| A Letter From The President
Dear Circulation Friends,
As we near summer's end who can believe that three months have passed
since we were last together at our annual sales conference in Saratoga
Springs. My new daughter, Lily Marie, is already two months old, and as it
turned out was never a threat of being born during our sales conference.
Nearly two weeks late, Lily was born on June eleventh and weighed a solid
nine pounds fourteen ounces.
The Gideon Putnam Hotel was a great place to have our annual sales
conference and we couldn't have asked for better weather. I'd like to once
again thank all of those hard-working people who helped in planning such a
successful conference.
I would also like to thank Nancy Breault, our association president,
for the efforts and energy that she gave to NYSCMA in 1998-99. It has been
a pleasure to follow Nancy through the chairs and I wish to thank her for
all the knowledge she has passed along to me.
Plans are already under way for our 84th annual sales
conference that will be held at The Sagamore on Lake George from May 7-10th
so mark your calendar now.
Last year's Carrier of the Year program at Cooperstown was one of the
best ever. This year Mark Kukiela is planning The Carrier of the Year
Program in Syracuse, NY and I'm sure it will be another great event.
Dwayne Bivona and Mark Vinciguerra team up to head our training program
this year. Last year we had two outstanding training sessions with record
attendance, This year plans are under way for a seminar in the Fall and
one in the Spring.
That's all for now. If you should have any comments or suggestions for
the next conference or anything else please feel free to call me or any of
the board members or committee chairpersons.
Have an enjoyable fall season!
Best Regards,
Will Kustyn
President, NYSCMA |
LOOKING BACK AND LOOKING
AHEAD
As we reflect on our spring
conference held at the Gideon-Putnam in Saratoga, the statistics show a
bright future for NYSCMA. Our attendance reflected 99 circulators for the
daily conference and 140 people attended the banquet. We set some records
in the new member area. We voted in 28 new regular members and 13
associate members. We had representation from 28 large and small
newspapers and 22 vendors from as far away as Hawaii. The
historic Canfield Casino, in the center of Saratoga, was the site of the
President's Reception proudly sponsored by the Syracuse Newspapers. The
conference was called to order on Monday morning by NYSCMA President Nancy
Breault, with opening remarks from Mike Connor, Executive Editor of the
Syracuse Newspapers. Tony Marsella, our motivational speaker energized us
with "outrageous" excellence in Customer Service. He was
followed by updates from John Murray, Director of Circulation, Newspaper
Association of America, Ken Shultz, Director of ABC Newspaper Field
Auditing, NYS Newspaper Carrier of the Year Program and the presentation
of the nominated officers. The
afternoon combined excitement with relaxation. We had a great round of
golf and skeet shooting while many members and guest lounged in the
Lincoln Mineral Baths. Day
two included Diane Kennedy, President of the New York Publisher's
Association with NYNPA update; Roger Samuel, Publisher of the Flint
Journal, who spoke on Interdepartmental Communication and Joe Junod, from
Gannett Company, Inc., who finished the morning with strategies for Human
Performance Improvement. After our Promotion Awards Luncheon we continued
with a Single Copy Panel that included Tony Mineart, Manager Washington
Post, Eric Winn, Single Copy Manager from the Dallas Morning News and John
Hoeschele, Vice President of Creative Services from Sage Marketing
Communications. We topped off the day with an evening of delightful
dancing and listening music, presented by Ken Dantzig from Prime-Time
Promotions. We finished
our conference on Wednesday with our ever-popular Hot Ideas Breakfast. Next
year, once again, we will be enjoying a world class resort. Golf is just
one of the pleasures you'll experience at The Sagamore, a four-star luxury
resort idyllically situated on its own island on Lake George. Relax in
luxurious accommodations in the landmark main hotel or at seven Lodges
featuring fireplaces and private balconies. Complimentary transportation
is always available around the 72-acre island. As
the 1st Vice President, I will be outlining next year's program,
"Millenium: Into the Future," with speakers and topics for
today's industry. We will be looking to begin and end our conference with
motivational speakers for our circulation needs. We would appreciate any
ideas from our membership for topics or speakers that should be included
in this upcoming convention. Please forward your ideas to me, Claudia
Hartz, at The Observer-Dispatch, 221 Oriskany Plaza, Utica, NY 13501. |
