On Friday, some folks from the Voce Nation attended PRSA’s "blockbuster luncheon event" at the Santa Clara Marriott. The PRSA did a great job bringing in media heavyweights Don Clark, John Markoff, and Susan Goldberg (Fred Vogelstein cancelled at the last minute due to a "dental emergency", huh?) to talk to a room full of flacks. Louise Kehoe, formerly of FT, moderated the event.

The mighty triumvirate shared reporting war stories and some of their favorite interviews from years past. One nit I had with the event was the Q&A from the floor. I’ve been to a few of these events now and it seems like we’re asking the same questions every time. Let’s think of something new people. We’re all smart and we read these papers daily, right? Why are we asking Don Clark what he’s interested in reporting? - end rant -

Anyway, here are a few snippets I found interesting:

When Don and John aren’t reading eachother’s periodicals, they’re perusing pubs from across the pond like The Register and The Inquirer.net.

Markoff reads Valleywag.

A couple big news items have dropped on Don Clark’s birthday. Can you name the date? Hint: Oracle’s hostile takeover of PeopleSoft began on Don’s special day a couple years back. Don, I hope you’re ready for the swarm of "happy birthday - hey are you interested in hearing about…" pitch emails you’re going to get this year as a result of Friday’s luncheon.

"Digg has replaced Slashdot" - John Markoff. He’s not alone.

"We’re not being encouraged to blog" - Don Clark.

Maybe next year, Don?

–Michael Moeschler