By HERB STUTZ
Convention Coordinator

	CONVENTION SURVEY

Attendance at the 14 workshops reached record levels, according to veteran convention watchers, while survey respondents overwhelmingly called for future conventions to include more workshops and fewer general sessions.

Five of the workshops — 100 Ways to Improve Your Prep Coverage, Agate for Dummies, The Daily Budget, Management Doctor and What's Fun and What's Over the Line — were run twice, while Top-Notch Beat Reporters Discussing Their Craft, So, You Want to be a Sports Editor, Today's Readers, Yesterday's Paper and 10 Tips for Better Design were conducted but once.

Attendance at each workshop averaged 35 for the 14 sessions, with the best attended being the ever-popular prep session.

An unidentified respondent, attending his 10th convention, summed it up succintly in answering the survey question: Do you feel there was a good balance between the number of general sessions and the number of workshops? The reply: "Too many general, I'm here for specific help, not BS!"

Most others weren't as frank. But, in ranking the quality of all of the program, respondents felt only two of the general sessions belonged among the top seven.

TOP RANKED: Tim Harrower's two workshops, Today's Readers, Yesterday's Paper and 10 Tips for Better Design. Using a large screen and his own audio-visual presentation, the Portland-based consultant was called "a remarkable seminar leader, who should be a regular staple at APSE conventions." Another respondent said: "all of our guys' managing editors and editors should be here so we could mutually benefit from his presentations." "Challenging and energizing" said another.

THIRD: 100 Ways to Improve Your Prep Coverage. The Cleveland Plain Dealer's Dave Campbell fast-moving presentation provided the big crowd with a bevy of story ideas and an opportunity to share thoughts with one another.

FOURTH: Best Ideas. The Palm Beach Post's Tim Burke brought the early Saturday morning crowd to attention with an outstanding display of some of our members' best work. His 125 handouts disappeared almost as quickly as the compact disks of the presentation he had available.

FIFTH: The Daily Budget. The Washington Post's Emilio Garcia-Ruiz challenged attendees with his presentation of being organized and getting and staying ahead of the news. "Good ideas for small, mid-size and large papers," wrote one respondent. More than 120 handouts were gobbled up.

SIXTH: Agate for Dummies. The Chicago Tribune's Lee Gordon and Dallas Morning News' Chuck Grimes practical presentation provided attendees a checklist on the ever-growing segment in these days of a dwindling news hole.

SEVENTH: The Ground Breakers, general session, featuring Dr. Richard Lapchick, Notre Dame football coach Tyrone Willingham, Georgia athletic director Damon Evans and Coach Herman Boone of "Remember the Titans" movie fame.

Strong sentiment was expressed that future convention planners should make Terry Taylor's One-on-One With the AP a workshop, rather than a Wednesday afternoon session. "It provides us, particularly first-timers from smaller papers, with a unique opportunity to meet with the AP sports editor and give her our input. Having it so early in the program, knocked out some of our later arrivals."

Respondents provided next year's convention committee with a stack of session suggestions. Newcomers would like to see sessions on line editing and headline writing; almost all expressed interest in a "Doing More With Less" session; having sports editors of contest-winning special sessions discuss how they did it, and the problems of training and motivating staffers and part-timers, as well as "Managing Up" and working with other departments in the newsroom who are adverse to change and want to continue to do things "the old way."

Seems like the Orlando Convention Committee will not lack for ideas!