Invictus Gathering in Fort Lauderdale Draws 40

UPDATE FROM MICHAEL KORETZKY OF FLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY:

We had exactly 40 participants from media outlets ranging from daily newspapers (The Miami Herald, Sun-Sentinel) to weekly newspapers (Boca Forum, Boynton Forum) to monthlies (Triton) to radio (WLRN) to TV (WPBT, WSCV) to glossy magazines (Florida Travel+Life) to alternative weeklies (City Link).

We used photos from the afternoon to make this slideshow, which we hope to use to promote future events… www.koretzky.com/invictus

As a national member of SPJ’s board, I plan to push hard for Project Invictus to be expanded nationally. Having helped organize two in the past year, I know its power and potential.

ORIGINAL POST:

Forty journalists from across South Florida came together Saturday in the eighth and largest Project Invictus gathering to date. Project Invictus is a Dart Society project that brings together a group of like-minded professionals for a renewing conversation about why we do what we do.

The goal is to renew journalists’ sense of strength and mission so that we can sustain ourselves in this time of transition and be open to the new opportunities that are emerging.

This Saturday’s gathering included journalists at various stages in their career, from more than a dozen publications and across platforms. The discussion was the most tough-minded and resolute of all the gatherings, as participants expressed a desire to move past the years of cutbacks and layoffs to find a new way for the field.

Three entrepreneurial journalism projects were presented.  The first assists non-profits in telling the story of their clients, another would link investigative journalism in Florida to a local university,  and a third is a book featuring photos and essays about Havana and Haiti. Participants also  brainstormed about ways to get those projects funded.

This is the third Invictus gathering in South Florida, where the project originated. A total of nearly 100 local journalists have participated in the gatherings, and motivated journalists are now looking at ways to push the project forward.

The Society of Professional Journalists South Florida chapter co-sponsored Saturday’s event.