This past weekend was the annual NENPA newspaper conference here in New England. I went in with high hopes. Having been following the national discussion on the future of newspapers and journalism very closely for the past couple of years. The chance to go listen to the experts talk about these challenges and find out what there thoughts are really had me excited. Unfortunately it felt like they were just reading old news from my RSS feed. Nothing new was brought to the table and the facts and opinions they did bring up were either flat out wrong or so outdated that they are no longer correct.

So as much as this conference was a let down it did make me realize how lucky I am to be working where I am and doing what I am doing there. I feel like we are positioned and headed in the perfect direction. The discussions we have at work are far more forward thinking than anything I heard at the conference. It has taken me a long time to fully understand why we are where we are and how the company works. I feel very grateful to have had the opportunity to work my way into a position in the company were my voice matters.

Overall the feeling I got at the conference was one of trepidation about the future and the possibilities of surviving in the digital age while I feel our company is looking forward to,  even excited about leveraging the power of the digital age to propel us to new heights. If anyone else is excited for what the future of journalism potentially holds please let me know and we can start our own conference where we actually figure out how to prosper instead of try to hold on to what once was.