APSE convention

[MMatt60]

Does APSE start this Wednesday?

I have to believe turnout will, sadly, be dreadful.

 

[Joe Williams]

They should just spend the entire convention in the hotel bar, drowning their sorrows. Especially if they can fudge the expense accounts.

 

[WildBillyCrazyCat]

I got about four e-mails reminding me to sign up, so I have to imagine turnout will be sparse.

 

[Riddick]

I keep hearing from different friends who say they're not going. And remember, last year most of Gannett didn't attend unless it was on their own dime.

 

[Moderator1]

I had money in the budget to go - had I stayed, I probably would not have gone. I would have a hard time telling staff they can't go here or there while I'm going off for 3-4 days of, well, I guess education is what you'd call it.
I suspect most SEs feel the same way. I'm curious to see how many do attend.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

It better be dreadful. I hope nobody goes.

Based on the cutbacks across the board in this business, any paper spending the money to send a SE should have its head examined.

Yeah, we're laying everyone off, but how many awards did we win?

 

[Mizzougrad96]

I had money in the budget to go - had I stayed, I probably would not have gone. I would have a hard time telling staff they can't go here or there while I'm going off for 3-4 days of, well, I guess education is what you'd call it.
I suspect most SEs feel the same way. I'm curious to see how many do attend.

Right there is proof you were a good SE.

There's nothing worse than saying, "Yeah, we can only send one writer to this game because of budget, so he better write a gamer, notebook and three siders... Oh, did I mention, I'll be in Vegas next week at APSE?"

 

[tonysoprano]

It better be dreadful. I hope nobody goes.

Based on the cutbacks across the board in this business, any paper spending the money to send a SE should have its head examined.

Yeah, we're laying everyone off, but how many awards did we win?

Brilliant point.

 

[IGotQuestions]

My editor went to an APSE convention, came back and never told our staff a thing he learned or gleaned from that convention.

 

[FreddiePatek]

With most of the McClatchy properties announcing their final cuts on Friday, I can't imagine we'll see many of those SEs at the convention.

 

[Jersey_Guy]

Between the big circulation SEs aggressively opposing the small and medium papers on the contest rules changes and the declining economy/newspaper business, I have to figure this and future APSE conventions will be limited to those papers with huge circulations, plus small and medium papers within a short distance of the site and/or those willing to pay their own way to network.

 

[SixToe]

I'd have to believe any supersaver, low-cost trip would be given a second thought by management, if not outright rejected.

What if the national convention were held every two years, and strong regional meetings were held? That could possibly bring in more editors and some writers who would be interested in attending.

 

[JBHawkEye]

I'm going. It's going to be the last one in the Midwest for a while. It's driveable, fairly inexpensive for us. Plus we've got everything covered for the week.

 

[Rockbottom]

I wished I could have gone (with two Top 10 section awards to pick up ...) but there was no chance in the budget to do it (that was before certain unforseen events, anyway).

Say what you will, but the APSE convention does have merit. Is it worth a full ride from a paper making cuts? Not so much. But for those that can go, I recommend. I learned how to be a better sports editor because of it (well, I didn't learn *as* much as I should ...)

rb

 

[WildBillyCrazyCat]

It better be dreadful. I hope nobody goes.

Based on the cutbacks across the board in this business, any paper spending the money to send a SE should have its head examined.

Yeah, we're laying everyone off, but how many awards did we win?

Respectfully disagree.

If an SE comes back with ideas that are going to improve his/her section and staff, then it can be a valuable experience.

 

[Moderator1]

I don't doubt that it is a good experience. I wanted to go.
I do doubt that it is a justifiable thing with all the trimming going on. Fiddling while Rome burns and all that.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

It better be dreadful. I hope nobody goes.

Based on the cutbacks across the board in this business, any paper spending the money to send a SE should have its head examined.

Yeah, we're laying everyone off, but how many awards did we win?

Respectfully disagree.

If an SE comes back with ideas that are going to improve his/her section and staff, then it can be a valuable experience.

You know what can improve his staff? Keeping his staff.

I've been to the APSEs. They're a joke. It's an excuse for a bunch of sports editors to get together and drink on the company dime. The SEs come back and give the presentation to the staff to justify the trip.

Can you learn something? Sure. Is it worth it to spend the money to send a SE there when the rest of the staff is wondering where they'll be working in a few months? No...

It's also a good way to destroy morale at your paper. "Yeah, our best copy chief just took a buyout and he's not being replaced, but our SE is spending a week in Orlando."

 

[SockPuppet]

I've got it: Virtual APSE conventions.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

I'm going. It's going to be the last one in the Midwest for a while. It's driveable, fairly inexpensive for us. Plus we've got everything covered for the week.

Obviously, that's different.

Most SEs look at it as an extra week of vacation.

 

[ServeItUp]

Oh no, one SE I had didn't count it against his vacation total. I believe he filed hours for it. This also was the same SE who kiboshed a vacation request for an event one had to commit to a year in advance, because it conflicted with APSE and he didn't want to re-tool staffing of the desk for ONE weekend.