Convention attendance on par with last year

[Correction: Previous versions of this report incorrectly stated the percentage drop in this year's NABJ conference and incorrectly attributed the source of the information. According to information obtained from NABJ’s student Web site project, attendance at this year’s NABJ convention dropped from about 4,000 attendees at the Atlanta conference to 2,500 in Indianapolis, a drop of about a third, not 50 percent as originally stated.]

By Megan Wright
NLGJA Reporter Staff Writer

The estimated 600 to 650 attendees at this year’s NLGJA convention met planners’ expectations, with the numbers on par with last year’s attendance in Chicago.

Next year’s convention in San Diego is expected to draw similar numbers. “We are on par, we are holding,” said Thomas Cashman Avila, NLGJA’s Deputy Executive Director.

At least 47 of the 50 spaces available for recruiters were booked, but not necessarily utilized. Some NLGJA members were not shy in expressing mixed feelings about the attendance and some job fair recruiters said they were seeing fewer applicants than in previous years.

Kevin Kraus of ABC NewsOne who has been attending NLGJA’s conventions for the past 6 years and is serving in the capacity of a recruiter for the second time said, “Compared to last year’s job fair, there was a bit more activity there. Here there are a lot more diversions, but the quality of the applicants here is very good.”

The Women’s Cocktail Reception and Networking Dinner at held at Yuca Restaurant and Lounge last night was one of the convention’s successes. The event, which was sponsored by Planet Out, was attended by 90 people.

“Last night we had a tremendous attendance at the women’s reception,” said Cashman Avila.

NLGJA fared better with convention attendance than the Asian American Journalists Association and the National Association of Black Journalists, which both saw a drop in registration. According to information obtained from NABJ’s student Web site project, attendance was down by about a third at this year’s convention in Indianapolis. The story was the same with AAJA, which attributed lower convention attendance to the convention’s location in Hawaii.