Hey, that’s us on the big screen!

The good folks running the Journalism School at the American Legion Boys State of Missouri, on learning that I was a blogger covering the speakers invited to address their participants, asked me if I would talk about blogging for those in the Journalism School. I was happy to do so and spoke at length yesterday with a group of about 60 students and again today in a shorter session of about twenty minutes for approximately 200 students.

This afternoon we had a laptop which was connected to the projection system, so I was able to show the students our site. I gave them a brief overview of who we are and what we do. Then I gave them some advice:

Show Me Progress – lessons learned while covering politics

1. All you really have is your reputation.

2. Charge or replace your batteries before every event [Uh, let me explain those 30 seconds of Mike Huckabee’s speech that I didn’t actually record].

3. Be self reliant. Have a “Plan B” – a “Mark 1” pencil and notepad.

4. Never pass up an opportunity to eat or use the rest room. You never know how long it’ll be to your next opportunity.

5. If it’s too good to be true it probably isn’t. Confirm, confirm, confirm.

6. Experience will teach you many lessons. Pay attention to them (otherwise you’ll learn them again and again).

7. You can’t waste film with a digital camera. Keep shooting.

8. People will talk to you if you ask them. Remember, they can say. “No.”

9. You may not have been born as a beast of burden, but if you cover political events, you’re gonna feel like one.

10. In a discussion of language (hat tip to Blue Girl): “If you can’t use profanity to describe an obscenity, then when the [blank] can you use it?”

11. Half the battle is in actually showing up. A good chunk of the remaining is in showing up early. Location, location, location. Scout the terrain.

We ran out of time (I did take a few questions). To that list I would add: “Do your homework.”