The Newspaper Association of America said it will combine Nexpo and its Marketing Conference beginning in 2009, except for presidential election years where Nexpo will continue to be meshed with the Publishers Convention and ASNE in Washington, D.C.

NAA said it considered blending Nexpo with Graph Expo, but rejected the option because of the relatively few newspaper executives who attend the event and because of Graph Expo’s late summer time frame and Chicago location.

Attendees to the NAA’s Marketing Conference, by contrast, share the same goals and interests as those attending Nexpo, NAA said, making it more feasible to blend those events.

The inaugural consolidated Nexpo and Marketing Conference event will take place in March 2009 in Las Vegas. The 2010 event will take place in April in Orlando, Fla., with the 2011 show slated for February in Dallas.

The 2008 show in Washington, D.C., will be held with the Publishers Convention and ASNE, as will the 2012 event.

In those years, a separate Marketing Conference will be held in the first quarter of the year, NAA said.