Two magazine conferences and what you think about them

This has been a busy month in terms of professional development, with two national magazine conferences running back-to-back in Toronto. Just to remind you, they were:

• Magazines University, which -- until this year -- was a partnership principally between Masthead magazine, Magazines Canada, the Canadian Business Press and the Circulation Management Association of Canada (CMC). This year, for the first time, it was produced by Masthead and the Canadian Business Press only. It consists of a series of seminars, a trade show and various special events such as the Kenneth R. Wilson awards for trade magazines and the Canadian Newsstand Awards. As has been usual in recent years, it was held at the Old Mill Conference Centre in the west end of Toronto. It ran for two days, Tuesday June 5 and Wednesday June 6. The official count of registrations was about 1,300.*
  
• MagNet: Canada's Magazine Conference, which this year is a partnership between Magazines Canada and the CMC, who ran a wholly separate conference in downtown Toronto at 89 Chestnut Street. It consists of a series of seminars and a number of special events, including the ACE awards for circulation marketers, the Magazines Canada luncheon honouring the national volunteer of the year, the Canadian Society of Magazine Editors awards dinner and culminated in the National Magazine Awards. It ran for three days, Wednesday June 13 to Friday June 15. The official count of registrations was about 2,400.*
  

It may be that some people in the industry see these two shows as complementary; or that they will be competitors who keep each other sharp. But there are undoubtedly also people who think that it's a shame that a cooperative approach can't be found to hold one Magazine Week, encompassing both consumer and trade, the industry's two major trade organizations (Magazines Canada and CBP) and its trade magazine, Masthead.

In the interests of assessing the views of those who attended one, or both, conferences and of anyone else with a stake in what happens, including sponsors, an online questionnaire has been prepared by this blog.

(Please note: this is being done without the approval or endorsement -- or even the knowledge -- of either conference or its organizers.)

To complete the questionnaire online, click on this link. It should take no more than 5 minutes to complete. It will remain live until Monday, June 25, at which time the results will be tabulated and published here.

*A reliable, comparable number of registrations, attendees, what have you, is in dispute and unavailable at this time; therefore struck from this post.