Sometimes I worry about the Tampa Bay Association of Black Journalists.

Mostly, I worry that because of our name, journalists who are not black or people who don't consider themselves journalists will not want to get involved with our programs.

It's an odd concept to explain, but the name of our group -- which is a local chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists -- mostly describes the focus of our organization. Anyone of any ethnicity who is in the media or communications field can join our group, and you don't even have to join the group to participate in our programs.

So it is in that spirit that I roll out a big welcome for TBABJ's second annual session focused on Multimedia reporting on March 8, featuring members who have done extensive work translating their newspaper or TV work into online platforms.

On deck so far: Ken Knight, multimedia reporter for Media General; Demorris Lee, reporter for the St. Petersburg Times, who recently completed a multimedia reporting fellowship at the Knight Digital Media Center; Boyzell Hosey, photo editor at the St. Petersburg Times and Eric Deggans, St. Petersburg Times TV/Media critic and editor/creator of The Feed blog.

Scheduled for 11 a.m. March 8 at the Tampa Tribune, 200 S. Parker St. Tampa, this seminar is free and open to anyone who wishes to attend.

During the panel discussion, we will talk about ways to think about expanding traditional journalism work to multimedia platforms, the advantages and challenges of blogging for journalists, the resources available for those who hope to learn more about this kind of work and more...

Last year, we got a great response from area bloggers of all ethnicities and had a chance to turn it into a wide-ranging discussion. Even if you don't consider yourself a journalist, but would like to learn more about this new field, please feel free to attend.

As we all work to try and understand these new media platforms,sometimes the most fun comes from getting together and swapping ideas on what it all means. And fellow bloggers, feel free to post this on your blog somewheres...