In an industry where change is the only constant, sales teams can learn how to stay ahead of the curve with the Advertising Workshop on Thursday, July 21, from 2:30pm to 5:30pm at the AAN Convention in New Orleans.

The workshop will discuss new models, tools and staffing ideas that change the way publishers grow readers and revenue over the next decade and answer questions such as, “How do I remake my sales force?”, “Who are the sales managers of the future?” and “How does your new sales staff and management spend their time and resources?”

AAN Advertising Chair and Charleston City Paper advertising director Blair Barna said the goal of the workshop is to really take a look at what kinds of changes in hiring and management practices people should be looking at for the next five to 10 years and ways to approach selling digital products.

“For a long time, we had the luxury of doing things a certain way,” he said, “But now there are a lot of challenges facing sales teams.”

Ryan Dohrn, CEO of Brain Swell Media, will lead the session. Dohrn started his company after 15 years in the mainstream publishing and media industry and coaches 52 mainstream publishers on internet strategy and trains their sales teams to grow revenue fast.

Barna said he is really looking forward to hearing Dohrn’s ideas about “breathing life into new media” and connecting with and pitching to consumers.

“I’m going to be a spectator as much as anyone else,” he said.