Tweet to Montreal

When you grow up in the middle of nowhere you spend a lot of time in the car. License plate bingo becomes a near religion and you become immune to becoming car sick from reading in the backseat.

The kids I was really jealous of on those long trips? The Brady Bunch.

Think about it. They would pile into the station wagon, the car would back up all of three feet and then the screen would flip and...voila. They were at the Grand Canyon.

The real world version of the screen flip has not been worked out yet, but NLGJA's new contest gives you a chance to Twitter your way to Montreal.

From now until midnight EST on August 5 send your top reason to go to NLGJA's 2009 National Convention & 6th Annual LGBT Media Summit by tweeting a reply from your account to @nlgja.org.

Full details on what to do and how to do it and all the rules and rundown can be found here.

Check out the rules and tweet your best answer.

C'mon. Make Alice proud.

We promised trivia...

Last post...I promised you trivia.

Well here it is.

Did you know that Rocketman William Shatner was born in Montreal?

To reward you for making through a Monday check out a bit of Americana below.

The good times start rolling at :34.

(Though the really good times will be rolling September 10- 13 in Montreal at the 2009 National Convention & 6th Annual LGBT Media Summit...don't miss out!)

Words (Still) Matter

By choosing to be a member of NLGJA you're making a statement about the kind of journalists or media professional you are.

You care about getting things right.

You care about writing and producing and pitching stories that are fair and accurate and give folks information they need to make decisions, to understand their world and the world as it might be seen by others.

When those brave few who take on programming the National Convention & LGBT Media Summit plan our breakouts and plenary sessions they keep those ideas in mind.

Which is the "why" behind one of the newest sessions in our program lineup.

On Saturday, September 12 at 2:15PM we will present "Stigma and the Media: A Journalist's Guide to Accurately Reporting on Mental Health." Join a panel of experts as they discuss the facts, the myths and the vocabulary of writing about mental health.

A full description - along with descriptions of all the panels, plenaries and training sessions we'll be offering in Montreal - can be found on the schedule page.

And there's more to come...

(Yes, we know. This was a very serious post. We'll break out the trivia a bit later.)

Aaaaaaaaaah!!! Early Bird is over!!! What have I done!!!

Psssst.

C'mere.

[eyes left...eyes right]

So I hear you missed the Early Bird registration deadline.

I have a little tip for you.

Shhh. Shhh. Not so loud. Keep it down. Sheesh.

You know that poster that you got in the mail? The one we mentioned a couple posts ago?

Check and see if your newsroom got a copy. It might be that that copy they got had a letter. With a code. That may or may not give you a registration discount.

But you didn't hear it from me.

Getting Feist-y

OneTwoThreeFour...Regist'ring will cost you more.

See what we did there? Just then?

Like the Feist song?

Because she's Canadian...and we just thought...

Okay. Fine.

But maybe putting that song in your head will remind you to register for NLGJA's 2009 National Convention & 6th Annual LGBT Media Summit by Friday, July 17th.

Because in four days? Early Bird registration is scheduled to close...so in just four days "regist'ring will cost you more."

We still think it's kind of cute.

But not as cute as this:



What? Too much?

Don't keep it to yourself!

So...if you sorted down through the shopping circulars and Chinese food delivery menus, you might have gotten a little something in the mail from NLGJA this week.

A little token of our affection.

A little benefaction.

A...a...well...a poster.

That we're hoping that you'll post.

(That image...that's what we in the biz call "a detail." If all you got was that it could be that your dog got to the poster before you. Or, depending, your cat. Suffice it to say...there's a lot more poster that you didn't get. And no, I don't know what "biz" it is I'm talking about.)

So spread the word, share the wealth. Post our poster.

All the cool kids are doing it.

(Don't) Hang in There, Baby.

Today is Tuesday, July 14.

Tomorrow is Wednesday, July 15.

Day after that? July 16.

And then it will be Friday. Friday, July 17. Which is the day we will pull the plug on Early Bird registration.

The last day of Early Bird registration.

Sure it seems a long way off right now...but it's going to be here before you know it.

So why not register today and then you can spend the next few days planning that Friday Happy Hour.