Aug. 12, 2009 — Board Room, San Mateo Daily Journal. The meeting was called to order at 6:40 p.m.

Present: Jon Mays, Micki Carter, Marshall Wilson, Peter Cleaveland, Melissa McRobbie, Dave Price, Jack Russell and Ed Remitz
Absent: Jamie Casini and Darryl Compton
Guests: Bruce Balshone and Barry Farr

Minutes of June were approved as read.

Treasurer’s Report was accepted.

Blogging Discussion

Bruce Balshone of Examiner.com and Barry Parr of Coastsider.com had been invited to discuss ways that the Press Club could reach out to, and provide services for, bloggers. Balshone suggested a contest category such as community blogging. Farr said there are a dozen sites in the Bay Area which do the kind of intensely local reporting that he does on the Coastside. He describes himself as an evangelist for a “new kind of journalism. I don’t print something I can’t verify. I have a point of view.” He mentioned Paul Grabowitz at UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism as a point-person in this field. Farr agreed to do a session for the high school boot camp. Balshone suggested Twitter as a great resource to “disseminate what I write.” Balshone’s email is pacificresources@gmail.com. Farr’s is barry@farr.com.

Town Hall Meeting

Marshall reported that enthusiasm for a town hall meeting on high-speed rail had flagged, and the board decided to try again next year.

High School Boot Camp

Ed Remitz said he had secured all the rooms we used last year at CSM, with the exception of the teachers’ lounge. We still need a large room for the gathering and the speaker, who will be Jim Wagstaffe again. Micki said she hadn’t had much response from the schools because of the summer recess. Richard Epting of ABC Channel 7 will do a workshop on video editing as well as provide tours of the satellite truck. More information will be shared by email. Dave asked Marshall if PenTV would be interested in videotaping the sessions which he would post on our Web site. Marshall will check.

Professional Development Workshop

Marshall will put together a working lunch from noon to 2 p.m. at the County Center on how to read a (school, city, county) budget and where the agencies get their money. The date will be a Wednesday in October. It will be free this time; future events will require membership. Students will be welcome.

Summer Picnic

Sept. 13 from 2-4 p.m. at the home of Micki Carter and Mike Venturino. Marshall mentioned that he had invited the editor of El Mensajero to the picnic.

Meeting was adjourned at 7:40 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Micki Carter
Secretary