AT THE END OF SUMMER, KIDS HEADING BACK TO SCHOOL start to experience a strange combination of dread and excitement.

It’s the same for folks in the direct marketing biz at the end of August, even if our parents don’t take us out shopping for new clothes. (Y’know, I could use a new pair of Chuck Taylors, mom…)

For DMers, the school bells of September signal the beginning of the hectic run up to DMA09, where folks from all over the industry converge to talk trends, get educated on the latest strategies and, if they’re lucky, maybe even drum up new business.

Those of us who come from the Direct magazine side of the Chief Marketer franchise have the drill down pat. Like soldiers going off to war, around Labor Day we kiss our family and friends goodbye, knowing we won’t have a chance to look up from our computer screens until the issue shipping to the conference goes to press.

But while the workload does seem manic, it’s not all bad. This time of year allows us a great chance to step back and really take in where the direct marketing world is headed. You can see what we found in the Chief Marketer/Direct supplement “Ahead of the Curve,” bound in this very magazine.

In the supplement, we feature CM and Direct’s first-ever survey on social marketing. The exclusive research reveals how marketers are integrating social media into their campaigns, what benefits they’re seeing from those efforts and how they’re measuring their social ROI.

If you’re in planning mode for 2010, look at our special report on pricing and legislative issues that marketers must keep top of mind. And, I also had the chance to chat with advertising luminary Shelly Lazarus, chairman of Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide, who shared her thoughts on the past, present and future of the ad game. Finally, we profile marketers like Duncraft, U.S. Autoparts, ShareAJet and Backroads, which are bucking the current economy with innovative strategies.

And, of course, like many of you, I’ll be winging my way out to San Diego for this month’s DMA show. Please stop by the Penton Media booth to say hi and let us know what you think about Chief Marketer. What do you like about the magazine or the Web site? Any topics you’d like to see covered more (or less) in our newsletters? We’d love to hear what you think.

In the meantime, I’ll be here pecking away at my laptop finishing up the issue — and calling my mom to see if she wants to go shopping.

THE RECENT National Postal Forum in Denver most definitely was not your usual postal forum. The most remarkable differences were the reduced attendance, due largely to the nation’s economic recession and the aftermath of the Sept. 11 atrocities, and the endless buzz about anthrax in the mail. Now, you might be tempted to think that this forum was one worth missing. But that would be a very big mistake.

For anyone in the mailing industry, the NPF has served as the venue for getting the latest information on mail and mail-related technologies, for meeting with others who share an interest in the mail as a business vehicle, and for developing networks and contacts that can address a company’s changing postal needs.

Besides anthrax, mailers came to Denver to discuss with postal officials issues that were important to their industry and their companies. Also, the forum was abuzz with information regarding the ongoing postal rate case, the imminence of comprehensive mail redesign, the latest iteration of postal legislative reform, and the report of the postmaster general’s mailing industry task force — a joint effort by the USPS and mailing industry leaders to define America’s changing postal needs.

You might also think that the dampening effects of a depressed economy and all else that has happened since the fall might have made the forum a non-event for the many companies that exhibited in Denver. Once again, you’d be wrong. In fact, many of those that exhibited, while acknowledging the lighter floor traffic, noted that visitors to the exhibit area were in a buying mood.

In other words, if you were among the unfortunates who couldn’t make it to Denver, you really missed something. Rest assured, however, that there will be another National Postal Forum next spring in San Diego.

Hey! I’ve been there. I’ve done that. And I intend to be in San Diego to do it again.

I expect to see you there.

GENE A. DEL POLITO is president of the Association for Postal Commerce (PostCom) in Arlington, VA.