In Focus

Last week was a blur. It was a busy, short work week followed by a two-day convention. While exhausting, it was well worth it.

On Thursday and Friday, four of us attended the annual Minnesota Newspaper Association convention. After not having one in person last year, it was nice to see some normalcy.

While it was great to go there, meet new people and make new connections, the attendance was nowhere close to what it usually has been.

There is still an abundance of caution due to the ongoing pandemic and new strains, and understandably there are some who didn’t want their employees potentially exposed.

The banquet room for meals which in previous years was typically packed full, this year was barely half full.

I was thankful there were still some sessions to attend. Some recommended masks, others required them. Honestly, the requirements didn’t bother me at all. I was just happy to be able to learn new things and work with new people.

In a way, the lack of attendance was kind of nice. I was able to spend more time getting to know the people there.

We had some great guest speakers this year. Mark Rosen came in person and gave an emotional speech. Senator Amy Klobuchar was originally supposed to attend in person but delivered her speech via Zoom. She is a great ally for us in the newspaper business. Her father operated a newspaper for many years.

The awards ceremony was probably the shortest it’s ever been. There were many awards to hand out but not many there in person to collect them so things moved along a little quicker. It was still a fun evening.

I am proud of my coworkers for the awards they brought home!