Convention

• Colleen McCain Nelson: Why I'll be there in Dallas

  Published Sunday, July 25, 2010

  I'm not a Texan, but as the saying goes, I got here as fast as I could. Before arriving, I had only a passing familiarity with T. Boone Pickens, the legendary Texas oil executive. Once I heard Pickens speak, though, I was riveted. He has big ideas, and this billionaire has a way of making things happen. In many ways, Pickens is Texas (despite the fact

• Dan Radmacher: Why I'll be there in Dallas

  Published Sunday, July 25, 2010

  I am not a Dallas Cowboys fan, a football fan, or really much of any kind of sports fan -- but one of the reasons I'll be in Dallas for the 2010 NCEW Convention is the tour of the Dallas Cowboys Stadium. You don't need to be a sports fan to want to witness one of the most extravagant venues ever constructed. The Texas-sized Cowboys Stadium is the largest

• J.R. Labbe: Why I'll be there in Dallas

  Published Sunday, July 25, 2010

  For non-Texans, the reasonable answer to that question would be, "Because you're only 30 miles away, in Fort Worth." For folks who are familiar with the historic feuding between the two cities, that answer isn't a given. I work for the paper whose proud founder would take his lunch in a paper sack if he ever had to travel to Dallas ‘cause he wasn't going

• Meet the NCEW Board candidates: John C. Bersia

  Published Tuesday, July 20, 2010

  My father, who carried a shepherd's staff at age 10 to ease the economic toll of my paternal grandfather's sudden passing, opened my eyes to the world. He also impressed on me the importance of securing family and home, looking after the defenseless and creatively pursuing life's possibilities. Nearly a century after he tended sheep, I was

• Meet the NCEW Board candidates: Scott Milfred

  Published Monday, July 19, 2010

  My wife said I looked pale and seemed distracted. Was I feeling sick? Sort of. I had just survived my first NCEW critique session. It was the fall of 2005 at the convention in Portland, Ore. I had only been an editorial writer for a few months at the Wisconsin State Journal, having previously served as a news editor and statehouse reporter. I thought I

• Linda P. Campbell: Why I will be there in Dallas

  Published Monday, July 19, 2010

  If you come to the NCEW Convention for no other reason, come to meet the accomplished and fascinating people who've agreed to devote time to leading the organization. In addition to the unopposed candidates for president (Dan Radmacher, Roanoke Times), vice president (Froma Harrop, Providence Journal) and secretary-treasurer Bob Davis, Anniston Star),

• Meet the NCEW Board candidates: Claire Duquette

  Published Sunday, July 18, 2010

  There are days I feel discouraged about my job -- and the newspaper industry. We are continually asked to "do more with less." Even as our staffs shrink, we are asked to embrace new technologies and reach out to readers (and video watchers and listeners) in new ways. I wonder how to manage it all. And then, my newspaper does something that makes a

• Meet the NCEW Board candidates: Jeff Charis-Carlson

  Published Sunday, July 11, 2010

  When I went to my first NCEW convention, I attended a session on "The Care and Feeding of the One-Person Shop." I initially was hesitant about attending. After all, Pulitzer Prize winner Paul Greenberg was leading a session on editorial writing at the same time. But I knew that, after nearly three years of running a one-person opinion shop at the Iowa City