But the Kaikoura quake on the eve of the city conference changed that.
Thirteen months later, Gorman — now an Otago Daily Times assistant editor — has finally seen the book hit the shelves.
Portacom City: Reporting on the Christchurch and Kaikoura Earthquakes marks the writer’s experience reporting on the disasters while having his life thrown into disarray.
"It was an amazing time even though it was horrible. You got a sense when you were a little way into things ... You realised this was our equivalent of covering a war," Gorman said.
"Every generation has something and we knew this would probably be the biggest story we’d ever work on."
The author writes about butting heads with the scientists and reflects on what we are entitled to be told when an event of such magnitude strikes.
"What information does the public have a right to? Where is the threshold for information that’s safer to not release?"
Life intrinsically changed with the February 2011 earthquake during which The Press building collapsed and one of his colleagues died, Gorman said.
"When it’s affecting family, friends and home, and you can’t sleep night after night, it’s very difficult to remain objective.
"I’m really interested in those journalistic ideals on transparency and objectivity and it covers those themes quite well. How can you be objective when your life’s been shaken to pieces around you?"
The book was ready to be printed when the Kaikoura quake hit.
Rather than speaking on the Dunedin panel, Gorman spent the night on the phone, turning around stories for online.
And suddenly the book required an extra chapter.
"I never would have thought it would take two years [to have it published]," he said.
