william couch

…no one ever said it would be this hard.

On Sunday, I was a wreck. SND Orlando was undoubtedly one of the most amazing experiences of my life (and I say that with a sincerity I’ll explain shortly), but I never thought I’d have such a hard time letting go. Make what you will of this, but I shed a few tears on that day - primarily at the fact that I had to give a long, hard goodbye to some of the most incredible people I’ve ever met; namely Bonita Burton, Stephen Komives, Melissa Angle, Cassie Armstrong, Tracy Collins, Matt Mansfield and the Interns. I’m sure I’ll see all of you sooner or later, but for now, it has been tremendously difficult. And really, all that that says to me is that the Orlando Sentinel put on one hell of an event. They, and SND, literally changed the lives of 10 individuals, and for that, I will be forever grateful.

From the moment I arrived in Orlando, to the moment I left, every detail of the week had been thought out to a T, and if something unexpected occurred, accommodations were made so that we were none the wiser. Moreover, the number of contacts and the amount of networking that happened over the course of one week was utterly unbelievable. From meeting big-wigs like Neil Chase of the New York Times and John Grimwade of Conde Naste Publications to the hilarious Tim Ball of the San Jose Mercury News and Erica Smith of The Times of Northwest Indiana, the people I met were awesome, and I couldn’t be more thrilled about what lies ahead for myself and the rest of the Interns. Joey, Tawanna, Tiffany, Tory and Barbie are going to make waves, Carrie, Billy, Stephanie and Nina are going to have an amazing time at their respective papers, and, already having discussed some plans for next summer with Tracy, I think I’m going to fit right in at the Republic in Phoenix.

Which brings me to an overview of the actual events at SND. My plans to post updates on The Intern progress were curbed when I realized it was in my best interest to not disclose the events and our efforts to encourage participation/attendance at Friday’s lunch. In any case, here’s a rundown of what happened*:

[This is a long, but necessary post, so to make it easier to navigate I've made some 'refers': SUNDAY : MONDAY : TUESDAY : WEDNESDAY : THURSDAY : FRIDAY : SATURDAY : SUNDAY

SUNDAY, AUG 27: After some travel complications, the Interns all met in the hotel lobby at 6pm where we were informed by Bonita that the competition was already down to 9. At first, I thought she was kidding but sure enough Tiffany was not actually there. READ: Bo means business. The 9 of us were introduced to the remaining judges, Matt Mansfield and Tracy Collins, and also met Bonita's minions amazing colleagues, Stephen Komives and Melissa Angle. All of us made our way over to the Sentinel where we, one by one, had an on-camera "confessional" conducted by Tom Burton. One question asked concerned the craziest thing to have happened thus far and considering nothing had really happened yet, I said the fact that they had already eliminated one person. In retrospect, that was embarrassing. Little did I know that Tiff had actually made it to Orlando, and that she was still in fact in the competition, despite some transit issues. Way to scare us Bo.

After the "confessionals" we each had an individual meeting with the judges in the boardroom. They asked quirky questions like, "If you were a cereal, which would you be and why?" and "What is you favorite color or color scheme, and can you give the CMYK values?" My answers? Crispix, because there are two sides to me, one that's more creative and another that's more professional. Matt replies, "So on one side it's corn, so you're corny?" Nice. I knew my colors too, but they change shades with each project I do and after I adjust the CMYK values, I store them in the Swatch palette so I kind of dropped the bomb on the values. Anyway, after each of us finished the interviews we were brought to Steve Cavendish so he could teach us the basics of CCI. The last thing they asked in the interview was whether or not we'd be up for designing a page in CCI, so we had to learn the basics of CCI and fast. After everyone had finished their interview, they came out and asked us how we felt about CCI. With a mixed reaction from us, they reveal that we would actually be designing a page in InDesign instead. Relief; although I would have liked to have given a go at CCI even though it is allegedly the devil.

We were broken up into teams consisting of an editor-in-chief, two designers, a photo editor and a copy editor. In an hour and a half we were to design an A1 page consisting of a budget, the stories and respective photos. On the red team we had Carrie Hoover (EIC), Billy Kulpa and Nina Mehta (designers), Tawanna Sikes (Photo Editor) and William Couch (Copy Editor), and on the blue team in respective positions, Joey Kirk, Stephanie Giugou, Tory Hargro, Tiffany Schwarz, and Barbie DeSoto. When all was said and done we got a very useful critique of each team's page. Afterwards, we returned to the hotel. Some settled in for the night while others took a(n outrageous $15) cab to a Walmart five minutes away. Joey's luggage had gotten lost in the airlines so he needed some basics and we wanted water and breakfast food to spare the ridiculous hotel prices. We got home later, and everyone headed to bed. I bummed around, posted to this blog and just as I'm headed to bed at 4am, both Joey's (my roommate) and my phone rings. Are you kidding me? It's Stephen Komives informing us that Osama bin Laden has been captured and that we have to come downstairs and redesign the A1 page we did earlier. I threw my clothes on and headed to the lobby. No one else was down there yet but Bo, Matt, Tracy, Stephen, and Melissa were all dressed up and ready to go. They told us that we had to assemble our teams immediately. And so began the race - through the halls, up the elevators and on the phones - and it came down to one last person for each team and when Tawanna arrived in the lobby, the red team had won. Tiff showed up shortly thereafter. Bo then informed us that the red team would be given a 15 minute head start. We bolted in the Boston room and got to work, taking heed the advice offered to us earlier. In the end each team fared well and by 6am we were all finally back in our rooms, sound asleep, for good.

SUNDAY : MONDAY : TUESDAY : WEDNESDAY : THURSDAY : FRIDAY : SATURDAY : SUNDAY

MONDAY, AUG 28: We met in the lobby at 1pm with Bo, Cassie and Stephen at which point our "hot, sweaty, long challenge" was revealed: a visual scavenger hunt in Disneyworld. How cool is that? Given a 27-exposure disposable Kodak camera, a list of adjectives and a one-day pass to the Happiest Place on Earth, we were off for an 8 hour day in the Magic Kingdom.

It was on this day that the Interns really bonded. Going off on your own for 3 hours to explicitly "people-watch" was also easier said then done. But in the end, we all filled our rolls and got more than a few rides in on Space Mountain.

SUNDAY : MONDAY : TUESDAY : WEDNESDAY : THURSDAY : FRIDAY : SATURDAY : SUNDAY

TUESDAY, AUG 29: Today, in pairs of 2, we completed Monday's event. Our photos had been developed overnight and burned to a CD so that we could layout a photo essay page, in one hour. Starting at noon, each team went in to layout their pages. The trick? When it came time to layout our photos, they tell us that we would be working with our teammate's photos instead, because how often do you get to work with photography you shot when designing a page? This was the true test - how well can you work with what you have? Offering art direction as well, Bo, Stephen and Melissa offered their thoughts, and this was the second trick to the event - how well can you take creative direction? By 5 o'clock, everyone had gone and 10 "My Day at Disney" pages were made. The video overview shown at Friday's lunch flashed them briefly. Around 6 o'clock that night then, we headed over to Bonita's home to have a BBQ and do a little swimming.

And we got to meet the adorable Bailey Burton.

Tim Harrower also joined us and at that point, and we got to see each other's final poster ad campaign. Between you and I, us 10 have some real talent. ;)

SUNDAY : MONDAY : TUESDAY : WEDNESDAY : THURSDAY : FRIDAY : SATURDAY : SUNDAY

WEDNESDAY, AUG 30: The Interns were pretty lax throughout the day. Threats of Hurricane Ernesto meant sleeping in, lounging around, and swimming (when it wasn't raining).

Exciting eh? The Intern's got nerdy that night though, as 6 laptops converged in Joey and I's room to ride on someone else's free WiFi and we had an almost shameful VizEds forum chat convo with Charles Apple and others. I mean come on we were all chatting with each other in the same room, arguing about type and watching stupid-funny YouTube videos. It wasn't until Ashley Dinges informed us that some SND folks had arrived that we herded down to the lobby to meet-and-greet(-and-apparently-get-smashed) in what would be the first schmoozing night of many. There I met Kris Viesselman of National Geographic, Nicole Dudka, Kirstin Lenz of the Hartford Courant and finally, Martin Gee, of the Merc in person. Oh, and could anyone else tell Denise Reagan's a great partier?

After much socializing, somewhere around the likes of 3am, we found our way to bed.

SUNDAY : MONDAY : TUESDAY : WEDNESDAY : THURSDAY : FRIDAY : SATURDAY : SUNDAY

THURSDAY, AUG 31: The convention kicked off and the Interns started to campaign. Beginning early with registration help, some helped issue convention schwag and name tags while others had a more leisurely morning. At noon, Martin Gee's session began and man, what a session.

Delving into his design background along with several great ways to garner inspiration, the student session was undoubtedly a hit. Following it, Nicole Bogdas, Nicole Dudka and Kristin Lenz offered some great tips followed by an informative Q&A on getting a design job. Afterwards, a number of hotshots bestowed their wisdom on us, young padawans, by means of portfolio critiques. Bonita's critique alone of my portfolio gave me enough inspiration and perseverance to go buck wild this next year on improving my skills. Additionally during this session, Sara Quinn and Kenny Irby of the Poynter Institute interviewed 9 applicant finalists for 3 Poynter Fellowships for next summer.

In the evening, the Opening Reception including some Business Card Bingo went down. There's nothing like schmoozing with a bunch of industry professionals.

Too bad I was so overcome by meeting people, that I didn't even cash in on half of my drink tickets. It seemed like a waste, but following this was Casino night and there, the night lightened up a bit.

Blackjack, Texas Hold-Em, and raffle tickets galore, I met even more people, including some designers from the New York Times. My two measely raffle tickets proved worthless, but at least a student won the slick, black MacBook. And as if it were any surprise, when Casino Night wrapped up, everyone moved on over to Champion Sports Bar in the hotel. And count on Robb Montgomery to be drinking mojitos, strumming guitar and singing "Mrs. Robinson" alongside some of SND's foreign friends in the lobby in the interim.

SUNDAY : MONDAY : TUESDAY : WEDNESDAY : THURSDAY : FRIDAY : SATURDAY : SUNDAY

FRIDAY, SEPT 1: Friday saw the convention get into full swing. It began with the Opening Breakfast and General Session with a keynote presentation by Robin Sloan and Matt Thompson presenting their film, Epic 2015, wherein a future is presented where Google and the New York Times fight it to the grim end.

Sadly, there was substantial truth in their harrowing film. Afterwards, sessions went underway, but not for too long. But a few hours later was the Business Luncheon where Bill Gaspard presented a lengthy presentation on the revised SND Code of Ethics. Afterwards, the four winners of the Poynter Fellowships were announced: Joey Kirk, Billy Kulpa, Tory Hargro and Erin Cubert (yes, 3 of those were Interns, but the judges swear they didn't know when choosing for the interviews). Then came the big moment: the final 5 in the Intern competition were announced. Nina Mehta, Stephanie Giugou, Carrie Hoover, William Couch, Billy Kulpa were the ones to advance to the final round.

The audience then had the chance to vote for their top 3 choices, their only choice three times, or something in between. From what I heard, voter turnout was quite high...

After lunch, presentations continued until 6pm, including the must-see "Stuff Your Editors Will Hate: The Sequel" by Harris Siegel, of Asbury Park Press. I actually spent the majority of the afternoon perusing the boothes and talking with people who were moving in and out of presentations. As this was the first time I'd ever been to an SND conference, I wanted to monopolize on networking - there were so many people to meet, and it was literally networking nirvana.

That evening, Carrie Hoover, Nina Mehta, Ashley Dinges, Bridget O'Donnel, Martin Gee, Stephanie Grace-Lim and myself were going to head to dinner, but as it would turn out, the entire San Jose Mercury News crew had one giant, swanky feast at Ristoranté Tuscany in the hotel, so naturally, we joined them. Afterwards, with Martin's newly raffle-acquired Pleasure Island tickets, the aforemenitoned crew hit up the Disney-for-adults. After realizing how much of a scam it was, we settled into the patio bar at the House of Blues. That's not to say however, that we didn't go wild in the Pop! art store, toy around with the House of Blues sign, an insignia of Martin's old employer, or just engage in general debauchery.

And again, count on SND folk to be at the bar, because we found about half of SND at the House of Blues bar. Schmoozing and socializing ensued, and yet again when we returned to the hotel for a regathering in the lounge, where an emergency stock of Miller Light magically appeared...

Had Stephen called at 4am this night/morning, I still would've been awake, but probably not in a state to design a "bin Laden's been captured" page.

SUNDAY : MONDAY : TUESDAY : WEDNESDAY : THURSDAY : FRIDAY : SATURDAY : SUNDAY

SATURDAY, SEPT 2: Aww, this was the last day. I woke up way late, something to the tune of 11:30am, completely and regretably missing presentations by Denise Reagan, Mark Friesen, Sara Quinn and Charles Apple. Nonetheless, I hustled to get to the Visual Editors luncheon at the Champion Sports bar. Online personas took physical form, massive amounts of music were swapped, and there were some sweet, free Font Bereau shirts to boot.

I then headed over to the New York Times' Neil Chase's "When Pica Met Pixel: Web Redesign & Integration" session and that was easily the best session I saw (not that I made it to many, but his insight was ever intriguing and spot-on).

I meandered some more afterwards, and then headed over to Stephanie Grace-Lim's fantastic, energy-packed session where some of the coordinators and presenters played as "contestants."

All in all, workshop-wise the day was quite successful. Now was the time to get down to business. I quickly hurried upstairs to change into my penguin suit tuxedo and do some packing. The top 5 interns had to meet at the ballroom ahead of time to get a rundown of how Tim Harrower's Design Bowl would be going down.

Shortly thereafter, the ballroom opened to everyone and everyone wined and dined. As dinner came to an end, the Interns took the stage.

The top 5 stepped forth as they broke down the results of the week, and then they called out the top 3, in order of the audience's vote, to take their respective podiums. I was flattered when I was the first one called (thank you everyone for your votes).

Following were Billy Kulpa and Carrie Hoover respectively.

Then the "Newsers and Losers" Design Bowl took place. By the time Carrie reached 10 points, Billy had gotten 7 and I had gotten 5. I have to say, I thought I put up a good fight, considering I come from a school with no journalism program and I personally have a trenchant disdain for history. And I couldn't be a prouder typography nerd for having answered the Avant Garde question (yes, I knew it was Avant Garde despite the fact that that was also the name of the publication in which it was first used). Moreover, had I been quizzed on grid layouts, web design, or more typography, I might've cleaned house. That said, Carrie and Billy did fine jobs, and earned the ability to claim 1st and 2nd choice at the San Jose Mercury News and The Orlando Sentinel respectively. I couldn't be more excited about working for the Arizona Republic in Phoenix though, and wait until you see what Tracy Collins has lined up for me...all I can say is that keep your eyes peeled on the Republic's horizon...it's going to be beautiful.

After the dinner concluded, the Interns and other big-wigs made their way to the exclusive President's Reception (with open bar!) where we mingled more, and people reminisced on the events of the past few days, and for the Interns and their coordinators, the entire week.

And yet again, following the after party, came the second after-party in the hotel lounge, and then came the after-after-after party in Cassie's suite.

There I met John Grimwade of Conde Naste Publications, a design demigod. For the last time (at least for this year), schmoozing and socializing ensued until the wee morning hours.

SUNDAY : MONDAY : TUESDAY : WEDNESDAY : THURSDAY : FRIDAY : SATURDAY : SUNDAY

SUNDAY, SEPT 3: Having slept for but an hour, I got ready to head out and went to the lobby to meet Tim Harrower for my ride to the airport. Except he never showed (it's OK Tim, I forgive you). To make a long story short, I thank the fellows from The Times-Picayune for sharing their cab ride to the airport with me. But the fun didn't end there. All of that SND schwag put my luggage 14 pounds over the weight limit, and then they had to confiscate my camera sensor cleaning fluid that they somehow missed on the way down. Needless to say, with little sleep, several hard goodbyes and an uneasy ride home, Sunday was tremendously difficult.

SUNDAY : MONDAY : TUESDAY : WEDNESDAY : THURSDAY : FRIDAY : SATURDAY : SUNDAY

And now I have come full circle. This post as my evidence, SND Orlando was amazing, and so was everyone I met. I won't forget any of you (and I hope you won't forget me!) and a day hasn't gone by that I wish I could be seeing this sight again.

*[So, halfway through writing this (this has been 4 days in the working), I saw Nina posted a similar entry. I swear, we're not trying to copy each others' blog posts. Also, the photos shown above are highlights from my SND Orlando set, and include some from the global sndorlando Flickr tag.]