'Fewer Titanics, more kayaks'
Lisa Williams blogs while sitting on a panel at the editors' convention in D.C.
The national convention of editors and publishers got under way slowly on Sunday afternoon as attendees trickled slowing into the nation's capital. The big deal over the weekend was the NEXPO newspaper trade show, but there also were some educational sessions.
Over the years, I have found many of these types of sessions are people singing to the choir — i.e. editors (often the more innovative ones, to be sure) offering "best practices." They are good places to steal some ideas, but these types of panels don't offer many "aha!" moments. These moments often come from outsiders, or heretics if you will, who approach communication and information from a totally different point of view.
Two of sessions I attended Sunday were typical, "Dynamic Web Strategies for Small Newspapers" and "Building Audience in a Fragmented Media World." There were many bits of advice that could be swiped. But a speaker at the second one offered some of these "aha!" observations.
She was Lisa Williams, who founded H2Otown.info and Placeblogger.com in Watertown, Mass. She comes from a tech background, not a journalistic one, and thus offered some advice to editors. Like not to get to upset by layoffs. In the dot.com world, she said, layoffs are the only time you get vacation. And showing photo of icebergs, she offered this metaphor: "Fewer Titanics, more kayaks." Listen to her talk here.
The welcoming reception was at the new Nationals ballpark. Unfortunately, the Nats left town after a game Saturday with Atlanta. Bummer. But I had a chance to reconnect with many old friends.
Monday brings more sessions designed to cheer up editors and publishers during one of the worst economic times for the business in a while. Plus John McCain and Barak Obama will speak back-to-back at the Associated Press annual meeting and luncheon, so stay tuned to Newstradamus.