2023 MNA Convention & Trade Show

ONLINE REGISTRATION IS CLOSED. Call 612.278.0226.

2023 MNA Annual Convention & Trade Show

Jan. 26-27, 2023
Minneapolis Marriott Northwest, Brooklyn Park – Click to book your rooms

Powerhouse trainers from across the industry will help you enhance your business and your journalism. BNC Awards help you recognize your team’s accomplishments. And headline speakers including Minnesota Twins President & CEO Dave St. Peter, two-time World Series Champion and MLB broadcaster Dan Gladden and KARE-11 master storyteller Boyd Huppert will inspire.

Pre-Convention Meetings

Wednesday, Jan. 25

10 a.m.:

MNI Board of Directors meeting

11 a.m.:

MNA Board of Directors meeting

Noon-4 p.m.:

Trade Show vendor move-in:

1:30 p.m.:

MNA Ad/Digital Committee meeting
MNA Journalism Education Committee meeting

2:30 p.m.:

MNA Member Services Committee meeting
MNF meeting

3:30 p.m.:

MNA Legislative Committee meeting

Mainline Convention Sessions

Thursday, Jan. 26

8 a.m.:

Trade Show Breakfast
Silent Auction opens

9:30-11:30 a.m.:

Breakout sessions for sales staff, news, circulation and managers.
- Save On Postage Costs and Navigating USPS Changes with Brad Hill, CEO of Interlink. (1 hour)
- Sales Assessment, Digital and Email Marketing with APG Wyoming Regional President Bill Albrecht.
- Investigative Journalism for All: Star Tribune Investigative Reporter/University of Minnesota instructor Andy Mannix has strategies for developing big stories in small shops.
- Hot Topics with moderator Justin Lessman
- Sports Stories & Sections That Matter with Bethel University Professor Scott Winter.
- NSCMA Board Members Grant Gibbons, Mark Johnson and Connie Knapp lead a roundtable discussion of today’s audience/distribution challenges. (10:45-11:30 a.m.)

Noon-1:30 p.m.:

KEYNOTE LUNCHEON: Join us for Tech Talk with the trade show vendors, then hear from Minnesota Twins President & CEO Dave St. Peter and two-time World Series Champion and MLB broadcaster Dan Gladden. We’ll also be recognizing new members of the MNA Half Century Club and presenting other awards.

2-3:30 p.m.:

Breakout sessions
- The ever-popular Ideas on Tap, led by MNA Board Member Tara Brandl and MNA Advertising Executive Tina McMillan
- Battling Copyright Trolls with MNA Attorney Mark Anfinson
- Keeping Your Photography Fresh with nine-time MNA Portfolio of the Year winner Dave Schwarz
- What We Should Have Learned from COVID with Bill Ostendorf
- Digital and Paywall Strategies for your Operation with Stephanie Schroeder and Brent Theisen of Forum Communications.

5 p.m. and evening:

Silent Auction to raise the funds we need to provide MNI training programs like Online Media Campus, Citizen Journalism University, Digiversity.tv and internships for MNA member newspapers.
Better Newspaper Contest Reception, including professional and student journalists in the VIP area, sponsored by APG, followed by …

6:30 p.m.:

The Better Newspaper Contest Awards Banquet where all the winners will be honored and the Vance and Mills trophies will be awarded to the state’s best newspapers.
NEW this year: Join all the winners and honorees at the BNC Afterparty until midnight!

Friday, Jan. 27

7:30-9 a.m.:

Trade Show time
Breakfast opens at 7:30 a.m.

9:30-11:30 a.m.:

Breakout sessions from powerhouse industry leaders for production staff, news, sales circulation and managers.
- Adjust Photos Like it’s 2023 with Adobe Suite expert Russell Viers.
- Writing Headlines for Readers with Bill Ostendorf.
- Selling Against Social Media & Flipping Objections with Ryan Dohrn.
- Postal Roundtable

Noon-1:30 p.m.:

KEYNOTE LUNCHEON: Join us as we hear stories from the Land of 10,000 Stories beat with KARE-11 master storyteller Boyd Huppert . We’ll also be presenting several awards to people who have worked on behalf of Minnesota newspapers in the past year.

2-3:30 p.m.:

Breakout sessions
- How to Boss Around Your Type with Russell Viers
- 2023 Legal Update with Mark Anfinson
- Get More Sales Meetings Now – Without Getting Ghosted with Ryan Dohrn

3:30 p.m.