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AAN Conference Offers Crash Course in the Web

Deadline for reduced rates is Sept. 12

The final touches have been added to programming for the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies’ first-ever Web Publishing Conference, which will be held October 5-7 at the Holiday Inn Golden Gateway in San Francisco. In 45-minute sessions, the brisk two-day program will cover everything AAN members need to know about the Web:

  • Web-Publishing Revenue Models


  • Online Advertising Operations and Technology


  • User-Generated Content Best Practices


  • Multimedia Storytelling


  • Search-Engine Optimization


  • Using Social Networking to Grow Your Audience


  • Writing and Editing for the Web


  • Web Analytics: What to Measure and Why


  • Web Site Usability Best Practices


  • Wireless Internet


  • Legal Issues on the Web

The agenda begins each day with an overview. On Friday, Mary Glick of the American Press Institute will explore practical solutions for dealing with radical change in the newspaper business. On Saturday, Andrew Nachison of The Media Center at API will explain why weekly newspapers may be well positioned to capitalize on key trends, and he’ll assess what’s missing from today’s alt-weeklies that could make them powerful competitors for business and influence.

Conference programming is designed for publishers and senior managers, editors, and IT and electronic-publishing personnel. The conference is open only to AAN members.

“AAN members who need a crash course in Web publishing shouldn’t miss this conference,” says AAN Executive Director Richard Karpel. “The program is comprehensive and we have an engaging lineup of professional speakers. Members who attend will return to their offices with the tools to create better, more profitable Web sites.”

Although the program will be completely outward-looking — i.e., no AAN-member panels — it will also feature a series of roundtable discussions organized by job function. The roundtables will be scheduled strategically to avoid conflicts with sessions particularly applicable to certain staffers. For instance, publisher/senior manager roundtables will be scheduled during the session focusing on writing and editing for the Web, and editor discussions will be held during the sessions on online advertising.

There will be brief lunch presentations by Web-publishing vendors on both days of the conference. The vendors that were chosen to exhibit have products or services that will extend attendees’ knowledge of the Web.

The conference will kick off with a cocktail party at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 5. Programming begins at 9 a.m. both days, and is scheduled to end at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 6, and 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 7.

The deadline for reduced rates for hotel rooms and conference registrations is tomorrow, Sept. 12. For more information, visit the conference Web site.