To borrow a phrase from the first Clinton presidential campaign, slightly altered, “It’s the people, stupid.”

Of all the many wonderful benefits of the Texas Press Association and attending its functions, the people top that list, well ahead of what’s second.

While I have known this fact for some time, it hit home from a new perspective during our Midwinter Conference Jan. 17-19 in Dallas.

Despite a few glitches, and there were some major ones (more on that later), it was a fabulous gathering from where I stood.

There were great products and information from a good variety of vendors in the trade show, the selection of speakers was varied, informative and inspiring, the informal gatherings were fun, and we were certainly well fed.

But it’s really the people of TPA who make it what it is. We have a top flight staff that assists us in so many ways. But if they never did anything more than to facilitate our ability to get together, I could justify the value of my membership.

At every gathering, formal and informal, existed the opportunity to learn from those who have done and are doing what each of us does on a daily basis — to serve our communities by serving as a vital information resource.

There is no doubt the way we do that is changing rapidly. Kevin Slimp, Brett Jones and others showed us that through their presentations. Technology gives even the smallest weekly the ability to go places we could not have imagined a few short years ago.

But the real nitty gritty comes when you sit down with fellow members to break bread or drain glasses.

You find that the challenges you face back in your hometown, which can leave you feeling like you’re alone on an island, are being faced every day across the state by folks just like you. And the best part — they are willing to share what they’ve learned, successes as well as failures.

Each of us strives at different levels to keep up with what’s going on in our industry. So you can jump on this merry-go-round at any point.

The ones who miss out are those who do not jump on at all. I don’t understand that, but to each his own. The midwinter conference is basically free for eligible TexSCAN members, except for the transportation to get there. It will provide you with whatever information you want, or need, in your business.

And best of all you have the chance to make friends with some of the greatest people in the world.

To many of you, I know, this is not news. Some of your best friends are fellow newspaper men and women, and you wouldn’t miss the opportunity to see them without a darned good reason.

Which brings me back to that glitch.

It seems the host hotel had some issues involving the overbooking of rooms that left some TPA members, associate members and vendors without quarters.

None of them can be faulted for whatever method they chose to deal with this situation.

It was ironic that we held a session concerning customer service issues. It seems our hosts could have used this session productively. I wish this blight on an otherwise great conference could have been avoided. But it’s always something, isn’t it? If you’ve ever been involved in planning such an event, you know it’s true.

We hope to visit with many of you again down the road in the near future, beginning with the NNA Governmental Affairs Conference in Washington, D.C. March 5-8 followed by four regional meetings during the spring.

What a treat to be spending that much more time with the best group of people you could ever want to meet, the men and women of Texas newspapers.