Randy Bennett

[Commentary] When attending two disparate conferences that shunned hype and hyperbole (and despair), and provided a decidedly forward-looking and practical perspective: America East, addressing media and technology strategies, and Journalism Interactive, an event attended mostly by journalism educators, focused on inspiring and preparing the next generation of journalists, I noticed some common themes emerged from both events:

• Data will be at the core of everything media companies do going forward.
• The future is visual.
• Community engagement is critical to business and journalistic success.
• Embrace technology to solve problems -- for media organizations and their customers.
• Entrepreneurism needs to be the lifeblood of media organizations and the oxygen for journalists.
• The takeaways from both events are not about the relative health of media companies or the importance of journalism degrees. Rather, it's about tangible evidence that there are innovators in our midst who are passionately committed to changing the paradigm.

[Bennett is Director of Entrepreneurship and Partnerships, University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications]