My thoughts on BCNI (and Philadelphia)

This started out as a post about BarCamp NewsInnovation.

But then C.W. Anderson helped me realize that BCNI Philly, the event I helped organize at Temple last Saturday, was just a (very) small piece of an evolving Philadelphia puzzle. Last week, after months of investigation, J-Lab released its recommendations to the William Penn Foundation. Then, shortly after BCNI, the local owners of the Philadelphia Inquirer lost their bid to keep ownership of the newspaper, surrendering to the lenders.

It’s a new era in Philadelphia.

Anybody that knows me know I’m annoyingly biased towards Philadelphia. But there is a reason I love this city so much. Professionally, I believe no other city offers a better chance to help shape the future of media and the events of the last week have deepened my resolve to be a part of the conversation (which might mean – ahem – blogging more) and find a place where I can have the most immediate impact.

Which brings up back to BCNI. I was extremely happy to hear the feedback from attendees. Most said it was unlike other conferences and that it was good to be surrounded by passion and optimism. Jack Lail even called us “edgelings“. Much like Philadelphia will be a leading indicator about the future of metropolitan media ecosystems, BCNI was meant to be a starting point for bold ideas, presentations and projects. I think we’re on our way, but I think BCNI can be much bigger and more influential.

We’re only in year two, but I’m excited to see where we can take BCNI (and Philadelphia) in the future.

See you next year.

Oh, and if you want a more nuts and bolts recap of the event, head on over to bcniphilly.com.