Alan Marshall Meckler (born 1945) is an American internet pioneer and publishing executive.Jones, Bradley (2008)
''Web 2.0 Heroes: Interviews with 20 Web 2.0 Influencers''
pp. 15-28. John Wiley & Sons. Meckler started his own publishing business in 1971 which evolved into

Mecklermedia Mecklermedia (formerly Internet.com LLC, Jupitermedia Inc., Mediabistro Inc. and WebMediaBrands Corporation) was a U.S.-based corporation. The original WebMediaBrands was established in 1994, and headquartered in New York. Founded by Alan M. M ...

Corporation in the 1990s until the company was acquired by

Penton Media Penton was an information services and marketing company. The company's three largest revenue streams came from events, digital and marketing services. Although Penton had a long history (see below) as a trade publisher, in 2015 it reported that ...

in November 1998, and founded several print magazines including ''Virtual Reality World'', ''CD-ROM World'', and ''Internet World''.Malik, Om (4 January 1999)
"Internet.com IPO in the cards"
Forbes

Mediabistro Mecklermedia (formerly Internet.com LLC, Jupitermedia Inc., Mediabistro Inc. and WebMediaBrands Corporation) was a U.S.-based corporation. The original WebMediaBrands was established in 1994, and headquartered in New York. Founded by Alan M. M ...

was purchased in 2007 and later sold to

Prometheus Global Media Prometheus Global Media was a New York City–based B2B media company. The company was formed in December 2009, when Nielsen Company sold its entertainment and media division to a private equity-backed group led by Pluribus Capital Management ...

in 2014. Currently Meckler is CEO of 3DR Holdings LLC based in New York City which offers news coverage of the additive manufacturing fields and quantum computing through websites and trade shows.

Early life and education

Born in New York City in 1945, Meckler was raised in

Great Neck, NY Great Neck is a region contained within Nassau County, New York, on Long Island, which covers a peninsula on the North Shore and includes nine incorporated villages, among them Great Neck, Great Neck Estates, Great Neck Plaza, Kings Point ...

. Meckler attended the Pennington School 1959-1963. He attended

Tulane University The Tulane University of Louisiana (commonly referred to as Tulane University) is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by a cohort of medical doctors, it b ...

1963-1965 and received his BA from Columbia College 1967, a Masters (1968) and Ph.D. (1980) in American history from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

.''

Record'' (February 20, 1998)
"New Media Alumni"
Vol. 23, No. 15 He is also the brother of director

Nancy Meckler Nancy Meckler is an American-born director, known for her approach to theatre, specifically her work in the United Kingdom with Shared Experience, where she was a joint artistic director alongside Polly Teale. Educated in the US and England,Cr ...

. His doctoral dissertation ''Scholarly Micropublishing in America'' was published by

Greenwood Press Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. (GPG) was an educational and academic publisher (middle school through university level) which was part of ABC-Clio. Since 2021, ABC-Clio and its suite of imprints, including GPG, are collectively imprints of B ...

in 1982. He is also editor of ''The Draft and its Enemie'' published by the

University of Illinois Press The University of Illinois Press (UIP) is an American university press and is part of the University of Illinois System. Founded in 1918, the press publishes some 120 new books each year, thirty-three scholarly journals, and several electroni ...

(1974). His book ''The Internet's First Entrepreneur'' was published in 2021. Meckler served in the

New York Air National Guard The New York Air National Guard (NY ANG) is the aerial militia of the U.S. state of New York. It is an element of the New York National Guard as part of the larger Air National Guard, a reservist force under the command of the United States Ai ...

and the

United States Army Reserve The United States Army Reserve (USAR) is a Military reserve force, reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the Army element of the reserve components of the United States Armed ...

(1969-1975).

Trade shows

Meckler is known for creating the trade show Internet World in 1993. The event started with a few hundred people and no exhibits. By 1996 it attracted 75,000 attendees at the

Javits Center The Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, commonly known as the Javits Center, is a large convention center on Eleventh Avenue between 34th Street and 38th Street in Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, New York City. It was designed by architect James In ...

in New York City and was also produced annually in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

and

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

as well as in many international venues. Meckler also created the event

Search Engine Strategies Search Engine Strategies (SES) is a conference series focused on search engine marketing and search engine optimization.Jefferson Graham (August 14, 2006)Google search ads find momentum ''USA Today'', retrieved March 8, 2008 History The conference ...

trade show in New York City in 1999. Since 2013 Meckler has been producing trade shows for the

3D printing 3D printing, or additive manufacturing, is the construction of a three-dimensional object from a CAD model or a digital 3D model. It can be done in a variety of processes in which material is deposited, joined or solidified under computer ...

industry. In 2014, with his son John, Meckler created a mutual fund devoted to

and additive manufacturing. 3D Printing and Technology Fund was the first mutual fund worldwide devoted to this investment coverage. Meckler also launched a trade show for the virtual currency

Bitcoin Bitcoin (abbreviation: BTC; Currency symbol, sign: ₿) is the first Decentralized application, decentralized cryptocurrency. Based on a free-market ideology, bitcoin was invented in 2008 when an unknown entity published a white paper under ...

. The first show was launched in New York City in July 2013. In May 2015, Meckler launched a show "RoboUniverse" in New York City.

Early life and education

Trade shows

References

Further reading