On the heels of this adventure today, I want to reflect a little on where I was yesterday, and just how awkward it can be when you know you’re somewhere you’re not supposed to be.

Although the convention hadn’t officially kicked off, there were workshops, trainings, meetings and parties yesterday, and among my normal coverage I was invited to a few.

St. Johns County delegate Kathleen Trued first asked me to meet her at an NEA meeting.Because education was one of the issues all the counties in Northeast Florida had expressed as a major concern, I had no hesitation to sit in.

Turns out this meeting was actually a training.Training on how to handle the media.In the beginning they spoke about the education platform for the administration and why they support it.It was easy to fire up the room full of teachers about class size or other educational concerns, and it was easy to encourage them to take part in exercises showing all the mischievous ways a reporter will try to ambush or trap you.

Now, some time ago, I learned to just let criticism of the media roll off my shoulders.I know that I am not the stereotype, nor do I have the ethics- or lack thereof- many people believe reporters do.All I can do is work hard to try to prove that.

But when you are put in a room with the large power point on-screen not just pointing out, but hammering in, every possible dirty tactic they teach you not to do in journalism training, you can’t help but feel a little uncomfortable.I may have tried to partially hide my credentials at this point.

I wasn’t hiding that I was media, and was planning to be fully honest if asked because, as part of my job, I was representing my listeners and joining my delegate- perfectly reasonable goals.As far as I knew the meeting was not closed to me, or I expect I would have been stopped on the way in as with every other secure event.This meeting didn’t even have people at the doors.

But I didn’t want even that shadow of a doubt again, so when Kathleen invited me to a Labor Party gathering Monday evening as her guest, I even told the person checking us in that I was media.

He begrudgingly let me in when I promised I was not doing interviews without consent and I wasn’t hiding recorders or trapping people there to have a good time.Once inside, I met a number of labor leaders who were more than willing to just have a conversation.Many, ironically pointing out how their values and those of the Democratic Party don’t align with the labor laws here in Charlotte.Not to say I didn’t get some questioning glances when people saw the call letters on my jacket, but by now I know what to say to calm people down.

It’s an interesting line to walk.I was given the chance to see the issues aired out in a different environment than the more formal meetings taking place this week while talking through the issues with specific people most passionate about them.But I have these conversations carefully, neither imposing my own opinion nor criticizing theirs.It is not my place to have an opinion, just to help inform you so you can make yours.