(Wines&Vines) - Winery owners, tasting room managers, several wine distributors, tourism professionals and representatives from seven state wine associations participated April 16-18 in a marketing conference known as “License to Steal.” The only conference in the East to focus exclusively on wine marketing, License to Steal this year set a new high in attendance, with 151 wine industry people attending from 14 states from Vermont to Arizona. Sessions at the ninth annual conference covered a range of topics from increasing tasting room sales to building exposure through social media. Speakers included Ron Cates, director of new market development for Constant Contact, who spoke about engaging customers through direct e-mail communications; Marnie Old, a Philadelphia, Pa.-based sommelier and author (her most recent book is Wine Simplified), shared ideas about making wine approachable to the wine-consuming public; and Craig Root, a tasting room consultant from Davis, Calif., participated via Skype in a 90-minute session about tasting room management.