A busy Wednesday in Lexington, Ky.
I spent a productive but exhausting day Wednesday teaching The Art of Being Brilliant to a group of about two dozen editors and designers on the campus of the University of Kentucky in Lexington.
Going into my riff about how to harness the power
of the smart asses who inhabit every newsroom:
Channel their ability to think and talk quickly
to brainstorm ideas.
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The session was part of the Traveling Workshop of the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association. The fine folks at SNPA don’t charge anything at all to attend their sessions. Given the cutbacks many papers have made to their training and travel budgets, that may be the reason why attendance at the Traveling Workshops has been so healthy this year.
I spoke at Traveling Workshops last fall in Atlanta and this spring in Cary, N.C. and in Dallas. I have one more scheduled this year: Aug. 6 in Gastonia, N.C.
The audience compares notes
during the morning break.
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My wife, daughter and I returned from vacation Saturday. I didn’t get much sleep Saturday or Sunday nights, working on packing up my home office. Monday night, I worked the night graphics shift at the Pilot. Tuesday morning, I woke up at 4 a.m. in order to get to the airport on time.
And then I stayed up until the wee hours Tuesday night, adding new pages to my slideshows. I’m looking forward to a good night’s sleep tonight — my first since Thursday, I suppose. Hopefully.
Thursday, I have a relatively leisurely flight back to Norfolk. Friday, I return to work for only the second time since June 20. And it’ll be my last day at the Pilot.
I begin work in my new job in Charlotte July 15.
A lawn jockey adorns the front of the
Hilton Suites. Only in Kentucky.
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The final tally:
Time: 6 hours
Slides: 1,228
Average time per slide: 17.6 seconds
I made some cool new friends and we had a swell time today. I was delighted when one of my audience members revealed herself to be Linda Austin, editor of the Lexington Herald-Leader. Not only do I love it when editors-in-chief attend my sessions, but also she turned out to be a former graphics editor herself. Of the Philadelphia Inquirer, in fact.
Anyone who worked for Dave Milne is definitely a friend of mine. What a saint that guy was. And is, I suppose.
You don’t see many graphics editors moving to editor positions, though.
The highlight of the trip, however, came at dinner Tuesday and again at dinner Wednesday. I love that Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale. Wow; that’s good stuff.
Thanks to all the folks who slept through attended my sessions and thanks to the folks who make the SNPA’s Traveling Workshop happen: Graham Kimbrough in Atlanta and Julie Berry here in Lexington.
Hey, come see us in Gastonia, everybody!
