Delegates attending the 2016 APA Summer Convention gave high marks to the programs and the festive BNC celebration, with the top score going again this year to the luncheon speaker.

The luncheon speaker was Morley Piper, a D-Day survivor, who told his story of landing on Omaha Beach in the pre-dawn hours of June 6, 1944. A story about his presentation follows in this newsletter, and you can also watch the video at https://youtu.be/6Gkz396rkhk.

Other program highlights included Val Hoeppner’s hands-on session on mobile reporting and video storytelling. Val offered a formula for how to do a basic mobile video: 5 minutes, 5 shots, 5-minute edit. Also, check out these apps Val recommends to every journalist: http://valhoeppner.com/mobile-reporting-apps-for-journalists-2016/.

Another high-energy program was Diane Ciotta, reminding everyone advertising sales is all about the client and their results. She explained that when you are first calling on a prospect, you are there to talk about THEM and their business, not about advertising. Learn more about Diane at  http://dianeciotta.com/

Design consultant Ed Henninger also presented a program on how the presentation of public notices in newspapers can help build readership and make readers aware of the importance of keeping pubic notices in print.

The convention came to a close with the Better Newspaper Contest banquet, which included a new format and the presentation of more awards. Delegates liked the faster pace of the program and the red carpet atmosphere.

The Winners tab, a publication of all of the winners in the contest, is available online at: https://www.alabamapress.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/2016-BNC-Tab-Web-1.pdf. If you would like a hard copy of the tab, please let us know. We will be glad to mail it to you.

Also new this year is a website where you can view the full content of all winning entries online at: http://summer.alabamapress.org/contest-winners/.