By Vince Duffy, RTDNA Chairman Elect

The annual National Association of Broadcasters show in Las Vegas is always a great time. The city has acres of casino space to indulge my not very successful black-jack habit, and miles of exhibit floor space to drool over the latest gadgets and technologies available in our business. But when the show is over, I end up leaving town without a wallet full of winnings or a wall-to-ceiling 3-D video display screen for the news room.

But this year, RTDNA is hosting a day of programming at the NAB that will give you information and ideas you can take back to your stations with you, and make sure not everything you see in Vegas, stays in Vegas. We’ll even feed you.

The general theme of the day is how to make use of all the new social media and new media tools available to us, without making dumb mistakes or wasting our time on technology that isn’t serving our audience. Sure we’ll come up with a snappier title for the day than that, but you know what I’m talking about.

Do our reporters really need to live tweet from the courthouse and the dog show?

Can’t we use our Facebook page for better stuff than contests to increase our “likes”?

How do we teach our reporters not to believe (and worse, report) every rumor they read online?

On the Tuesday of the NAB show (April 17) – we’ll talk about these issues and others.

The day will start with a Super Session titled “The 2012 Elections: From Party Platforms to Media Platforms.”  You’ll hear national broadcasters and digital journalists tell how social media has changed the campaigns, and the way they cover them.

We’ll also have breakout sessions during the day. The first will give you some best practices about how to manage your staff in the digital media world (“Yes, you have to tweet the headline…No, you can’t friend the defendant on Facebook!”) The other will give you a chance to hear how stations across the country, large and small, are using social media and new media in successful, and shall we say, not so successful ways. (You mean the picture we pulled off of Facebook wasn’t from the victim’s real page?)

We’ll also provide pizza, pop and beer at the end of the day during a session we’re calling “Issues and Ales.” Media attorneys and representatives from the FCC will be on hand to answer any questions you have from the legal or regulatory world.

You may still have an empty wallet from the gaming tables, and blisters from walking the Expo floor – but spend a day with RTDNA at the NAB in Vegas, and you’ll also have great ideas and information you can take back to your stations and put to use.

We look forward to seeing you there.