What I didn't say

I'm back home at my desk after three days at the Folio: Show. And it hasn't been easy to readjust. My typical working day involves email and phone conversations interrupted by baby talk from my five-month-old daughter. But at the show I had real conversations, in person, with grown-ups that share my interests.
And I miss it already.

I co-hosted a session Tuesday morning called "Blogs, RSS and More: Editorial in the E-Media Age." I was pleased with how things went, and more than a little bit amused. I did a similar session at the Folio: Show two years ago, and fewer than a dozen people showed up. But this time the room was packed.
I doubt very much that I've gotten more interesting in the past 24 months, so I can only assume that more folks in the magazine industry are beginning to think about the sorts of things I like to think about.

As I've mentioned here before, I like to do a post-game analysis after a speaking gig. And last night I sat down with my note cards and realized that on Tuesday, unlike in many other instances, I was able to at least touch upon almost every subject I wanted to discuss.
Neither I nor my co-presenter Janice Castro did a formal presentation. Instead, we simply opened the floor to questions.
Most folks seemed most interested in basic, how-to information about content-management systems, multimedia software and writing for the Web. I used that as a chance to voice some of my key ideas for the session: best cheap thing to do right now (spend $40 on Soundslides), most fun way to understand online communities (join Second Life), the quickest way to learn RSS and become a better reporter at the same time (sign up for Bloglines) and the best subject for a debate back in the newsroom (Creative Commons.) I also managed to plug Mindy McAdams' book, Rex's blog and the good folks at J-Learning.

In fact, although I didn't get a chance to show some of my favorite sites or talk about some of my favorite journalists, there was only one major topic on my list that I didn't mention at all. No one asked about it. And I didn't raise the issue myself.
But that's not a problem. I tend to agree with the guest blogger at Read/Write Web that we still have some time to figure out what the effects of personalized news services will be on our industry. But time passes quickly these days, so I'll put the subject on the agenda the next time I speak.

For coverage of the keynote speeches at the Folio: Show, click here.
For coverage by the blog of NXTbook, click here.
For a review of Robin Sherman's dance routine, click here.

tags: journalism, b2b, media, trade press, magazines, newsletters, business media, journalism education