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Leaders from Outdoor Writer Associations To Meet in October to Discuss Common Needs, Issues
8/13/08
Scottsdale, Arizona - Leaders from state, regional and national outdoor writer associations will meet in Kansas City in October to discuss mutual needs and issues facing their memberships.
The weekend meeting, October 10-12, is called the Outdoor Writers Summit and is the brainchild of Mike Walker of the Walker Agency, whose clients come from outdoor recreation and related industries. He has served on association boards and as an officer of several associations and that experience prompted him to organize this meeting. He is currently third vice president of the Outdoor Writers Association of America and secretary of the Outdoor Journalism Education Foundation of America.
"From the largest group to the smallest," said Walker, "they all face similar issues, increased costs in operation and conferences, aging membership, recruiting, and member education and benefits. And this can be daunting when you feel like you're all on your own with problems to solve.
"I thought that getting association leaders together for a meeting would be a good idea and that they might be able to help each other with various solutions." Walker said that 12 have committed to attend the Kansas City meeting so far.
He also said that a meeting idea he is promoting is to have what he calls a Super Conference where members of all 16 of the outdoor writer associations would meet in one place at the same time instead of having their annual meetings at different times and places during the year.
Walker said, "The Super Conference idea isn't intended to replace the groups' annual conferences, but to hold one every 4 or 5 years. The economy of scale and the quality of seminars and newsmakers would be improved.
"The Outdoor Writers Summit in Kansas City is not an invitation-only event and anyone with an interest is welcome to attend."
There is no registration fee but meeting space is limited. Anyone interested should contact Walker by email at mike@walkeragency.com or call him at (480) 483-0185.
Media Contact:
Mike Walker (480) 483-0185 or mike@walkeragency.com
8/13/08
Scottsdale, Arizona - Leaders from state, regional and national outdoor writer associations will meet in Kansas City in October to discuss mutual needs and issues facing their memberships.
The weekend meeting, October 10-12, is called the Outdoor Writers Summit and is the brainchild of Mike Walker of the Walker Agency, whose clients come from outdoor recreation and related industries. He has served on association boards and as an officer of several associations and that experience prompted him to organize this meeting. He is currently third vice president of the Outdoor Writers Association of America and secretary of the Outdoor Journalism Education Foundation of America.
"From the largest group to the smallest," said Walker, "they all face similar issues, increased costs in operation and conferences, aging membership, recruiting, and member education and benefits. And this can be daunting when you feel like you're all on your own with problems to solve.
"I thought that getting association leaders together for a meeting would be a good idea and that they might be able to help each other with various solutions." Walker said that 12 have committed to attend the Kansas City meeting so far.
He also said that a meeting idea he is promoting is to have what he calls a Super Conference where members of all 16 of the outdoor writer associations would meet in one place at the same time instead of having their annual meetings at different times and places during the year.
Walker said, "The Super Conference idea isn't intended to replace the groups' annual conferences, but to hold one every 4 or 5 years. The economy of scale and the quality of seminars and newsmakers would be improved.
"The Outdoor Writers Summit in Kansas City is not an invitation-only event and anyone with an interest is welcome to attend."
There is no registration fee but meeting space is limited. Anyone interested should contact Walker by email at mike@walkeragency.com or call him at (480) 483-0185.
Media Contact:
Mike Walker (480) 483-0185 or mike@walkeragency.com
