Lifetime Achievement Award

In the acceptance speech for his Lifetime Achievement Award,
Vernon Henry considers what makes a good journalist.

Vernon Henry

Wow.

Lifetime Achievement. Now that's a little scary. No, that's a lot scary.

It sounds like your career is all but over, that I'm on my way to geezerville. Now, I know I can't go to my left anymore. And I can't hit the long ball. And that blinding speed is considerably slower—okay, it's gone. Maybe most of that stuff was between my ears anyway.

But this ASBPE award is, indeed a tremendous honor. You flatter me, and humble me. It's also a time to reflect on and replay in my mind my career. And, believe me, that experience can be scary as well.

I guess the best way to start is with a story.

Many years ago I was giving a talk at Bowling Green State University. It was a part of a Communications Week program. You know, alum returns to talk about the real world. There had been a lot of hoopla around campus, a newsletter mailing and signs all over announcing the event. Big deal.

I was to talk about the opportunities in the trade press to a large group of students.

Mine was a pretty standard talk. You know, you know your audience … you quickly become an expert in your industry. And on a lot of books there's considerable travel. Most everyone in the room was furiously taking notes. I was on a roll. I was in a zone.

But a student in the back of the room caught my eye. He wasn't sitting with the rest of the group. He was a big kid wearing bib overalls. He didn't take a note, just sat and listened.

When I finished, students came up and asked questions as they leafed through the variety of magazines I had brought. From the hotel publication to the health magazines, to the construction books to a magazine on women's lingerie. And whenever I'm on campus, students always ask about jobs and internships.

The student in the bib overalls remained seated and waited patiently. By this time my curiosity was driving me crazy. Finally, after everyone else had left he came up. He was a little shy. He told me he wasn't in journalism or even in the School of Communication.

It seems that when he saw the announcement of my talk he called his mom who lived in a small community east of Cleveland, an area served by the newspaper group I had worked for in my other life, for nearly a quarter of a century.

His mom used to clip my columns and stick them on the refrigerator door.

In addition to doing the editorials everyday, I used to do personalized, slice-of-life columns. His mom, he said, would read them, sometimes aloud to the family. He remembered things from the columns I had long forgotten.

The main reason he came to school at BG, according to him, was because of my columns. I blushed. I didn't know what to say.

Never in my professional life has any one thing had such an impact on me.

Knowing that the ideas and thoughts I put on paper really meant something to someone, other than all of those people who use and manipulate us to get an item into a publication. The lesson here, know the people in readerville.

The real reader of your publication. Not just the nice words and stroking you get from the gladhanders and flacks.

That's probably the best advice I can give. Know your reader. Know your readers' information needs.

Advice to editors

Write short—get to the point quickly. Present the story in such a way that it's easy for the reader to digest. Learn to write short. Answer the question, what happened and what does it mean?

In that we don't operate in a vacuum, it is also important to know what the competition is doing. Not to be scared, just aware. Editors have to:

• Know the topics the competition covers.
• Know their favorite coverline words.
• Know what they're doing on-line.

Creating an editorial environment

• Remember when we start, the pages are empty. Editors give them value.
• Know the key issues in your market—the issues that keep your readers awake at night.
• How do you cover these issues?
• How do the competitors cover these issues?

Coaching

As the demands for relevant, useful and meaningful information increase—editors will have to do more coaching of their staff both in print and online.

I remember way, way back to my high school days. I was at a summer sports camp conducted by Woody Hayes, the legendary coach from Ohio State. I was a lineman on an undefeated team and thought I was pretty hot stuff.

We were doing a drill where I had pull and block. Unfortunately, the runner kept getting to the hole before I did.

After three plays Woody came over, took his clipboard and tapped me on the side of my helmet, and then he walked me through the move five times, quietly and clearly explaining the drop, step, and crunch move. I will never forget that moment. I never missed that block again and to this day could probably still run it. Coaching of staff is crucial. After that I interviewed Woody many times. We laughed about the incident.

One of the things that Woody impressed on me was never forget you win with people. Listen to your staff. Respect your staff. Play to their strengths.

When you're coaching writers you need to find the best impact quote they've got. The quote that puts the story into perspective and clearly spells out it's significance to readers.

What happened?

What's it mean?

How do you spot good talent?

Obviously, the writing, reporting and editing—and what I call natural curiosity—are key.

But even more important—how well does the person blend with the existing staff? What energy and enthusiasm do they bring to the team?

Looking ahead

• Editors will have to be more involved in building the business.
• Editors will have to initiate and manage brand extensions, including the web.
• Editors will have to be more design conscious.
• Editors will have to work in partnership with sales to be knowledgeable about how they can help advertisers, without compromising editorial integrity.

I've been lucky over the years to have been afforded many opportunities and support at Advanstar. I've been fortunate to have won quite a few awards along the way. And this honor tonight is very special to me and my family (Patricia, Chad). But the woman who saved my columns on the refrigerator door and all the young people I've had an opportunity to work with and help along the way—that's what it's all about. The reader and your team.

This award, hopefully is the result of that pursuit.

Thanks again for this honor.