If all you took away from last week's DM Days in NY was that it was oppressively hot, you missed the best parts. The List Leaders Group hosted two events; a breakfast with John Greco, President of the DMA, and Donn Rappaport, Chairman of the Board of the DMA. This was an unprecedented event set in a "town hall" discussion platform. Attendees had access to the two leaders of our industry and could hear from them their ideas for the future of our industry. They spent over an hour fielding questions from the audience and giving frank answers.

The next event was Fast Forward... my favorite. The two morning sessions were geared towards what we as owners of marketing companies must do to insure our viability for the future. Our lunch speaker was the always-on-target, Seth Godin who urged us to think differently about the way we view ourselves in the industry. Two more afternoon sessions also dealt with issues critical to marketers' futures followed by the List Leader of the Year Awards dinner. A long but very productive day.

I urge every list marketing company to make the effort to attend next years Fast Forward event. It really is worth every penny.

The DMA plans to merge List Day (formerly List Vision), International Day, and Directo Day into DM Days New York, effective with this year's June 10th-12th conference. Further details will be released in February.

According to MeetingNews, former Governor George Pataki's $1.8 billion dollar Javits expansion proposal was scrapped after the Empire State Development Corp. determined that the plan would cost more along the lines of $5 billion. It was also reported that another plan to repair the Javits' damaged lobby and leaky roof would cost about $850 million. They're currently developing a less ambitious proposal.

So in the mean time, remember to bring your hat and galoshes to DM Days.