newsXpress held the first of two national conferences for 2016 on Tuesday in Melbourne, at the MCG. 135 newsXpress members attended as well as plenty of suppliers. The conference itself followed a full day at the Toy Fair being briefed by suppliers and leveraging group buying.
While I am a Director of newsXpress and sure to speak positively about the experience, I want to take a moment to speak about newsXpress members. Their optimism is wonderful. Their engagement is pursuing new traffic and above-average gross profit is exemplary.
Retailers from businesses large and small, in the city and country, on the high street and in shopping centres, they all mixed and engaged in a series of business sessions focused back on their businesses. I want to note again the optimism at the heart of every session, every discussion.
Magazines were part of the discussion too thanks to a terrific Pacific Magazines presentation that included terrific marketing initiatives.
The mood of the room reminded me of the Barack Obama slogan from 2008 of Yes We Can. Hearing newsagents explain to newsagents about how to embrace change, the fun they will have, the success they can have, is always a thrill.
I talked with several people who have recently joined and their common comment was they had no idea what the group really did. They mentioned that it was completely different to what was expected. Having been with Newspower for years and a shareholder in Nextra prior to being involved with newsXpress, I wanted to be part of something that was different.
There is no one group for the newsagency channel nor should there be. Competition is important and healthy. To me, the most important factor is that newsagents in a group and those running a group work hard and 100% together on common goals for shared mutual benefit.
Here are some photos from the conference itself and the dinner at Bamboo House Tuesday night. The whole event was free to newsXpress members thanks to supplier funding. All interstate travellers received financial assistance for flights and hotels.
