It wasn't Windy and it is hardly a town....

but my trip to Chicago (the windy city, Chi-town) for the 2008 UNITY convention was an interesting experience.

I've been a longtime fan of the UNITY conventions but this was my first time attending UNITY. I missed the 2004 UNITY convention in Washington, D.C. because I got my current job that year. My goal was not to miss the 2008 UNITY convention in Chicago and I came ever so close to bypassing this convention because of the enormous cost to attend. Let's just say, I'm in the red after attending this year's convention and it looks like I'll only be able to afford one of the next two conventions (Tampa in 2009 or San Diego in 2010) or neither if I decide to take an international vacation in 2009. Vacations are important to me and so are NABJ conventions. However, I think I've reached the perilous point where NABJ conventions are so expensive that I have to do a doubletake on the bottom line. Nevertheless, anyone that knows me well knows that I know how to get my money's worth each and every time I attend. UNITY in Chicago was no different.

Shall we begin? Let's do this by day.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 23, 2008

After attending a fun event called the hotseat the night before in New York City, I woke up late this day.


I got to the airport too late and missed my 10:40 a.m. flight to Chicago. American Airlines put me on standby for the 1:15 p.m. flight but confirmed me for a 3:15 fight. Now, I had to get on the 1:15 p.m. flight because I was hosting the YBJ Meet & Greet at P.F. Chang's China Bistro in Chicago at 4 p.m. CST.



I was the last standby passenger on the 1:15 p.m. flight and American Airlines didn't charge me for my checked luggage on the flight. So, Big Ups to the double-A for coming through in the clutch for me. After initially turning my nose up at taking the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) subway from Chicago's O'Hare International Airport to downtown, I had no choice because a taxi would have taken me the same amount of time and cost me between $40-$50. I paid for a $5 card and got on the CTA and got off at the Clark/Lake stop. (BTW...I still have $3 on the card and if anyone wants it...just message me). I walked 0.7 miles with my suitcase and laptop to P.F. Chang's China Bistro and made it there at 3:55 p.m. Surprisingly, I was the first to arrive. However, folks came through (albeit a little late) and we had a blast at P.F. Chang's. The bill came to $415.78 and we were $30 short but I covered the deficit and thanked everyone for attending.



We'll see what we can do for Tampa in 2009. I missed the opening ceremony because P.F. Chang's ran late and I needed to check into my hotel room at the Sheraton Hotel & Towers and get ready for the opening reception at the Field Museum. I went to the opening reception at the Field Museum with my roommate and caught up with several new and familiar faces from the YBJ listserve. The free alcohol and food didn't hurt either. lol. After an exhausting first day, I retreated to the Sheraton for a little relaxation before meeting my two cousins in the Sheraton lobby for drinks at 11 p.m. It was good meeting up with them since I haven't seen or talked to them in over 10 years.

THURSDAY, JULY 24, 2008
This was the longest day of the convention for me. I was up at 6:30 a.m. and showered and iron my clothes as quickly as possible. I caught a taxi ($11 trip) to the McCormick Place West convention center. I had no problems with my registration and made it in time for the 7:30 a.m. NABJ Sports Task Force breakfast. This year, the breakfast featured a panel of ESPN personalities. After mingling with breakfast attendees for a while, I roamed the halls of McCormick Place West. This place was massive and I'm glad I brought my comfortable shoes because I lost five pounds from all the walking that I did that week. I caught lunch at the "The Diabetes Explosion: A Call to Action for Journalists of Color panel and then skipped the NABJ Hall of Fame luncheon in favor of talking with some friends I haven't seen in ages. I went to the ESPN reception that afternoon at 4:30 p.m. and then retreated to my hotel room around 7:30 p.m. or so.






I intended to catch a quick nap before the NABJ Sports Task Force Party but got wisked away to dinner. I got back to my hotel room at 9:30 p.m. and showered and changed clothes for the NABJ Sports Task Force Party. I caught a cab to the Crobar nightclub and didn't have to wait in line and got into the club at 10:35 p.m. or so. The pictures will tell much of the story of the NABJ Sports Task Force Party but let me just add that it was straight AMISTAD! up in that joint that night. I had every intention of closing the club down at 4 a.m. but I punked out at 2:30 a.m and caught a cab back to the Sheraton.

FRIDAY, JULY 25, 2008

As you can imagine, I didn't wake up early on this day. I rolled out of bed somewhere between 10 and 10:30 a.m. and quickly showered and got dressed for my day. I attended the NABJ business meeting and heard the depressing news and the state of our organization. The conventions have lost money seven out of the last eight years (I forgot which year we made money) and the national office only had five full-time staff members. Yikes. That's not even the tip of the iceberg.

