Inside the National Press Club

For those of you who have never had a chance to attend a press conference at the venerable National Press Club in Washington D.C., it's a venue that provides rooms for press events (for a fee) and is where most organizations hold press conferences.

The Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative held its press conference there today to release a report on spending by local governments on the Great Lakes.

This morning's event was attended physically by a handful of reporters, but 15 reporters also attended by conference call. This is a good turnout for this type of event.

Reporter interest was heightened by a front page New York Times story, provided to the paper as an "exclusive" for publication this morning. Exclusives are often a good tactic for stimulating reporter interest, particularly when a story is complicated.

The press conference format was simple. Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence Cities Initiative members made brief presentations lasting approximately 15 minutes in all. Then reporters asked questions. The lead question from Bloomberg News was a common one for people working on Great Lakes issues: What kind of pressure are Great Lakes states getting to divert water to western U.S. states. The answer: None, for now, but it's coming.

Associated Press, attending by conference call, followed up with a question about the amount of money the federal government is investing in Great Lakes projects.

And that was it. Watch your paper for tomorrow's news.