APME NEWSTRAIN/MEMPHIS
Full Program
February 9 - 11, 2007
| Friday, Feb. 9: | |
| 6:00 p.m. | Welcome reception, fun & games Meet in the hotel lobby, pick up your complimentary ticket, and walk over to the FedExForum to watch the Grizzlies take on the Minnestoa Timberwolves |
| Saturday, Feb. 10: | |
| 8:00 p.m. | Continental breakfast Coffee and rolls available. Newspapers courtesy of Memphis Commercial-Appeal Location: Memphis Room |
| 8:30 a.m. | Introductions and welcome to NewsTrain (All) Otis Sanford, managing editor, Memphis Commercial-Appeal; Elaine Kramer, APME NewsTrain; Joe Hight, MPI and managing editor, The Oklahoman Location: Memphis Room |
| 9:00 a.m. | Keynote address (All) "Training Citizen Journalists: Best or Worst of Times for Our Profession?" A speech and Q&A. Chris Peck, editor, Memphis Commercial-Appeal Location: Memphis Room |
| 9:45 a.m. | Giving Effective Feedback Why: It's essential to helping staffers grow Learn how to listen well and to get your message across effectively. Gain skill at planning and structuring a conversation, and learn words and phrases that will have the best effect, as well as what not to say or do. Learn how to respond to feedback, and look for clues that the other person is really listening to you. Presenter: Kristin Gilger, assistant dean, Arizona State University Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications Location: Memphis Room |
| 10:45 a.m. | Break |
| 11:00 a.m. | The Five Minute Editor Why: On some days, it's all the time you have Most editors promise themselves that they will have weekly brainstorming meetings on story ideas, frequent coaching sessions on writing techniques and daily post-story critiques to identify and reinforce the lessons learned. Those are worthy goals, but for many editors, the daily grind gets in the way. You do, however, talk to your reporters every day, a minute here, a couple minutes there, five minutes when it's really important. You need to learn to use those few minutes to steer the reporter on a path to learn for him- or herself how to improve. Even if you succeed in making time for longer sessions with reporters, much of your most important editing still is done in these brief daily encounters. Presenter: Keith Woods, dean of the faculty, Poynter Institute Location: Memphis Room |
| Noon | Lunch Location: Memphis Room |
| 1:00 p.m. | Why Training Matters Why: Because newspapers are a business, too A discussion of why some news organizations are putting more emphasis on professional development of their staffers. Resources you can use to get valuable training for yourself and push for more training in your newsroom. Presenter: Elaine Kramer Location: Memphis Room |
| 1:30 p.m. | Handling Race, Ethnicity and Immigration (Blue team) Why: Your reporters are wrestling with matters of diversity, race and immigration at every turn. Whether it's figuring out how to include a complete range of voices in the coverage, how to report on a hot racial or ethnic issue or how to navigate the linguistic challenges that are part of reporting in a multicultural world, your staff needs your guidance. We'll look for practical ways of tackling all these complex issues each day in the newsroom. Presenter: Keith Woods Location: Memphis Room |
| 1:30 p.m. | Dealing with Conflict in the Newsroom (Green team) Why: Conflict is normal, but dealing with it is essential Conflict is inevitable in any newsroom, but most of us prefer to avoid it, hoping the problems will just go away. They never do. Learn how to have the "difficult conversation" in a way that is collaborative rather than combative. Learn why people act the way they do in conflict situations, how to manage yourself in such situations, and how to plan and carry out the discussion. Presenter: Kristin Gilger Location: Magnolia Room |
| 3:00 p.m. | Break |
| 3:15 p.m. | Dealing with Conflict in the Newsroom (Blue team) Why: Conflict is normal, but dealing with it is essential Conflict is inevitable in any newsroom, but most of us prefer to avoid it, hoping the problems will just go away. They never do. Learn how to have the "difficult conversation" in a way that is collaborative rather than combative. Learn why people act the way they do in conflict situations, how to manage yourself in such situations, and how to plan and carry out the discussion. Presenter: Kristin Gilger Location: Magnolia Room |
| 3:15 p.m. | Handling Race, Ethnicity and Immigration (Green team) Why: Your reporters are wrestling with matters of diversity, race and immigration at every turn. Whether it's figuring out how to include a complete range of voices in the coverage, how to report on a hot racial or ethnic issue or how to navigate the linguistic challenges that are part of reporting in a multicultural world, your staff needs your guidance. We'll look for practical ways of tackling all these complex issues each day in the newsroom. Presenter: Keith Woods Location: Memphis Room |
| 4:45 p.m. | Choose one: |
| Option 1 | Improving Accuracy Why: The public is deeply suspicious of why journalists do what they do, how they go about it and whether the outcome is good or bad. Learn key touchstones for building reader trust and practical approaches to improving accuracy. Presenters: Carol Nunnelley, director of APME special projects, and Margaret Holt, Senior editor for standards and staff development, Chicago Tribune Location: Magnolia Room |
| - OR - |
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| Option 2 | Helping Reporters Develop a Beat Why: Beat-work is the heart of sound journalism Learn how to help reporters set goals, manage their time and define various kinds of stories so it is easier for them to spot opportunities off their beats. Learn to ask questions that help them develop more enterprise off a beat. Presenter: Dick Weiss, WeissWrite Location: Memphis Room |
| 6:00 p.m. | End of the day |
| Sunday, Feb. 11: | |
| 8:00 a.m. | Continental breakfast Coffee and rolls available. Newspapers courtesy of Memphis Commercial-Appeal Location: Memphis Room |
| 8:30 a.m. | Common Story Forms Why: Because story organization can be difficult Nearly every successful newspaper story is a variation on one of a few basic story forms. This workshop teaches the essentials of the "martini glass" and "time blocking" structures for hard news and block organization and narrative storytelling structures for daily stories and projects. Presenter: Dick Weiss Location: Memphis Room |
| 10:00 a.m. | Break Location: Second Floor A-V Room |
| 10:15 a.m. | Understanding New Media Why: To help you understand distinct elements of new media and how to use them in different storytelling forms to your best advantage. We'll talk about ways you'll want to modify reporting for online; what kinds of information to offer for online, and what isn't useful. Editors will be encouraged to set a new hierarchy of time and cost to make better decisions about what to pursue in this broader news world. Presenter: Randy Covington, director, IFRA NewsPlex, University of South Carolina Location: Memphis Room |
| 11:15 a.m. | Rethinking Your Role Why: As the newsroom changes along with the internet, the frontline editors' job is being transformed, too. Storytelling possibilities expand greatly on the Web. Podcasts and blogs present new challenges for the assigning editor. Being resourceful and creative has always been a key part of a frontline editor's job. Now, the mid-level editor must be thinking about all the different platforms that can be served, including how the print version of the next day's story must change as a result of the 24/7 news cycle. This session focuses on how frontline editors need to think to flourish in an expanded role. Presenter: Randy Covington Location: Memphis Room |
| 12:15 p.m. | NewsTrain Caboose Seminar wrap-up. Presenter: Elaine Kramer Location: Memphis Room |
| 12:30 p.m. | End of workshop |