THE RIGHT ANGLE MEN’S CLUB NOVEMBER MEETING AT VANDERBILT COUNTRY CLUB

On a beautiful South Florida day, The Right Angle Men's Club of Vanderbilt Country Club had the pleasure of comradery, a buffet lunch and a terrific guest speaker from the Naples Daily News. Mr. Manny Garcia, the Executive Editor of the paper, provided interesting insights into how the paper is run, the local and national environment as well as his own background.

This first meeting of the 2015/2016 season was held on November 19^th with over 80 attendees in Vanderbilt Country Club’s lovely and recently renovated main dining room. While enjoying a wonderful lunch, the members could take in the view from the main dining room windows which look out over the just completed golf course renovation project. The VCC Right Angle Club strives to provide “The Right Angle” on issues of interest and importance to its members and guests.   

The meeting began with the Pledge of Allegiance, a 50/50 raffle and the introduction of our guest speaker by Mr. Bill Cooper. Mr. Garcia spoke about his Cuban heritage and his growth and development in this country, the operation of the paper and also dealt with many issues and questions that are relevant to the Right Angle membership. Some of the areas he covered were:   

1)      Operation of the Naples Daily News:

a.      The Naples Daily News was recently purchased by Gannett.

b.      The Gannett management team is looking to leverage some of the best practices implemented at the Naples Daily News at other papers that they own.

c.       The Naples Daily News is housed in an amazing building with state of the art facilities.

d.      The printing of the paper is done on a high speed, state-of-the art printing press. 

e.      There are roughly 45K subscribers off season and 100K subscribers in season.

f.        In addition to the local markets, key markets for the paper include Cuba and Venezuela.  

g.      Mr. Garcia discussed the electronic distribution of content and the way the Naples Daily News is adopting to that environment by making changes to their existing mobile device delivery mechanism.

h.      Mr. Garcia ended this part of his discussion by offering a facility tour to any interested members of the VCC Right Angle Club.

2)      Questions and topical discussion areas of interest to the membership included:  

a.      The Naples area being a dynamic place for growth and great for journalism. 

b.      Cuba has become a much more open environment with blogs out to the world now on mobile devices.

c.       The top stories going forward potentially include a state wide analysis of the beach restoration and a state wide look at how funding is used in the criminal justice system.

d.      The permitting process in Naples.

Mr. Garcia concluded with a discussion of the “Investigator’s Verse” from Luke 12:2-3.

² There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. ³ What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.

He was one of our most interesting and entertaining speaker to-date and provided a great way to kick off the first meeting of the Right Angle Club for the new season.

The meeting was adjourned at approximately 1:30 with Paul L’Esperance presenting a modest token of the club’s appreciation to Mr. Garcia.