CTAM Is Pleased With Summit Results
Show Receives Positive Feedback Ahead of Fall Shift
By Mike Reynolds -- Multichannel News, 7/24/2006
Boston— A heat wave and some transportation problems tied to the Big Dig are in her rearview mirror, and Char Beales is looking back at the CTAM Summit in Boston in a very positive light.
“We’re thrilled with the feedback, it was extraordinarily positive. Based on the comments we received, I think the Summit succeeded in getting our members to think a little differently,” the Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing president and CEO said, referring to the confab’s “The New World” theme, which focused on the challenges and opportunities faced by marketers in a multiplatform environment.
All told, the Summit attracted 3,020 attendees, down from 3,401 last year in Philadelphia but above the 2,780 who gathered in 2004, the last summit in Beantown.
Last year’s attendance was lifted by a large contingent of executives from hometown Comcast Corp., while this year’s event suffered from the impending takeover of Adelphia Communications Corp. by Comcast Corp. and Time Warner Cable, Beales said.
CTAM made news of its own, announcing it would shift the Summit to a fall date. While the change is slated for 2010, the scheduling switch could come a lot sooner. “We’re talking to the venues, if we can start earlier, we will. We would consider 2008, if possible,” Beales said.
The Summit is scheduled for Denver and Boston in 2008 and 2009, respectively.
Beales called reaction to the move “universally positive. Our members said they wanted a fall week to go along with a spring week” for the National Cable & Telecommunications Association’s National Show.
Other factors fueled the impending change, including the Television Critics Association summer press tour, also in July, which CTAM staffers administer and many network officials attend.
While CTAM is eyeing late October dates, the summit could swing into early November. That way there would be even more distance between the event and September’s Diversity Week activities, and it would enable the budgeting process for the following year to be largely completed. “Usually, the budgets have risen to the corporate level for approval,” she said.
Next July 23-25, in Washington, D.C., Time Warner Cable chief marketing officer Sam Howe and The Weather Channel Networks general manager Wonya Lucas will be co-chairs. The Washington Convention Center is a new facility that Beales calls “a perfect size for us,” and there are a lot of new hotels, overcoming another past shortcoming in the city.
Despite the summer heat in the nation’s capital, Beales said it was a popular choice for the Summit.
