Usually I make the train trip to New York City more than once a year, and it is usually to come to a live Rob Has a Podcast event based around an episode of Survivor. When I boarded the bus in Dover on Sunday morning with a destination of South Station in Boston and then on to New York City, it wasn't Survivor related.
This week marks my first foray into the Team USA Media Summit, hosted by the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee. This is the first time the summit has been in person since the 2018 PyeongChang Games, thanks to COVID, and it also marks the first time that I have decided to take part in the festivities.
It certainly wasn't a cheap venture, though I decided to stay right in the hotel where the summit is taking place, the Marriott Marquis right in Times Square, so that was a pretty big expense, despite the discount we got for being part of the Media Summit. The list of press conferences and round tables for Monday through Wednesday is pretty extensive and I am looking forward to hearing from some of the people who will be key figures in the Paris Olympics and Paralympics this summer.
However, Sunday was just a day to celebrate, as the USOPC invited all media personnel to a kickoff event at the Loeb Boathouse in Central Park. If you want to get the media to go somewhere, offer free food. And that they did, with plenty of options (the steak frites was fantastic) to choose from along with a table loaded with Reese's newest peanut butter cup, the Reese's Medals. I may have taken a few of those for the hotel fridge when I get a little hungry over the next few days.
The setting was absolutely gorgeous and I was able to complete my registration and get my credentials when I arrived. After the kickoff event, I headed back to the hotel because I still have papers to get together and that meant writing a few more track stories from Saturday's Corneliusen Relays. I wrote two in South Station this morning and another on the train, leaving the last three to tackle tonight. Once that was done, I sent the stories for my Monday deadline.
It's going to be a busy couple of days in New York City and I was also able to schedule a trip to see Book of Mormon on Tuesday night, so that should be an additional fun experience.
Either way, we're off and running for Team USA Media Summit 2024. In no time at all it will be time to head to Paris.
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