Here are some impressions from SPJ DC Pro Chapter members who attended all or parts of the historic first virtual conference and convention of delegates the Society of Professional Journalists has ever held.
What about the sessions?
CELIA WEXLER, DC Pro chapter board member and chapter delegate to the convention:
I was impressed by how smoothly things ran, and how well the chat box filled up with comments. The sessions were thoughtfully presented, and the moderators were well prepared. I particularly enjoyed the session on Gwen Ifill and the connections she forged with other women journalists moderated by Rebecca Aguilar [now president-elect of SPJ]. I also thought the sessions on diversity and inclusion were thought provoking.
I had the pleasure of moderating one of the Sunday breakout sessions [“Watchdogging Congress,” which you can read about by searching for it here]. SPJ staff were really efficient and helpful, and even though we had two panelists sharing screens and offering a great deal of data and links, everything went smoothly. From the tenor of the questions, you could tell that the participants were really taking everything in.
KATHRYN FOXHALL, board Recording Secretary and chapter delegate:
In a session on, “Pandemic: The Stories We Told,” [read about it at this link to the Super Sessions] I used my new skill of writing questions in the “chat panel” and got a great quote from New York Times Science Correspondent Donald G. McNeil, Jr. He decried the current situation in the CDC and HHS, saying, “It’s a horrible experience for a journalist trying to get life-saving information out of your own government.”
In the session on Freedom of Information, presenter Dave Cuillier, an old comrade in the fight for open government, hailed me when I started commenting in the chat panel. It felt a bit like I was “there.” After that session we had a “hall chat,” with four of us on the screen, by quickly going to a Zoom connection Cuillier himself had set up. We got fired up talking about what to do about the “Censorship by Public Information Officer” issue.
RANDY SHOWSTACK, chapter president and chapter delegate:
In the age of Zoom, some conferences are poorly conceived or lack energy. But the SPJ 2020 conference was anything but that. Although cobbled together fairly quickly as an online event rather than a traditional in-person gathering, SPJ headquarters staff and leadership created an energetic, important, and nearly flawless SPJ2020 that served the journalism community on multiple levels.
There were meaningful interviews with key figures in journalism. Among them was an interview that outgoing SPJ national president Patti Newberry did with Washington Post editor Marty Baron. Baron touched on a number of topics, including COVID-19 (“the biggest story that we’ve ever covered”); the Post’s efforts to cover and address racial justice and diversity issues, including by beefing up its staff; and the newspaper’s election coverage that is looking at voter suppression and obstruction, among other issues.
The conference also featured a lot of great breakout sessions, including one on using the Freedom of Information Act, with presenter David Cuillier, president of the National Freedom of Information Coalition, discussing how to ferret out health records and data. There were also a number of valuable skills sessions on topics for freelancers and others.
STEVE GEIMANN, chapter member, Bloomberg News, retired; national SPJ president, 1996-97; national SPJ Foundation president, 2006-12; Wells Key winner, 2001:
After attending more than 30 in-person conventions, I had very low expectations for this year’s SPJ’s virtual conference. But absent the camaraderie I have relished every year for three decades, I was pleasantly surprised by the content, the main speakers and the smooth operation by the staff over the two-day event. It was my first national convention after a more than three years in London.
It was brilliant to use the SPJ Fellows as the showcase for the weekend. The one-on-one interviews with editor/publisher Les Zaitz and Washington Post Executive Editor Marty Baron were enlightening to me, as we’re sessions with Jorge Ramos, Nikole Hannah-Jones and the celebration of the life of Gwen Ifill. I enjoyed watching the video by MSNBC’s Marcus Harun about local TV reporters coping with new rules during the pandemic. (All those reporters are so young!)
Some of the speakers would certainly get high marks on @ratemyskyperoom, especially NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly in a session on foreign correspondents. Watching people talk from their home offices, living rooms, kitchens or maybe even closets was a bit of color you don’t get at an in-person meeting.
What about the delegate meeting in convention?
CELIA WEXLER, board member and chapter delegate:
I also was impressed by my first delegate meeting. The debate and questions on the sponsorship resolution were civil and stimulating. I am proud of the decision delegates made to support it.
