Posted on August 20, 2020 at 1:53 PM by Melanie Terry
The Washington Association of County Officials is honored to bring their members the 62nd Annual Conference in a virtual format. The 2020 theme for the conference is “We’re All in This Together”, a motto which means so much more in the age of COVID-19. Although our members will be spread across the state throughout our conference, we are excited to present an agenda that allows attendees to participate as if they were all together.
One event our attendees look forward to each year is the Keynote Speaker. This year, WACO is delighted to announce that Rob Curley, Editor-In-Chief from the Spokesman-Review will be the 2020 keynote speaker joining the conference via Zoom.
Rob Curley is the only editor in the nation to have won the top award in print journalism (the Pulitzer Prize), the top award in broadcast journalism (the DuPont Award) and the top award in online journalism (ONA's best news site in the world). All of which happened when Rob was the Chief Content Officer at The Las Vegas Sun.
The WACO Education Committee is proud to select such an engaging and dynamic keynote speaker. Chairwoman Stacie Prada stated:
“Some of our WACO members have heard Mr. Curley’s talk "The Virtuous Circle: Teaching a Community How to be a Community" previously, and they recommended him highly for this year’s WACO conference. We’re especially excited to hear Mr. Curley’s perspective and advice as we’re all dealing with so much living through a pandemic, adapting logistically, and navigating a highly political and ever-changing environment.”
The Keynote Speaker is scheduled for Wednesday, October 7th during the Opening Ceremony of the conference. When asked to describe his lecture, Rob Curley responded:
“In an era when both small towns and newspapers are struggling, what happens when a local paper leads a community-wide effort to embrace the idea of a “virtuous circle” — that a region can grow in innumerable ways when it works together for the positive? The results were off-the-charts. Then COVID 19 changed everything. Spokesman-Review editor Rob Curley will explain how Spokane’s oldest and largest news organization continues to show how leadership during difficult times can feed more than just a bottom line, it can reenergize a hometown.”