Posted Aug. 1, 2008

David
Ledford

Tough as it is in the newspaper industry, this is not the time to panic.

It's time to come together – to focus not on what we were even a year ago, but what we can be if we seize opportunities in the digital age.

APME has put together a conference program that is at once inspirational and pragmatic.

We understand that the industry is being dismantled, that editors need help navigating the most difficult patch we've faced since the Great Depression.

That's what this conference is all about: Fighting for journalism.

You'll go home with great ideas already tested at newspapers large and small, new strategies for handling niche, print and digital, and, significantly, a much-needed infusion of hope.

You'll hear success stories from innovative editors whose ideas will be included in our annual Great Ideas Book, you'll get the 50,000-foot view of the future from digital chiefs at leading newspaper companies, and you'll get tips from the best in the business on improving your web site and moving forward with social networking.

There's an inspirational session on how Las Vegas has successfully reinvented the gaming industry during hard times, and sessions on making our work more relevant and more sophisticated – everything from database reporting projects to new print and digital niche products, to tips on making climate change coverage hit home.

Those of us in APME leadership know travel dollars are tight. We also know that cutting and reassembling your staffs is draining physically and spirtually.

Red Rock Resort, off the Strip near Red Rock Canyon, will afford all some self renewal.

Attendees can go from their rooms to the conference space without walking through the casino, and this hotel has an incredible pool and a world-class spa -- which also coordinates horseback riding, kayaking, biking and hiking and rock climbing.

All this and the low registration price is why Dean Miller, editor of the Post Register in Idaho Falls, Idaho, is sending a contingent of four.

"We've got a lot of new initiatives coming and figured we'd come down and get super-charged" before making final plans, said Miller, an innovator in his own right who will lead a session for small newspapers.

When APME leadership chose Las Vegas as a conference site two years ago, we did so because of superb airline service and a reasonable room rate room rate. That still holds true in this wacky economy.

Find your way to the Red Rock.

You'll return home with a head full of meaningful ideas and the inspiration to lead your staff through hard times.

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David Ledford is the Vice President and Executive Editor at The News Journal in Wilmington, Del. You can reach him at (302) 324-2860 or via e-mail at dledford@wilmingt.gannett.com.