KATHRYN FOXHALL, board Recording Secretary and chapter delegate:
Attending the business session was OK, but I missed seeing the interaction of people in the room. At least I was a lot more comfortable physically than I have been in some business sessions.
AMY FICKLING, board Corresponding Secretary and chapter delegate, past chapter president:
I was prepared for the business meeting of delegates to be a minor disaster, considering so many people would be on one Zoom call, but headquarters staff was amazing in getting all the delegates patched in and ready to roll just about on time.
Usually, the floor debates and votes on resolutions are a raucous display of righteous indignation, so that was not on display this year from the comfort of our homes (and in the case of one delegate, in the middle of watching a basketball game on TV!). And pretty much the only items of business for the convention meeting were the resolutions. I was surprised once more with how efficiently the voting process was carried out online — we didn’t get to wave our delegate cards in front of our webcams, unfortunately, but the survey-type questions came in screen pop-ups and were easy to navigate.
I had a funny feeling develop over the course of the meeting that on some level, there may never be any going back to the old way of politicking around the sidelines of the convention for your support votes on the way to the huddle inside the roped-off sacred den of delegates. That technology might just take over the jolly old way of doing things on paper. Kind of sad.
STEVE GEIMANN, chapter member, Bloomberg News, retired; national SPJ president, 1996-97; national SPJ Foundation president, 2006-12; Wells Key winner, 2001, but not a chapter delegate:
I did find it a little frustrating to just observe, and not participate, in the Saturday business session. I enjoy kibitzing with fellow leaders, and delegates from the sidelines, while the session is in progress. This year, I could only watch on YouTube.
What were some other impressions or takeaways?
KATHRYN FOXHALL, board Recording Secretary and chapter delegate:
Attending the SPJ meeting virtually was not as good as doing so in person, but it was better than I thought.
I was so proud to see former DC Pro board member April Bethea interview Nikole Hannah-Jones, the creator of the NYT‘s 1619 project.
This SPJ virtual meeting led me to think the pandemic shutdown will have vast impact on small and large meetings. Even when the novel coronavirus is controlled there will be a new reluctance, at least some of the time, to hold in-person meetings due to the time and expense.
There may be a new insistence on hybrid meetings, with some people in person and some online, because organizers will be under pressure to allow people to participate even if they can’t come.
Online meetings may all but replace conference calls because the visual cues make discussion slightly less awkward.
This experience may push us to be much less geographically based. Your monthly book club could be eight people introduced by some manner but spread all over the nation or the world. Thus, culture could become even less geographically based than it has over the last few decades.
All this will have broad impact on journalism but identifying how will be key.
BILL MCCLOSKEY, chapter member and former chapter president (2000-2001) and former national board member:
My principal takeaway from the 2020 SPJ meeting was the lack of personal interaction. No opportunity to discuss candidates credentials or buttonhole them to ask questions. No chance to catch up with old friends between sessions.
However, this year’s virtual attendance — paid attendees, staff, speakers — was comparable to the SPJ-member participation in recent Excellence in Journalism conferences — about 800. The registration price point was likely a contributing factor and the lack of transportation and hotel expense made it easier for everyone to afford a “credential.” (Sorry, no goodie bag.)
I wonder if a hybrid model is in our future. Pay one price to attend in person and enjoy the camaraderie and “bar talk” or pay another price to sit in front of your own computer and soak in the professional development and enlightening speeches.
STEVE GEIMANN, chapter member, Bloomberg News, retired; national SPJ president, 1996-97; national SPJ Foundation president, 2006-12; Wells Key winner, 2001:
Pretty early on the first day, it was clear the technology used to make the weekend happen could be used even when SPJ comes together in New Orleans next year and beyond. There is no longer a physical barrier to getting top-name speakers — like the four living Fellows of the Society — for panels, or for keynote speeches. Now they can electronically join any discussion remotely. SPJ now has more flexibility for future programming.
What about the biggest disappointment?
RANDY SHOWSTACK, chapter president and chapter delegate:
Although the SPJ Washington, D.C., Pro Chapter had hoped that SPJ2020 could have been held here in town, with the pandemic hitting, this was the best possible outcome for the conference. In addition to SPJ headquarters staff and leadership, thanks also go to all of the SPJ-DC members who submitted session ideas, moderated sessions, and helped in other ways to make this conference a success.
