The 2022 Promax Station Summit returns to an in-person event on Monday, June 20, through Friday, June 24, at The Mirage in Las Vegas. The last time the Station Summit was in-person was in 2019.

Creative services directors, marketing directors, audience development specialists, brand managers and promotions managers at TV stations across the country will be flocking to Vegas along with executives at the major networks and program distributors for a week of meetings.

Attendees are there to hear and see industry speakers, attend educational sessions, meet with their respective networks and program partners to learn the latest trends in all things related to marketing local television and local news.

For first-time attendees, and about 40% of them are, a word of advice: Pack a light jacket. Because although it’s normally over a 100 degrees outside, you’ll spend nearly all your time inside The Mirage, and the air conditioning can give you a chill.

Rick Swanson, Promax’s VP of marketing and programming, says everything seems to be falling into place after two years of the summit being held remotely.

“Registration is strong, and all the partners are back in strength,” he says, adding that TV stations from broadcast groups including Nexstar, Sinclair, Gray, Hearst, Scripps and the Fox and CBS O&Os will be there.

“That’s a pretty good group of people just with those major station groups,” he says.  

The Station Summit begins on Monday with the FPEC/Fox affiliate meetings.

“Fox brings out all their affiliates and pulls out all the stops,” Swanson says. “They put on a great show.”

Tuesday is Broadcast Network Day, when ABC, CBS, NBC and The CW gather with their affiliates to hear about new programming and initiatives and share strategies for the summer and fall.

Swanson says each network has its own ballroom set up and staged for the content it plans on presenting.

Wednesday is Program Distribution Day, where local TV marketers huddle with their program distribution partners to discover strategies and ideas for building an audience in critical dayparts, learn best practices on returning shows and see plans for the launch of new programming.

“Warner Brothers is launching Jennifer Hudson, so they have blocked out a couple of hours where all of their affiliates are going to pack their room and meet and greet Jennifer Hudson,” Swanson says.

Thursday is Promax Day, packed with sessions tailored specifically for the unique needs of station marketing and creative services professionals, including digital innovation, marketing best practices, the craft of making television promotion and leadership development.  

In addition to the already announced sessions State of Our Art and Battle of the Promo Superstars, Swanson says there will be a session exploring network news strategy.

Wendy McMahon, president and co-head of the CBS News and Stations, is leading a session, Lessons To Lead By and Zero Budget Magic, showcasing creative local promos done with little or no budget. CLICK HERE to see the Market Share column, TV Promos That Cost Zero, 40 Of Them, from the 2019 Station Summit.

Each group session will focus on a single subject with a moderator and 40 participants.

One session “is designed for people who are new to the business, which is a lot of people,” Swanson says.

“There will be somebody talking about co-op, somebody talking about how to write a marketing plan, somebody talking about how to do a creative brief, somebody talking about social media,” he says.

“It will be great to get everybody back together again,” Swanson says.

See you at the Summit.

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