Here are my thoughts on NABJ after that demoralizing business meeting:

• I've long thought the NABJ conventions are too bloated with non-journalism activities and I don't think a five-day convention is feasible anymore. We should go to a 4-day convention a.s.a.p. (cut off the Sunday portion since the majority of the attendees fly out early that day anyways). I know the convention is our top money-maker for the organization but we have to streamline the convention in order to give members the best possible chance to afford it each year.
  

• We should pick cities where the hotels are affordable and $199 a night ($225 if you include tax) for this year's UNITY convention isn't what I'm talking about either. Prior to this, the most I remember paying was $175 (with tax) a night to stay at the Walt Disney World Swan & Dolphin hotel in Orlando for the 2001 convention, my first convention. That was a stretch then and $225 a night is a ridiculous amount now. I think we should shoot for cities that we can get a hotel rate (with tax between $120-$160) a night.

• We also probably need to officially start a rotation of popular cities. This idea would be tricky but I think if you pick a city in the northeast, southeast, midwest and southwest and try to get there every 10 years. My choice for the northeast would be Washington, D.C., the Southeast would be Atlanta, the midwest Chicago and the southwest would be a toss up between Dallas and Houston and maybe a west coast city. I know West Coast folks are saying WTF? The problem with the west coast is the majority of NABJ's membership lives east of the Mississippi and getting flights out to the West coast for the bulk of the membership isn't a huge problem. However, the cost is (between $350 to $500) and the flights back to the East Coast are brutal and that's being kind. Maybe we can find a city in the mountain time/pacific time zone that will be affordable and make it a five-tier rotation.

• If the NABJ journal isn't profitable (and from what I saw at the business meeting it isn't) it needs to go to a web-based or e-mail only format. I know this would be a very unpopular suggestion but my motto is: if it doesn't make money, it doesn't make sense to bleed our bottom line especially since we no longer can attract the big time donations from really any media company.
  

I think those are the immediate things we can do now.

Anyhow, let's get back to the convention. I attended a Noon luncheon on "HIV Prevention: What's on the Next Frontier?" and then I attended a 1:30 p.m. NABJ Sports Task Force panel: "The off-field advantage: Race and Gender Politics in Sports Coverage. I hauled myself back to the Sheraton for the 5:30 p.m. NABJ Sports Task Force Pioneer Awards ceremony and then took in the 7 p.m. NABJ Film Festival presentation of Universal Pictures "The Express." A very good movie that "follows the extraordinary life of college football hero Ernie Davis (played by Rob Brown), the first black to win the Heisman Trophy. After that, I took a short siesta and then made it to the NABJ Chicago Chapter Fundraising party: The Chocolate Jam. I left early...my feet were killing me and I was exhausted.

SATURDAY, JULY 26, 2008/SUNDAY, JULY 27, 2008

I woke up late this day too. I got to the McCormick Place West convention center around 10 a.m. or so and started seeing folks I hadn't seen all week. I took plenty of photos and exchange many more business cards. I had lunch with my boy from Boston (I hadn't seen him in about 2 years) and then went to the 1:30 p.m. panel of Paying it Forward: How to maximize your Internship with several YBJ members on the panel. It was one of the most productive panels that I attended that week. After that a 4:30 p.m. NABJ Sports Task Force Business meeting and then back to the Sheraton. I skipped the Salute to Excellence awards to have dinner with my family at the Metropolitan Club in the Sears Tower.

I got back to the Sheraton at 10:30 p.m. or so and I had just enough time to shower and change for the NABJ Tampa Kickoff Party. I packed my suitcase and had everything ready to go since I was on a 6:40 a.m. flight on Sunday morning. I detest O'Hare International Airport and will only fly on red eyes out of that location. I took a detour to the AAJA party downstairs first and they were giving out free beer for a while...so I stayed and listed to some brave souls go on stage for Karaoke. I got to the Tampa Kickoff Party around Midnight or so and stayed to the end around 2 a.m. I retreated to the cozy confines of my hotel room for a power nap before getting back up at 5 a.m. for the trek to O'Hare. Next to the NABJ Sports Task Force party, the power nap was the best three hours of my whole trip. I shared a $42 cab ride to O'Hare with a woman that was a freelance radio reporter in New York City. She was on standby for a 6 a.m. flight on UNITED...god bless her soul because she had to be at work at 10 a.m. Sunday.

THE FINALE

Overall, it was a good convention both for professional development and personal enjoyment but there were tons of things to scratch your head about but the ultimate downers: the low publicity of the NABJ business meeting, the UNITY press release stating for fact that Barack Obama and John McCain had both agreed to appear a week or so before the convention when neither camp had declared they were coming at that point, Barack Obama did make it on Sunday at 11 a.m. (McCain said no thanks) but that's the getaway day for the majority of the out of towers and that would be a risky proposition to change your flight out of O'Hare on a Sunday just for that and the ever puzzling appearance of the Senegalese president. I never quite got the answers to these lingering questions but alas there is always next year or maybe not. Only time and money...will tell.