Story posted on June 11, 2008

The APSE Great Plains Region meeting will be Monday, July 21, at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.

The one-day session will feature Deadspin founding editor Will Leitch as the luncheon speaker. Leitch, who has been a contributor to The New York Times Web site, will talk about the state of the sports journalism industry as he sees it.

Included in the four sessions will be one on column-writing, one on covering high school athletes and coaches in breaking news situations and another that will offer a chance to visit with the editors from the region's three of the four Triple Crown papers – the Kansas City Star, the Des Moines Register and the Lincoln Journal Star.

Registration also includes a ticket to that evening's Kansas City Royals game. The Royals will be hosting the Detroit Tigers.

Sports editors from APSE and non-APSE newspapers in the region or nearby states are welcome to attend.

For information on the meeting or hotel arrangements, contact Toby Carrig of the Southeast Missourian (tcarrig@semissourian.com) or Jackie McGinnis at The Associated Press in Kansas City (jmcginnis@ap.org).

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE:

8:30-9 a.m.: Registration

9:15-10:15 a.m.: When high schoolers go bad: Covering the off-the-court antics of prep athletes and coaches. Toby Carrig, Southeast Missourian; Shane Mettlen, Culpeper (Va.) Star-Exponent, and more TBA.

10:30-11:15 a.m.: Writing columns. Participants TBA

11:30 a.m.-1 p.m.: Lunch. Speaker: Will Leitch, founding editor of Deadspin.com.

1-2 p.m.: Front-loading: What assignment editors can do to improve stories before the reporting and writing process. Mike Sherman, sports editor, the Oklahoman.

2-3 p.m.: Triple Crown winners: Three of the four Triple Crown winners in the APSE contest came from the Great Plains region. Find out from editors of The Des Moines Register, the Lincoln Star Journal and The Kansas City Star what makes them successful.

3:15-3:30 p.m.: AP business session.

3:30-4:30 p.m.: AP session. Guest speaker, Lou Ferrara, AP's ME for sports, entertainment and multimedia.

4:30-5 p.m.: Breakout sessions.

5:30 p.m.: Dinner on your own.

7:10 p.m.: Kansas City Royals vs. Detroit Tigers.

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