• by Masha Geller , November 1, 2001

After reading Joseph Jaffe's column in MediaDailyNews today, I decided to look back on my own calendar and remember where I was at this time last year. Interestingly enough, I was at Thunder Lizard's Web Marketing 2000 show in New Orleans - the show that to me signified the end if an era.

As I remember, the organizers pulled together some good speakers, but very few people showed up to listen to what they had to say. The era of spending thousands of dollars on attending each and every industry event was ending. People became very selective and one by one, tradeshows dropped off our calendars.

Now we've come full circle. At last week's Forecast 2002 show in New York, I talked to several people who said the online ad industry now needs more forums for people to get together and talk about the issue we're facing. So, as we've done several times in the past, MediaPost has again arranged a 20% discount for our readers to attend a conference we consider to be worth your time - @d:Tech New York on December 5 and 6th. Read on for details.

And it very well might be worth your time because it looks like the outlook for the online industry is beginning to brighten. If nothing else, it looks like DoubleClick Media is not going belly up. The company today announced that AutoTrader.com, one of the Internet's largest automotive marketplaces, has joined its Media Network.

Under the terms of the agreement, AutoTrader.com will receive exclusive advertising and sponsorship sales representation, targeting automotive manufacturers and their ad agencies. DoubleClick will have the exclusive rights to sell ads across AutoTrader.com's New Car Marketplace and anywhere on the site for automotive manufacturers.

Currently, AutoTrader.com receives more than 5 million unique monthly visitors, conducting more than 28 million used and new vehicle searches.

On that good note, here's how you get your @d:tech discount:
1. Log on to http://www.ad-tech.com/NY
2. Click on Register in the menu on the left side of the page
3. Click on the Quick Registration button at the top of the page
4. Enter post20cp in the Special Promotion Code box
5. Under Registration Type, select Full Conference Pass
6. Complete and submit the remaining registrant information
(The discount does not apply if you have already registered for @d:tech New York.)

Hope to see you there!