RTDNA Walking To New Orleans In 2011

It looks as if TV journalists will be heading to New Orleans next year to participate in the first-ever joint convention of the Society of Professional Journalists and the Radio Television Digital News Association.

The conference is slated for Sept. 25-27, 2011, at the Sheraton in New Orleans, according to SPJ President Kevin Z. Smith, who doubles as assistant professor of journalism at Fairmont State University in Fairmont, W.Va.

"We think by having a dual conference we offer a lot more in terms of training and professional development  than we would as a single unit," Smith says.

"The way it would work is that if you register as SPJ, you can cross pollinate. You can go over to RTDNA conferences and so forth. It gives everyone a greater opportunity to learn more and save costs," he says.

Not so fast, says RTDNA Chairman Stacey Woelfel, who is news director at KMOU, the NBC affiliate in Columbia, Mo.

"There's a very good chance it will go this way, but things happen. We've got lawyers involved and that always adds an extra wrinkle. We're not quite there yet," he says.

He says the RTDNA board is still voting on its agreement with SPJ and reviewing the hotel contract. "We'd like to be able to announce everything officially at our convention next month," he says. The convention will take place April 11-14 at the Las Vegas Hilton in conjunction with the NAB Show as it has since 2002.

RTDNA announced last year that it intended to partner with SPJ for its annual convention, but it is not leaving NAB cold.

It will still have a presence at NAB for at least the next two years. "It won't be our convention, but we'll do a one-day program for them," Woelfel says. "I think NAB is satisfied with that."

RTDNA decided to hook up with NAB in 2002 after it was forced to cancel its 2001 convention in Nashville because of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The convention was scheduled to begin Sept. 12.

Under their agreement, NAB pays RTDNA a flat fee each year for bringing its members and additional exhibitors to the show, according to NAB spokesman Dennis Wharton. However, he adds, NAB is entitled to a share of the revenue that RTDNA collects from exhibitors and attendees.

The agreement has "evolved" over the years with the net effect being less revenue for RTDNA, says Wharton. "They are bringing fewer people than they were five years ago when the business was flush."

But over the years it's been a good partnership, he says, adding that NAB is pleased that RTDNA will be at the show, albeit in a reduced role, at least through 2012. "We want the RTDNA brand at the show."

Neither Wharton nor Woelfel would discuss actual dollars and cents. "It's confidential," says Woelfel. "There is an agreement that benefits both [associations] in terms of bringing in people as well as compensation that goes back and forth."

SPJ and RTDNA plan to split the revenue from their joint convention right down the middle, says Chris Vachon, SPJ's associate executive director.

"It would be like attending one conference," he says. "There might be a RTDNA luncheon one day, an SPJ luncheon the second day, but you would be welcome to go to any or all of those."

The groups are still trying to decide what to call their joint conference, she says.

Both news organizations are hoping their union will beef up attendance. Vachon says SPJ convention attendance has been steadily dropping from about 900 in 2007 to 600 when the group convened in Indianapolis last August.

Attendance at RTDNA last year was also around 600, says Woelfel.

SPJ plans to meet this year in Las Vegas October 3-5.

Woelfel has high hopes for this journalistic merger.

"I think of it like building a mall. If SPJ and RTDNA are the anchor stores in the mall, we'd love to fill in the space in between with other journalism organizations, and continue to make this grow," he says.

"My vision is that it will end up being the one big journalism conference in the year for everybody.

"With that not only comes economies of scale to save some money, but also this really rich content all in one place. As our different silos converge, why wouldn't the TV people want to hear from some smart Web people? Newspaper people want to see what the TV people can teach them about video.

"It puts us all together in the right place to learn together and grow together."

And what about 2012?

Says SPJ's Smith: "We're almost 90% sure we'll be in Orlando with RTDNA."