Charles Apple

My gigantic, all-day Art of Being Brilliant presentation — the one that received pretty good marks in Dallas last April — is booked for two more performances, thanks to my good friends at the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association.

I’ll be appearing as part of the SNPA’s acclaimed Traveling Classroom in Lexington, Ky. on Wednesday July 9 and in Gastonia, N.C. on Wednesday, Aug. 6.

The price for each session is nada. Bupkis. Zilch. The SNPA charges nothing for these sessions. Make sure you tell your boss that when you ask her to send you.

My Lexington session will be on Day 2 of a three-day Traveling Workshop event at the W.T. Young Library, on the campus of the University of Kentucky.

We’ll begin at 9:30 a.m. and we’ll take an hour or so for lunch. We’ll be done by 4:30 p.m. or whenever I lose my voice — whichever comes first.

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What the session is about

The Art of Being Brilliant is about creativity in newspaper design. We’ll talk about from where inspiration comes and what you need in order to create brilliant work. we’ll look at all sorts of brilliant work being done at newspapers big and small.

We’ll take in a number of case studies; we’ll give you ideas you can take home and use right away. And we’ll show all you folks at small newspapers out there what can be done with minimal resources. After all, it ain’t the size of your newspaper that counts — it’s the size of your ideas.

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History of The Art of Being Brilliant

Eight months ago, the SNPA and my friends at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution asked to make a 90-minute presentation on the nature of creativity. It was kind of a last-minute thing, resulting in two performances in two days in Atlanta, on my way to SND/Boston last October.

I gave the same presentation in December at The Austin American-Statesman and in February at The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C. The SNPA asked me to expand it into a 90 minute presentation for the North Carolina Press Association’s winter meeting in Cary, N.C. That show went over very well.

The SNPA then asked me if I could expand the presentation again into a full-day experience. That’s what I presented in Dallas. The night before, I presented the original 90-minute version for Dallas Morning News staffers who couldn’t make the big show.

Each performance of The Art of Being Brilliant is a little different: I like to customize a bit for each audience and to add recent slides to make each show a little more topical. But the underlying structure of the presentation is essentially the same.

We’ll begin with the original 90-minute Brilliant presentation, which I’ve subtitled Inspiration. We’ll take a brief break before part two, Content. Parts three and four — Magnitude and Resources — will follow the lunch break.

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How to sign up

Read more about the SNPA’s Traveling Classroom — and sign up to attend — here. Find a map of the UK campus here.

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What else is going on in Lexington?

Lots. The Traveling Campus is presenting nine separate sessions over three days, including four geared toward newsroom topics.

A quick overview:

TUESDAY, JULY 8

9:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
The Past, Present and Future of Circulation
Bob Bobber, SunCoast Media Group, Polk County, Fla.

Bob is a longtime circulation manager for papers big and small, with particular expertise in subscriber acquisition and retention.

9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Prime-Time Selling
Bill Smith and Bobby Herbert, The Free Lance Star, Fredericksburg, Va.

An Advertising Director and the Sales Development Team Leader, respectively, Bill and Bobby are also founders of their own sales training company.

1:30 - 4:30 p.m.
Hot Ideas for Building Circulation
Bob Bobber, SunCoast Media Group, Polk County, Fla.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 9

9:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Editorial Leadership in Smaller Markets
Al Cross, University of Kentucky

Al was a reporter for the Louisville Courier-Journal for 26 years and was part of the team that won a Pulitzer in 1989.

9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
The Art of Being Brilliant
Charles Apple, The Virginian-Pilot

Yes, that’s me.

THURSDAY, JULY 10

9:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Great Media Writing
Paula LaRocque, writing coach, Arlington, Texas

Paula was a writing coach and AME of The Dallas Morning News for 20 years.

9:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Communication and Coaching Skills for Improving Job Performance
Bill Beauchamp, Beauchamp Consulting, Evans, Ga.

Bill worked in HR and management for more than 25 years in the Tribune, Knight-Ridder and Morris organizations.

1:30 - 4:30 p.m.
Managing in Tough Times
Bill Beauchamp, Beauchamp Consulting, Evans, Ga.

1:30 - 4:30 p.m.
Secrets of Successful Storytelling
Paula LaRocque, writing coach, Arlington, Texas

Download PDF files containing detailed course descriptions and full bios of the speakers here.

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So what about Gastonia?

Wednesday, Aug. 6. Much the same drill, I expect. Details to come.

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Please make plans to come out and see us in Lexington or Gastonia. I promise you, your day will be an inspiring and productive one. And you certainly can’t argue with the price.

We’ll see you there!

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 17th, 2008 at 7:19 am and is filed under Small papers, Resources, Innovative ideas, Workshops, Charles Apple, News design, VizEds Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.