Positive Feedback at D.C. Conference

Two days and 160 people at the "Journalism that Matters" Conference. Professors, journalist and bloggers from all over the US and a some from Brazil, South Africa and elsewhere.

While this is the first conference I attended I could tell this was going to be rather unconventional. There was almost a religious tone to it a cross between new age and a church revival. However soon I appreciated the atmosphere. From what I hear most conferences are bit stuffy with mostly listening to lectures with very little interaction.

This conference is what some might call an "unconference." Everyone had a chance to speak and network with others.

I never spoke to so many people and so frequently as I did those two days. And all about this project.

Happy to report many found this concept to be "really good." But one particular person seemed to find the concept particularly interesting. Tom Stites who held various editor positions at New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer, Chicago Sun-Times and other newspapers and magazines.

At the time of talking with him I had no idea who he was. He was just one of the people in my coaching session. But afterward he approached me to say that he was not just being polite and he sincerely thought the idea was valuable.

Hopefully the merits of this project will be able to carry it through. Because one thing I did notice at the conference was that it was hard to make this idea sound appealing.

Well, we see how the Knight News Challenge folks likes the idea. I'm in the midst of writing a grant proposal.

Wish me luck.