Bringing members back to Club for in-person events tops O’Reilly's agenda

The setting for Eileen O’Reilly’s first speech as National Press Club president illustrated one of her goals. She spoke Friday, Jan. 20, to a group of Club members who filled tables that stretched across three conference rooms during the Club’s Annual Membership Meeting.

O’Reilly said she wants to bring more members back to the Club for in-person events, an effort that would add momentum to a trend that began last year as the COVID-19 pandemic waned.

“The time is now to fully revive the Club,” O’Reilly told an audience of about 70. “Just look at us here. Members are excited to be here, and it’s not just because of the free lunch, right?”

O’Reilly, managing editor for standards and training at Axios, intends to increase the number of Headliners Luncheons and Newsmakers, food and wine evenings, networking events and other activities occurring at the Club.

“We’re going to cram your calendars so full, you will not want to leave,” she said.

The membership meeting revolved around the Club’s presidential transition. The 115th president, Jen Judson, handed the Club gavel to O’Reilly, who will serve as the 116th president during 2023. The Club president’s term is traditionally one calendar year.

O’Reilly is taking office as the Club continues a strong comeback from the pandemic. Although it thrived through online newsmaking events since the coronavirus outbreak began in March 2020, it wasn’t until last spring that business activity, such as room rentals by outside groups, began to ramp up significantly.

The uptick bolstered the Club’s bottom line. The Club estimates it will close 2022 with a profit of more than $1 million on revenues of more than $11 million.

“This is one of our best financial years ever,” Judson said.

The Club is projecting a profit of about $500,000 this year, as it begins to hire additional staff. But the fact that being in the black is now expected is a welcome change from financial difficulties during the pandemic years.

The Club soon will add Wednesday night dinner service in the Reliable Source, Judson said. That will mean that members can have dinner at the Club Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights and lunch Monday through Friday.

As she takes office, O’Reilly will begin leading the Club’s effort to free Austin Tice, an award-winning journalist who has been illegally detained in Syria for more than 10 years.

“Together, we can get this done once and for all,” O’Reilly said.

Judson described the “roller coaster” of advances and setbacks the Club experienced last year championing Tice’s cause.

“It was a great moment when the Tice family was able to meet with President Biden, but little has been done and promises of serious, high-level meetings with the Syrians have gone unfulfilled,” Judson said.

Other challenges O’Reilly intends to address are disinformation, mistrust of and attacks on journalists, job loss in the journalism field, news deserts and the lack of diversity in newsroom leadership.

The Club currently has a little more than 2,600 total members, which is about the same number as the beginning of last year, said Mike Balsamo, who served as membership secretary in 2022. The Club consists of 1,338 journalist members, an increase of 2% over last year, and 1,100 communicator members, a 1% increase.

“Our membership has remained steady since the fall of 2021, and we are noticing an increase in the membership applications each month,” said Balsamo, who will be Club treasurer this year. “What’s even more encouraging is that the applications we’re seeing are from quality news organizations.”