FEB 4, 2014 ROTARY IN REVIEW:
Dirk DeYoung

JIM FIELD and DOUG HARTFORD supported everyone in America the Beautiful, and KEN PETERSON provided an invocation and reminder of the underlying message of love provided by St. Valentine.  Six guests were introduced, four of whom were prospective members or pending members!

President Jim gave an update on Sherry’s pending move (with our Rotary office) to the Chamber of Commerce offices – back on the skyways.  He thanked SHELLY RUCKS for greeting, and upcoming programs were promoted.

STEVE GERBER gave an update on Camp RYLA, and encouraged everyone to join in on the planning meetings – send him your availability or suggestions at mnryla@gmail.com 

DOUG HARTFORD promoted the upcoming joint luncheon with the downtown Minneapolis Rotary club – 50^th floor of the IDS building – on February 21 (no St. Paul luncheon that week.)

LARRY MORGAN introduced new member STEVE HANSON, of Compudyne.  He joins the small list of Rotarians who have less than a block to walk to Rotary!  Steve's brother Paul (pictured on the left with Steve and Larry, is a former member of our club.

Happy Dollars brought in a pretty good haul – celebrations and humor – we learned that our Exchange Student from Colombia earned an A in English and a B in Spanish last semester!

Finally, MICK WHITE and MINDEE KASTELIC took the podium to issue a challenge:  for the next several weeks, the two of them have challenged the 175 of us to a new member recruiting duel.  They allege that they will recruit more new members than the rest of us combined!  (If we dare to be adequate, we can probably win this one.)

JAY PFAENDER introduced the program and speaker.  DIRK DeYOUNG is the editor of the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal where he has held three different staff roles since 1995.  The Journal is familiar to most of us as a weekly newspaper, but it is also online and many receive their editions by email – including topical email newsletters twice a day.

The Journal is part of a national organization, with sister papers in 40 other metros.  A few more are web-based only.  The parent company is American City Business Journals, but all decisions are made locally by all of the various branches.  There is no single source of national news content, and not much is featured.

Some of the reporters, however, are featured in other local mediums, like radio or TV.  The Journal takes great pride in investigative reporting and breaking news stories.  Dirk spoke about social media as an active source of breaking news, and popular daily broadcasts, such as Twitter.

The Journal’s “lists of …” are very popular, and have been for years.  They are often a gateway to deeper news coverage of various business segments.  The Journal often looks for emerging trends in workforce readiness, workplace benefits, and more.  Industry outlooks and forecasts are also big.

The Journal holds several large community events each year – 500 will attend the Executive of the Year event this week.  These are a significant part of the Journal’s business model, with sponsors providing income.  Print advertising is still the bulk of revenue, but there is plenty of digital advertising too.

Insights into 2014 construction, workplace issues, technology risks and trends rounded out the presentation – true to form for the Journal’s niche and brand!

John Andrews, Scribe