Media Summit - Version Two

Back in April of last year, I took the train to New York to attend the Team USA Media Summit, which was held to coincide with the 100-day out mark for the Paris Olympics. The Media Summit featured press conferences and chances to interact with athletes who were preparing for the Summer Olympics. You can read about my experiences in the April blog posts from last year here. 

Team USA sent out the invitation to this year's Team USA Media Summit a few months ago and after the great experience I had last April, I eagerly accepted the invitation and was excited for the chance to get to experience some of the athletes ahead of the Winter Olympics in Italy. This year's event was also scheduled to coincide with the 100-day out mark for the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics.

After I registered, it occurred to me that I likely wouldn't be able to make it to much of this year's event, as I had volunteered to stage manage the Village Players Theater production of Sweeney Todd, which will be in tech week leading up to the opening night performance on Halloween. That means we'll have rehearsal every night that week. It also limits my ability to cover playoff games the entire week and both weekends of the show.

That being said, I didn't completely cancel my reservation with the hope I could work something out. And the best I came up with is a day trip to New York City next Tuesday to experience the first day of the Media Summit. It's going to be one heck of a long day, however. I booked a train ticket out of Boston at 5:05 a.m., arriving in New York a little before 9 a.m. I will spend about three hours at the Media Summit before taking the train back to Boston and hopefully back to the theater for rehearsal at least close to start time.

A little bit of good news out of this is that Lindsey Vonn, one of my favorite Olympic athletes of all time, will be part of the second panel of press conferences, at least as of right now.

The other good news, no expensive New York hotels needed. But it will be one heck of a long day and one heck of a long week.

Here's hoping it all works out, check back in a week or so and hopefully they'll be some more information.


The Team USA Media Summit features press conferences with athletes as they gear up for the upcoming Olympics. This photo is from last April's Team USA Media Summit ahead of the Paris Olympics.

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