Ventura California, Day Three

For the love of Pete.

Yesterday, the first full day of the conference I’m out here attending, we had a stellar line-up of high-wattage speakers. And I chose to post a picture of a surfing dog. Well, no one’s ever accused me of having the most acute decision-making skills when it comes to this sort of thing. But gosh-darn it, he was just so darn cute…

What a day of speakers and panellists yesterday! We had industry leaders talk about the changes in the newspaper industry, we got tips and tricks to stay relevant in the ever-changing newspaper landscape, and we heard from three completely different superstars – and if all that weren’t enough to knock your socks off, Mrs. That Dan Guy and I shared our dinner table with Heloise, the impossibly charming and popular writer of the syndicated “Hints From Heloise” columns. If I could have had a peanut butter sandwich along with all that, I would have had to pinch myself to see if I was dreaming!

The first keynote speaker of the day was Steve Lopez, whose name may be familiar if you’ve already seen the movie based on his bestselling book (inspired by columns he wrote) “The Soloist”. We’ve seen the movie, just starting the book now. All the extra background details were simply amazing – what an experience that random act of creative investigative journalism has been for him.

Later, humorist W. Bruce Cameron of the two “8 Simple Rules” books, and “How To Remodel A Man’ talked about adapting work (and the inherent risks involved) for TV & film. He was gracious enough to spend some time with me after his presentation for an interview, which will be an upcoming column, and (once I edit my stammering out) an audio feature. One funny dude…which seems like appropriate lingo here by the ocean, man…

Finally, Jeffrey Zaslow, closed the day out with the details of how he came to co-author “The Last Lecture” with Professor Randy Pausch, which along with his original column and the broadcast of said lecture have become a world-wide success. Pretty inspiring stuff for a guy who still cheers whenever he doesn’t burn his toast in the morning.

And, there’s more all day today.

Chow. For now…