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Vol. 22, No. 4/Summer 2000

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Notes from the Chair
By Debra Bade

Back in the SaddleDebra Bade

"Back in the saddle again…." After conference I’m always reminded of that Gene Autry song – it seems to capture the feeling of returning to our normal work lives after all the stimulation and learning at our annual SLA conference – and I hope we’ve all carried some of that excitement back into our regular routines. A whopping 265 News Division members came together in Philadelphia to share ideas, learn about new technologies and new ways of doing research. That’s a sizable percentage of our membership and I’m thrilled that so many of our members were able to attend this year.

For members who were unable to be with us in Philadelphia please be sure to visit the News Division web site for complete details on News Division programs and to access session handouts and outlines: http://metalab.unc.edu/slanews/conferences/sla2000/index.htm.

There were lots of conference highlights and you’ll read about a number of sessions elsewhere in the newsletter, but these were a few that stood out. After a day-long focus on number crunching in our Computer-Assisted Reporting CE course the numbers theme was also reflected at the Annual Luncheon by mathematician John Allen Paulos of Temple University. Paulos entertained attendees with some revelations ("71.767394116% of all statistics are made up on the spot," and his favorite from Coleridge which may capture our feelings some days: "Data, data everywhere and not a thought to think") along with a discussion of the good and bad ways in which numbers and statistics are used by media organizations.

Were you looking for inspiration? I hope you listened to Zimbabwe Standard editor Mark Chavunduka’s moving thoughts on his imprisonment and upcoming trial for publishing stories about a government coup. Mark spoke at this year’s Freedom Forum Luncheon and once again it was the kind of session that I came away from with my priorities back in order. I hope you did too.

And Kare Anderson shared communication and management tips with us in two sessions offering advice on how to better communicate what we can do and in the process become more highly valued within our organizations. A bit of history: Early in my conference planning I was exploring ideas for potential speakers with some Internet research and wanted to dedicate several sessions to management and leadership topics. Kare Anderson’s name turned up in my research and I added it to my list, thinking she sounded interesting. A week or so later, Kare’s name came up in a conversation – this was one of those synchronous events I try to pay attention to, so I called her. (As I got to know Kare I realized how appropriate this unusual meeting was.)

We clicked. And went on to have a string of conversations about management, leadership, journalism, librarians in general, and news librarians in particular with Kare wanting to know what makes us tick. Along the way I recruited Kare as a speaker. No stranger to journalism, Kare had worked at the Wall Street Journal and has more recently been an author and speaker. Two of her tips: "Go slow to go fast," and "Opportunity is often inconvenient. Failure is no more fatal than success is permanent." This was an interactive session that got all of us thinking more about how to win over upper management with communication tools. To learn more about Kare or sign up for her newsletter please visit http://www.sayitbetter.com.

All week long I was amazed yet again by the sheer talent within our group, from the expertise and knowledge offered by our speakers at each session to those we honored at the Down Town Club Awards Banquet. In particular let me mention Sandy Hall, who was recognized with the Kwapil Award, the Division’s highest honor; Bob Jansen and Linda Henderson, who received the Henebry Award; and Ginny Everett, recipient of the Shoemaker Award. And the News Division winner of SLA’s Rose Vormelker Award, Barbara Semonche. Congratulations to these leaders and innovators!

Moving On

A busy year lies ahead. I’ve made a number of new committee appointments and we’ll be moving our committee projects along quickly. If you are interested in participating on a committee or would like to help in another area please let me know.

Also, don’t forget that we have the Global 2000 conference coming up in Brighton, England October 16-19, 2000. The News Division will be presenting a session during this conference and possibly a news tour. I’ll be posting information on newslib about Global 2000 and encourage you to read about it on the SLA web site as well (http://www.sla.org).


 

Debra Bade is the Director of Online Training and Development for CNN. You can contact her at debra.bade@turner.com.


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