Gathering In Chicago p. 13

By: Editorial Staff LEADERS FROM THE world of politics, media, entertainment and retailing will be featured at this year's annual Newspaper Association of America annual convention in Chicago, April 27-30.
Among the speakers scheduled to address the more than 1,200 newspaper publishers and executives are Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, Whitewater independent counsel Kenneth Starr and entertainer Bill Cosby.
White House chief of staff Erskine Bowles will speak at the Associated Press annual luncheon, which is held during the convention.
"1997 is an exciting and challenging time for newspapers, and the NAA annual convention provides publishers with the opportunity to assess the accomplishments of the industry and the challenges it will be facing in the coming years," said John Sturm, NAA president and CEO.
Publishers should be in a festive mood. With second-quarter results just in, newspaper companies are again reporting hefty earnings as a result of robust ad demand and continuing lower newsprint costs.
That's not to say that there are not problems looming on the horizon. Newspapers' classified ad base is facing more and more threats from new media companies and a special session will be held during the convention that concentrates on newspaper classifieds.
During the conference, John Curley, president and CEO of Gannett Co., will turn over the reigns of NAA chairman to David Cox, president and CEO of Cowles Media Co.
Richard Gottlieb, president and CEO of Lee Enterprises, will move up to serve as vice chairman of NAA; William Morris III, chairman and CEO of Morris Communications, will become secretary; and Andrew Barnes, president and CEO of the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times will serve as treasurer. Curley will remain on the board for one year as immediate past chairman.
The following newspaper executives have been nominated to join the NAA board of directors: John Dotson Jr., president and publisher of the Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal; Caroline Diamond Harrison, general manager of the Harrisburg, Pa., Patriot and Evening News; and R. Jack Fishman, editor and publisher of the Citizen Tribune, Morristown, Tenn.
On Saturday, April 26, a Resource Fair will be open from 12 noon to 6 p.m. at which attendees will be able to meet with nonprofit organizations that offer services of value to the newspaper industry.
NAA will once again offer its Cyber Cafe to give attendees the opportunity to surf Web sites and see demonstrations of innovative newspaper online products. The Cyber Cafe will be open on Saturday from from 12 noon to 5 p.m. and on Sunday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. on Sunday, a "Web Site Basics" workshop will be held, and between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m., a New Media Fair will be open at which publishers will be able to find out about the latest electronic publishing services and products. The New Media Fair will also be open on Monday and Tuesday afternoons.

SUNDAY, APRIL 27
The annual session, "Big Ideas for Smaller Market Newspapers," will be held from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., with two concurrent sessions based on newspaper size. Attendees will share ideas for generating revenue, containing costs and starting new products at newspapers with generally less than 75,000 circulation.

MONDAY, APRIL 28
Outgoing NAA chairman Curley will deliver the convention keynote address at the opening session beginning at 8 a.m. Curley will offer his thoughts on the state of the newspaper industry and will be followed by NAA president Sturm, who will discuss the association's accomplishments and plans, including the launch of NAA Partners-2000, an initiative to improve the relationship between daily newspapers and their ad customers.
The Associated Press annual meeting will begin at 10 a.m. and run until noon. Five of the AP's best investigative and international news reporters will join AP president and CEO Louis Boccardi for a discussion ? titled "What's Going On Here" ? on recent developments in Washington politics, the Middle East peace process and ethnic unrest in Africa.
AP correspondent Karin Davies, based in Nairobi; AP vice president and special columnist Walter Mears, who covers Washington; AP White House reporter Sonya Ross; AP special assignment editor in Washington, John Solomon; and AP's chief of bureau in Israel Nicholas Tatro, will be on the panel.
The AP will also conduct its annual election of board members at the meeting.
The annual AP luncheon will follow, at which Bowles will speak.
An NAA general session will follow at 3 p.m. at which Harold Hodgkinson, director, Center for Demographic Policy, will speak on "Bringing Tomorrow into Focus." Attendees will be able to hear how family shifts, aging population, workplace changes, diversity and other factors are reshaping American society.
The NAA annual meeting will begin at 4 p.m.

Tuesday, April 29
The "Future of Retailing: Reaching Tomorrow's Customers" will be the topic at the 8 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. session, at which some of America's top department, grocery and specialty stores will discuss their plans for reaching customers via advertising.
Among the speakers scheduled for that session are Les Richardson, vice president/advertising for Toys R Us and Tom Haggai, chairman and CEO for IGA Foods.
A 9:45 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. session will present the findings from a joint study sponsored on media usage by the NAA and the American Society of Newspaper Editors.
Two concurrent workshops will be held from 11 a.m. to noon. One will concentrate on "Selling Newspapers: Circulation Success," and the other on "Building Partnerships With Advertisers."
Microsoft's Gates will address the NAA luncheon at 12:45 p.m. and is expected to share his views on electronic publishing and the potential for newspapers in new media.
This will be followed by an NAA general session at 2:45 p.m., at which the topic of "New Media Newspaper Strategies" will be discussed by analysts and experts from the newspaper industry.

Wednesday, April 30
A session at which classified newspaper advertising success stories will be offered will begin at 8 a.m. and run until 10:45 a.m. It will begin as a general session and then turn into three concurrent workshops based on a newspaper's circulation size.
A session from 9:45 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. will offer "Sixty Ideas in Sixty Minutes" for attendees and this will be followed by a talk by Cosby from 11 a.m. to 12 noon on the topic "Minorities in the Media."
Whitewater independent counsel Starr will address the NAA luncheon beginning at 12:45 p.m. and then the gavel will be passed from Curley to Cox and the convention will close.
?(Buckingham Fountain is pictured with Sears Tower at far left in this view of downtown Chicago, where the nation's newspaper publishers will be gathering this week for the annual Newspaper Association of America convention) [Photo & Caption]
?(Erskine Bowles, White House chief of staff, will address the Associated Press annual luncheon during the Newspaper Association of America convention in Chicago this week.) [Photo & Caption]
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?copyright Editor & Publisher- April 26, 1997.