This past weekend I took part in the Chips Quinn orientation in Nashville, Tennessee. It was, without a doubt, one of the more inspiring journalism events that I have been to. Being around fellow students, all of whom are passionate about journalism was refreshing and reinvigorating.

In participating in the workshops throughout the four-day weekend, I gained a greater understanding of the process that writers go through and what they consider while working on a story.

I have been to a few photojournalism conferences that had a focus on multimedia, and it was interesting hearing about the subject through a writer’s perspective. It was exciting to hear, one after another, almost all of the writers expressing an interest in learning more about multimedia presentations and delivering content on the Internet. Many also expressed an interest or at least a willingness to learn how to shoot and edit audio and video.

Though there were forty-five of us, by the fourth day it definitely felt like a small family. Everyone knew everyone else, conversations about journalism sparked up out of nowhere, as did a sing-along while on the bus from the Wild Horse Saloon back to the hotel.