that when I became a Board Director, the experience would be even more profound and rewarding…the revenue initiatives, the networking, the brainstorming, resources, career enrichment, industry knowledge and friends for life.”