In early 1991 John Oppedahl, The Arizona Republic’s managing editor, nominated me to attend the American Press Institute seminar for Managing Editors [newspapers over 77,000 circulation] in Reston, VA.   That seminar did two things: 1. Strengthened some of my leadership skills and confidence and 2. Created some life-long friends.

Like most API [and Poynter] seminars there was lots of “homework” and instructions ranging from accommodations to laundry.  From the acceptance letter:

So your nominee may arrive thoroughly prepared, and for your newspaper to derive maximum benefit for the outlay of training dollars, may I respectfully suggest a day be set aside from regular duties so homework assignments can be completed.

Before members return home, I urge them to sift through the many materials collected while at Reston, with a view to conducting a mini-seminar for fellow staffers so the entire department many benefit from their API experience. I hope you’ll consider giving the process a try, assuming you don’t already have it in place.

Of course, I don’t remember getting too much time off from regular duties but it didn’t really matter.  It was fun and always best to be prepared.