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Invest in you and your staff
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 Dear Publishers, Owners, Industry Veterans, Sales Managers and Friends of the Industry:
I am asking for your help.
Clearly, the economic turmoil is placing a burden on our organizations. People are being let go, customers counts might be down, and some circulation may be closing. Everywhere we look, bad news is overflowing. I believe we must act decisively to help move all of our businesses along to better outcomes in 2009. We owe it to our employees, our advertisers, our readers and ourselves to seed the future of our industry.
We are in the field and on the phone asking our advertisers to invest now in promoting their business, as research has shown those who invest during down times reap the rewards during better times. We must now look at our annual conference the same way.
I, and all your fellow publishers, want you to invest a few dollars in yourself and the industry and reap the rewards. There are a significant number of formatted opportunities designed for your learning experience. You also know that learning happens as much in the sessions as it does during the meals and the time between meetings. If you had attended SAPA Publisher's Retreat in Orlando or IFPA's in St. Petersburg or AFCP's in Baltimore, you would have had the chance to mix it up with folks like you and discover what's working, what's new, and what resources you can share. And plenty of folks are growing customers and revenue with ideas you can use.
The amount of personal volunteer time for this conference is in the thousands of hours. We have real, pointed topics being discussed in the conference program along with new topics from The Learning Institute. I am asking you to vote with your dollars for our business and attend the Annual Conference in Myrtle Beach, SC on April 23-25 by either attending yourself or allowing someone from your organization to attend.
Just to be sure you have the right incentive; we will give you your room and/or your employee's room for free.*
There is no more important time to be with other publishers, industry veterans, sales managers, sales executives and friends of the industry than right know.
Help me make Myrtle Beach the right place to share successes and offer assistance to publishers. Let's make this the best industry experience we have ever provided -- and it will be great for you too.
Looking forward to our time together in Myrtle Beach,
Orestes Baez
*First come, first served, subject to availability and restrictions
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Some confusion on the meaning of "guest"
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 Several publishers have emailed me asking questions about the "guest" fee at the Myrtle Beach Conference. They believed this pertained to additional employees coming to the conference.
Nope. No charge on additional attendees. Attendees are any employees of your company who are actively engaged in the free paper industry. You can bring as many of them as you want at no charge. No registration fee, no meal fee, no hotel fee.
Guests are folks who tag along for the fun of it. Spouses and friends, etc. We love guests. We hope everyone brings someone special with them to share a beautiful weekend on the beach. All guests are invited to participate in all functions and events at no charge.
And every "attendee" you bring can bring a guest at no charge. It's just when an attendee brings the entire clan that we start to charge. Second guests of an attendee start to incur the guest fee.
So, remember. Employees and folks who are part of your company can all come along for free. As many as you want. Each of those attendees can also bring a guest at no charge. If they bring along a child under 12, no charge as well. It's just when they bring along the whole extended family that we start to charge.
I know it sounds kind of silly. But one year we had a member bring Grandma and Grandpa and brothers and sisters and their kids and their kids' friends and we ended up hosting the entire family reunion. That got to be a little much and so we implemented the "one guest per attendee" policy.
I hope that clears up any confusion.
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