If you haven’t been to a national SPJ gathering in a while, get ready for this one!
The chapter board is gearing up for the big event, Sept. 10-12, 2020. Stay tuned! Get involved in planning, too!
More to come soon, and throughout the next year.
San Antonio convention points way for Washington, DC, in 2020
By Stephenie Overman
This year’s Excellence in Journalism convention in San Antonio had 1,884 participants, 59 exhibitors, 32 sponsors, dozens of programs and 100+ degree temperatures. Planners for EIJ 2020 in Washington hope to top everything but the weather.
Next year’s conference, a partnership between the Society of Professional Journalists and the Radio Television Digital News Association, will be Sept. 10-12 at the Washington Hilton. EIJ19 included partner National Association of Hispanic Journalists as well. NAHJ has partnered with SPJ and RTDNA occasionally for past EIJ conventions. (NAHJ announced in 2017 it would partner with NABJ for a 2020 conference in Washington, D.C.)
“I left EIJ19 better informed and inspired about what’s possible and what’s necessary to throw a big party at EIJ20,” national SPJ President-Elect Matthew T. Hall said after the EIJ19 convention. As president-elect, Hall heads up SPJ’s planning for next year’s convention.
To succeed in 2020, “collaboration and an overall strategy will be key. I love that we already have a Slack channel set up for speedy communication and that SPJ President Patti Newberry is putting together a new committee to spread the workload for conference planning. We’re ahead of where we were last year,” he said. Hall is the editorial and opinion director of the San Diego Union-Tribune.
One specific takeaway from EIJ19 “is that we need to have a more dynamic digital presence in 2020: live-tweeting, live-streaming, a place to find slideshows after panels,” Hall said. “And we should give some real thought to the types of tracks we want to emphasize. I hope we are forward-looking, and I think we should start by asking our members what sorts of panels, programs and training they want in D.C. I also think we need a better system to take in, respond and work with the people submitting program ideas. I’m excited.”
Dee Ann Divis, vice president of the DC Pro Chapter, attended the San Antonio conference and also is looking ahead to 2020. “We want people to leave with the tools they need, with their eyes wide open, and inspired.”
Stephenie Overman is the new Region 2 coordinator, having won the election during EIJ19.
Check out some congratulations here from chapter member April Bethea on Twitter.
RTDNA reports that its members were very impressed with EIJ19. And they are looking forward to EIJ20.
Got the
#EIJ19 survey results back and, wow, our members said it was “excellent, timely and most helpful!” We’re already thinking about how next year can be even more helpful for news leaders. See you at#EIJ20, Sept. 10-12 in#WashingtonDC! http://excellenceinjournalism.org
Impressions of EIJ19
By Steve Taylor
The San Antonio River, which rises only a few miles north of downtown, is shallow and narrow, which has allowed the city to channel it in concrete, making the River Walk, a pleasant setting for hotels and shopping centers. The EIJ19 hotel was adjacent to the water; the opening night reception was in a sheltered dining area on its banks. Nearby was a large shopping center/movie complex and another hotel used by convention goers.
One afternoon I took a convention break to visit the Alamo, my second visit to the symbol of Texan independence in more than 20 years. Most people’s first impression of the structure is, “It’s so small,” surrounded as it is by the busy downtown of a major city. Since that was the way I recalled it, my reaction to this visit was, “Wow, it’s bigger than I remembered.”
Since our chapter will host the EIJ convention in 2020, I had made a short promotional video for showing at the end of the SPJ banquet in San Antonio. I sat in the audience cringing as an earlier video came up — with no sound. Would they do that to ours? Fortunately, SPJ’s tech staff came through and the 2020 video promo ran as intended.
