NABJ Region 1 Conference (Recap)

After working till midnight and getting home at 1 a.m., I went to bed at 3 a.m. Saturday only to wake up at 6:30 a.m. to get ready for the NABJ Region 1 Conference.

On the bus ride to New York City, I went over my final preparations for the candidate's forum: I rehearsed my opening and closing statements, I went over my notes from reading the NABJ board minutes, I went over my mini schedule of what workshops I would attend and I put my cell phone on silent.

I arrived at CUNY's Graduate School of Journalism at 8:20 a.m. and picked up my badge and booklet. I sat down and had the continental breakfast while scanning the outstanding facility at CUNY. At 8:30 a.m., I moved into the newsroom to hear the welcome message from NABJ Region 1 Director Gary Anthony Ramsey. Former NABJ Region 1 Director, Caleb Wilkerson, who was responsible for the "Online Tools for Digital Journalists" idea, was not there but received an ovation for his hard work.

The Keynote speaker was Tim Peek, Senior Producer-Digital, NBC News. Peek gave a very impressive presentation on his view of digital journalism and what is NBC News' approach to digital journalism. After listening to Peek, I walked upstairs to participate in the "Final Cut Studio" presentation. I'm a Mac novice and I've only briefly used Final Cut Pro before so I was taking as many notes as I could. I'm learning how to shoot and edit video this summer through my job so I figured it wouldn' hurt to get a headstart.


After the "Final Cut Studio" I had lunch downstairs in the lobby before going back upstairs to the "Google for Journalists" presentation. I thought i knew everything there was to know about Google and I learned some new things. I would love the Google presenters to come to a future GSABJ chapter meeting/event to do their free presentation. I've recommended the idea to our chapter president.


After the "Google for Journalists" presentation, I walked back through the newsroom with the intention to get another bottle of water when I noticed NABJ Region II director Charles Robinson demonstrating his "Flip Video." Robinson said the device is available at my favorite store Best Buy for $150. I'm probably going to look into that soon. I didn't attend a workshop in the 3 p.m. to 4:45 p.m. time slot because I wanted to go over my notes one more time for the NABJ Candidates forum.

The main event of the NABJ Region 1 Conference was the NABJ Candidates Forum.


In attendance were:


Presidential Candidates: Kathy Times and Angelo Henderson

Vice-President for Print Candidates: Deirdre Childress and Rochelle Riley

Vice-President for Broadcast Candidates: Bob Butler and Dedrick Russell

Secretary Candidate: Sherlon Christie

Associate Representative Candidate: Aprill Turner

Region 1 Director Candidate: Katina Revels (was at the morning portion of the conference but couldn't attend the candidates forum because she had to work that night).

Region 2 Director Candidate: Charles Robinson

Student Representative Candidates: Lee Sandra Alexandre and Georgia Dawkins


The moderator was Herb Lowe. The timekeeper was Melanie Burney. The candidate statement reader was John Yearwood. Jeff Ballou read a statement for Secretary Candidate Roland Martin. Otherwise, Yearwood read statements from the following candidates: Andrew Humphrey (VP-Broadcast), Jacqualine Williams (Secretary), Benet Wilson (Region 2 Director), Hilary Golston (Region 4 Director) and Daniella Dorcelus (Student Representative).


Due to time restrictions there were no closing statements by any candidate. Each candidate was allowed an opening statement (or aforementioned prepared statement by Yearwood or designated proxy) and only candidates in attendance from contested races were allowed to answer questions. Moderator Lowe said the candidates forum was videotaped for the NABJ membership and would be transformed into a youtube video to be placed on the NABJ website at a later date.

After the candidate's forum, I walked to B. Smith's and had drinks with friends and then walked to the Bourbon Street Bar & Grille to have food with other friends. After that, I walked to the Port Authority and boarded the bus home to New Jersey. The 19-hour day in NYC ended when I closed my eyes at 1:15 a.m.