I have found in recent years that conventions are both inspiring and maddening.

Conventions no doubt serve their purpose well – they offer continuing education in whatever field you’re in, they motivate you to go back home and do more and, if you’re fortunate, they may even recognize you with a few rewards from your peers.

On the other hand, sometimes the workshops or “breakout sessions” appear to have swooped in from left field and you’re sitting there wondering – Why in the world did I pick this one to attend? What does this have to do with anything I’m working on? Did they really give that speaker a free hotel stay for the weekend?

If you stay focused long enough at a convention, you can usually take away a few ideas to be applied back in the office or with your organization.

However, conventions also tend to attract like-minded folks who love those sorts of things – networking, grand-standing, boasting about their own groups and accomplishments, feasting away at the all-you-can-eat salad bar.

If you’re an introvert trying to look inconspicuous over in the corner, however, conventions aren’t necessarily your cup of tea.

You can see what others are doing and observe the trends in your industry or organization. You can hold yourself up to that glaring light of self-examination and come away motivated – or walk away with your head hanging just a bit.

Comparing yourself to others is healthy at a certain level, but as with life, the tendency is usually the same – there will always be others doing better than you in certain areas and maybe not so well in others.

No doubt earning a “first place” over an honorable mention can be interpreted as “we’re the best,” but typically there is always room for some improvement regardless of the accolades.

One major thing I came home with from the National Newspaper Association’s annual convention this past weekend was this concept – always try to find a way to say “yes.”

I can’t always say yes to every request that comes into my inbox or my voice mail, but as a community paper we’re often in a position to say “yes” more often than a typical metro daily, for example.

We can’t run every picture we take and we can’t publish every press release we receive, but I think we do a commendable job in trying to figure out a way to accommodate most everyone’s request.

Things like vacation pictures, school awards and the results of some rather feisty duplicate bridge sessions run in our paper all the time.

An attitude of at least trying to say yes – exploring ways of maybe running something – helps create community and it helps build a loyal readership.

As the incoming NNA president said – names and faces, names and faces, names and faces. That’s what people expect in a community paper.

And if you attend an exciting convention and win some big award, send me a picture.

We’ll find a spot for it somewhere in the paper.