NCPA Convention Highlights

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NCPA members convened in record numbers February 21-23 in Raleigh, NC. Starting with a packed room for the annual legislative breakfast to an evening awards banquet with over 400 attendees the 144th annual convention was the widest attended event in recent NCPA history.

Session Highlights:

  • On Day One Governor Roy Cooper, Speaker Tim Moore and Treasurer Dale Folwell each spoke to over 70 NCPA members. The Governor's speech was personal, motivating and timely. It was a perfect start to our convention. Speaker Moore, gracious as always with his time, spoke to the crowd on several issues facing our state. Treasurer Folwell provided information on state finances and our future and a slide that captures a picture of sustainability is here.
  • Advertising awards were presented to winners of this year's contest, judged by the Hoosier State Press Association. Here's a copy of the presentation. Thanks to Pat Taylor of The Pilot for handling emcee duties.
  • In the afternoon we had four great education breakouts. A special thank you to Attorney General Josh Stein and his office and Mike Tadych for leading an informative panel discussion on media law. Melanie Sill picked up from that session and had a great panel on community journalism. Here is a copy of that presentation.
  • On the ad side many ideas were flowing thanks to Pat Taylor's best ad session and Rick Rogers of Town News closed us out with more digital ideas.
  • Perfect weather provided the backdrop for a reception to start the awards banquet. Last minute and walk up registrations swelled the crowd to 412 people. Many were on hand to collect awards for our annual contest.  Here is a copy of the presentation
  • Day two ended with a very unique panel of former justices discussing best practices on covering the courts. Thanks to Lisa Sheppard of The North Carolina Chief Justice’s Commission on Professionalism in helping put together this esteemed panel.
  • Alice Garland of the NC Education Lottery gave us an indepth look at the numbers, history and importance of our education lottery. Thanks to Alice for all of the information, here is a copy of that presentation. 
  • The last order of business was voting on a new slate of officers for NCPA and NCPS. A unanimous vote will put a new board in place at the summer board meeting, 


2018-19 Board of Directors

Terms begin Aug. 1, 2018
President: Ashley Vansant, The Washington Daily News
Vice President:Eric Millsaps, Statesville Record & Landmark
Past President: Tim Holt, Greenville Daily Reflector
NCPS Secretary/Treasurer: Rachel Hoskins, Franklin Press
NCPA Secretary/Treasurer: Paul Mauney, Burlington Times-News
3-year director: John Owensby, Kernersville News
3-year director: Bill Moss, Hendersonville Lightning
3-year director: Keven Zepezauer, Wilson Times

Vendor Highlights:
Thank you again to our sponsors who help put on this convention - please keep them in mind as you make your buying decisions.
AT&T was a convention sponsor again - please see their sponsor ad here.

Session sponsors:
Lane Press 

Brainworks 

NTVB Media 

Advantage Newspaper Consultants 

AP 

NC Bar Association 

NCPA Credit Union 

Software Consulting Services 

Southern Lithoplate 

RBC Wealth 

NC State also asked us to share this information on a summer internship program.  

Pictures:
We captured a lot of great photos. We have posted to our facebook page. Take a visit and see if you can spot yourself. If you have photos - tag us on facebook. There were some great shots at the photo booth!

Let us know if there is anything we can improve upon for next year. We had a great time and we hope you did too - see you next year!