Help push SPJ into exciting, new territory!
Video-conferencing technology isn't new -- but it's new to SPJ. And wow, does it have the power to help this organization do amazing things.
On Sunday afternoon, I visited with SPJ members in Knoxville, Tenn. While sitting in my home. In Denver. I even got a chance to show off my 2-year-old daughter, Tatum Elizabeth, who insisted on saying, "Hi, Tennessee!"
A small camera built into my MacBook Pro laptop was trained on my face (very carefully trained because I didn't want everyone to see my messy desk). I'll spare you the technical talk and simply leave it at this: the folks in Knoxville and I could see and hear each other. They were watching me on a large screen in a computer lab, and I could see them on my trusty laptop.
For about a half hour, we discussed pretty much whatever was on everyone's minds. A student asked about graduate school. A chapter leader asked about dues payments. An educator asked about the technology I think journalists should know more about.
It wasn't earth-shattering conversation -- but it was a thrilling moment in the history of this organization.
"You have helped open our eyes to some other opportunities involving this technology," John Huotari, president of SPJ's East Tennessee chapter wrote me in an e-mail today. "After the chat, a few of us talked about how we might use a similar setup to have a long-distance chat with another speaker or chapter."
Aww, shucks. Music to my ears. Here's a portion of what I wrote back:
"If you'd like to have an exchange with the top gun at The Denver Post, I could arrange that in a snap. If you want our graphics editor to deliver hands-on instruction concerning Flash or some other software, it shall be done ...
"You see where I'm going with this.
"And just FYI: the new Mac operating system will be released in October. It's called Leopard. One of the coolest features about it is the ability to make long-distance presentations. Sooooo, instead of seeing just my big head on that screen, I could, instead, beam you a PowerPoint-like presentation (in Mac, the presentation software is called Keynote). I could illustrate it with all of the bells and whistles -- including video and audio -- and "present" it to you on that big screen. You'd see the presentation AND me beamed to you from Denver. How cool is that?
"Obviously, I get excited about this stuff -- and I'm delighted that you are, too. Please drop me a line anytime. I'll hand over my SPJ tiara and sceptor in early October -- but that'll just free me up to work with you more directly if you'd like."
That offer stands for every SPJ member who'd like to push a chapter, a committee, a group of leaders, a workshop -- you name it -- into exciting new directions. I'm happy to help you.