A Strange Irish Wake

I have been attending a strange Irish wake this week. Strange because it was certainly not intended by those who threw it to be a wake. Strange also because we are having it in Las Vegas, a town known more for weddings than for funerals. Strangest of all because the wake is being held for a trade show and not a person.  
You see, this week I am attending the newspapers industry's Media Xchange Conference at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center. This is the first year of this conference under the current name, though I have been attending this gathering of the newspapers for over 25 years under the previous names of NEXPO and ANPATEC.The name of the conference is not the only thing that has gone through changes over the years however, as its parent organization has likewise gone through some changes. 

First known as the American Newspaper Publishers Association (hence the ANPATEC name), and more recently by its current nom de plume of the Newspaper Association of America (NAA), they have been the organizing and guiding force for both the industry and this conference, making them in this case I suppose the family of the deceased. You see the conference, much like the industry it serves, has been suffering for some time from a wasting disease. Once drawing up to 20,000 people to its programs and exhibits, it now commands a dismal attendance levels of what look to be less than 1,000. With tough economic times in the industry (as everywhere else), little money is allocated for travel budgets to attend such meetings. 

Continued diminishing customer attendance and what I believe to me little better than mismanagement by NAA has fed a weakening presence by vendors as well, reaching a peak this year when many of the major organizations serving the industry pulled out at the last minute, even when realizing that the money for the booth space that they had purchased would be forfeit.  

There is work here to be done however, and those of us who have come out this week are trying to accomplish at least some of our required goals; but the lack of attendees makes it all but impossible to do the work that we should be or want to be doing. There is widespread recognition that as a consequence, that this will probably be the last year that any of us participate in this gathering. 

After many years, many adventures, and many stories from years gone by (all of which I am sworn to secrecy on), this conference has finally died a rather sad and ignominious death. It is left to those of us in attendance this week to its rotting corpse to do what we can to give it a proper send off. And so at some point this week we will quietly gather, raise a glass, and offer a sentiment for the passing of an old friend and the end of an era.

Slainte'