 Can I say crack? Can I say that? It's What is it like? It's a thrill. It's the most exciting thing you can cover as a journalist because there's just non-stop energy There's non-stop flow. You're working 24 hours on some on a piece that just it means nothing the next day It's almost like everything is like into this one day. So I don't know. I guess it's like crap. I can't stop I love it Covering an election is Like playing a sport You go in with a game plan, but you have to be ready for that to change on the fly and You prepare for all of the different ways that it could change on you. It's crazy. It's like craziness. I mean Not just elections. I mean any big event, but the election sort of have everything that big events have You know, they have Information coming out at all times from different sources Everything happens in real time their real-time update It's like if the Super Bowl lasted from 5 p.m. To 2 a.m. Basically Covering an election is like Nothing you will ever expect it's kind of like whose linemen is it anyway where you think, you know It's gonna happen and you really don't know what's gonna happen because it doesn't seem to matter at the end It's a challenge and a half to say the least So this election and my partner and I are gonna be covering the Marty Walsh After-party I guess during the election so we're gonna be live tweeting and We're going to be at his actual headquarters when the announcements come in so to prepare for that We have to talk to the press secretary make sure we have our credentials We have to talk to Anyone who's gonna be there we have to make sure that we're up to date because if we don't get our credentials We have to make do we have to figure it out We might just have to show up to his party if we know where it is and go from there Which is something people have to do all the time. We have to be prepared to go without cameras We just have to be able to rely on our phones solely so we have to make sure we have Wi-Fi connections We have to make sure we have equipment ready to go equipment that we can ditch if necessary We have to make we just there's some planning that you do a lot of the planning for election at coverage There's no way to know what you're doing until it's election night and you're there in the thick of it for this one It's obviously very different because it's a municipal election. So everybody is in town. Everyone's kind of Accessible to a certain degree So I've been you know, just doing the homework, you know figuring out who everybody's press secretary is Where the various people are relevant, you know, you're not going to be asking people About a city councilor that isn't in their district other than the typical, you know research I think since it's municipal elections this time you have to be a lot more thorough in your research because it's things that affect not as many people But they're very specific things This year. I'm actually working But I'm going to do my best to help support people who are covering it So I'm doing a lot of planning to prepare food For people who will be stationed here and just being like a good moral support of checking in on people like, okay How are you doing? So that's all I can do this year. Oh phone charger a Portable phone charger you absolutely need that because when it comes down to it Your phone is your biggest resource during election night coverage. So if your phone is dead, you are you're doing nothing So everyone needs I think just a small portable charger to have with them because that's your last resort Your phone is what you need to go to breaking news can happen updates from from your I guess your news organization that you're working for Just any updates you can get people calling you people relying on you getting out live tweets Facebook live If your camera stops working you can make do with your phone if your computer stops working You can make do with your phone Interviews can be fine on your phone You need you need your phone and you need a portable charger for your phone because it will go out Your battery will run out so quickly before you even realize that you're at 2% comfortable shoes number one Bring comfortable shoes and a rain jacket everywhere you go just as a general rule of reporting You want to dress well? And you want a fully charged cell phone Those four things will get you through almost any situation as a journalist. It's gotta have some things Gotta have a bottle of water, of course Your recorder or your cell phone depending on what you use I prefer I think it's better for you to just record and a cell phone separately because then you could record on one hand and tweet on the other and then also Like a sandwich something to eat because seriously you're gonna get hungry on the way Water say hydrated that is super important because you're gonna be running around a lot on your feet And when you're talking to someone you don't want your voice to kind of just like crack or because you're sounding really dry But also have a buddy that is super super huge because like it can be a lot even on a smaller scale election Like it's just gonna be a lot of interactions with people and that could feel very draining So have a buddy to like kind of be your centering point Act like you've been there before don't tweet out you a photo of your press pass or Don't wear any campaign paraphernalia if you want to take a souvenir put in your pocket Don't don't go wearing it around because then people will think that you are part of the biased media if you are doing any tweeting about coverage make sure you Sight any quotes to the actual people that are speaking attribute everything that you say take photos because people just care a lot more if they can see the face of the person and You're gonna be talking to a lot of people. You don't know ask them their preferred pronouns. It's just a Decent thing to be doing don't assume that just because a person Looks like a traditional man. They identify as he And so it's it's just one of those little things you can do in your tweets that go a long way to making you, you know Really just make you look like a more respect respectful person Make sure you get a lot of rest beforehand when you get chances to eat eat Don't be like, oh, I can just eat later. Don't take that for granted. Yes there's pizza at the end of the night, but Eat say rest it you're gonna want all the energy you can get and if you have someone who's Looking very interesting and could provide you a lot of Answers just let them talk because you never know what they could say as you're turning away