Things worth knowing: the ABA Marketing Conference, Sept. 16-18, offers practical information about issues of importance to you.

• Position: MARKETING edge - Conference news

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This year's ABA Marketing Conference will include a series of practical training sessions focusing on those issues of critical day-to-day concern to marketers. The event will be held Sept. 16-18 at the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront, Baltimore. Below are some of the education sessions of special interest.

"Evolving Return on investment (ROI) into Everyday Thinking." Learning how to calculate ROI on your marketing campaigns doesn't do you any good until you know how to use these figures as a planning tool for decisions involving future projects. Learn what your ROI calculations are telling you. Learn what you need to do next. The session will include real-life case studies of bank marketing campaigns and their ROI calculations. Presenters: Jim Burrows, senior vice president, director of marketing, Sandy Spring Bank (assets: $2.4 billion), Olney, Md.; Bruce A. Clapp, CFMP, president, MarketMatch, Clayton, Ohio.

"Generating Deposits in More Challenging Times." Admittedly, today's interest-rate environment makes it more difficult to attract deposits. Here are some strategies you can use to improve deposit generation. Among the topics to be covered are managing short-term issues such as repricing and attrition risks; targeting segments of the marketplace that are less price sensitive or more deposit-rich; and leveraging sales, marketing and distribution resources in different ways to compete more effectively for deposit funds. Presenters: Bill Hippensteel, CFMP, senior vice president, director of product and segment management, Compass Bancshares Inc.(assets: $32 billion), Birmingham, Ala. Mary Beth Sullivan, managing partner, Capital Performance Group LLC, Washington, D.C.

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"Hispanic or Latino: Segmentation Within the Fastest-Growing Market." The Hispanic market is growing five times faster than the general...