Yellow Pages Association Blog

Dialogue, healthy debate, celebration, innovation … So many words come to mind when I think about the 2009 YPA conference in San Diego. It was an exciting and productive event and I am pleased that so many global industry representatives were able to join. I’m also thrilled that so many others shared in the experience through the InsideYP blog and live tweets from our audience members. (What could be more fitting for our theme of ‘Winning in a New World?’)

Before the dust settles completely, I want to take a look back over the highlights of this week and consider how they impact our path forward as an industry.

• The Gladwell Effect: I think it’s fair to say that the highest point of this year’s conference was Malcolm Gladwell’s keynote speech on Day 2. Not only did Gladwell get rave reviews immediately following the address, but he also inspired hundreds of follow-up conversations about his theories that “trust” is the central frame of the Yellow Pages and that our directories can capitalize on our role as “mavens” in communities around the world. I hope that members will set up opportunities to brainstorm these concepts with their own teams.
• Our Economic Future: The session with Gus Faucher, Director of Macroeconomics at Moody’s Economy.com, was also tremendously well received. In this environment of economic uncertainty, it is useful to have an expert view on where we stand, what to expect and some faith that there is light at the end of the tunnel.
• Hearing from Our #1 Priority – Our Customers: Bringing us back to the basics, it was useful to hear from a panel of national advertisers and get a window into their daily operations, their concerns and their experience with the Yellow Pages. I was pleased to hear a consensus that, despite being national in scale, advertising locally through Yellow Pages continues to give these businesses an ROI that national advertising media just can’t deliver. It was a great reminder of what sets Yellow Pages apart from the pack.
• Celebrating Innovation & Success: So many of our members are pushing our industry towards growth, innovation and success. We recognized many of these achievements at our Industry Excellence Awards gala on our final evening, and I’m proud and impressed with the great strides our winners made in the past year.
• A Path Forward: A final success of the conference was the progress we made in bringing two long-stranding industry groups, the Yellow Pages Association and the Association of Directory Marketing, closer together. The conference served a perfect venue for these critical conversations, and I feel confident that we are on the road to a solution that will best serve this great industry in our path forward.

I hope that participants emerged from this year’s conference reenergized, optimistic, and ready to act and “win” in this new world we’re facing. I certainly did.