7:30 a.m.

SPJ Board Meeting

7:30 a.m.

NBNA Educators Breakfast

8:30 a.m. – 11:15 a.m.

MAIN SESSION: Nurturing the Social Newsgathering Child  

The social media toolbox for journalists is exploding! There are many new social networking tools, but which ones are right for you?  Do you have a social networking policy?  Our panelists will demonstrate how journalists are using various social networking platforms for information and promotion.  You’ll discover how to find information sources, follow the right tweets & feeds, how to organize all of the different social mediums and keep a strong ethical standard for your newsroom.  You’ll learn how to connect with your audience and brand your product to make your social messages sing and not become spam.  Moderator: JJ Murray, Executive Director, NATAS Upper Midwest.  Panelists: Bob Ingrassia (MPR), Michael Gay (Hearst Television), Jason DeRusha (WCCO-TV).

11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

RTNDA Awards Luncheon/NBNA Business Meeting

Speaker—To Be Announced

Noon– 4:00 p.m.

Critiques—Print, Radio & Television

Bring your best work (television should be on DVD, radio work on CD please) and have the best in the business give you feedback. Get one-on-one advice on your reporting, anchoring, writing, audio gathering and photojournalism skills from some great professionals in the region.

1:15 – 2:30 p.m.

Concurrent Sessions

• Diversifying Your News Coverage – Learn how to better cover the undercovered voices in your community. Our panel of journalists will help enhance your reporting by sharing ways to access a variety of groups in your community.  While this includes people of color, it can also apply to exploring diversity along the lines of religion, economic class, geography, and ability, to name a few.  Moderator: Brian Bull   Panelists: Laura McCallum (Minnesota Public Radio); Allie Shah (Star Tribune); Vineeta Sawkar (KSTP-TV), Gil Halsted (Wisconsin Public Radio); Duchesne Drew (Star Tribune). 

• Making Good TV with Hyper-Local Issues – Viewers have more choices today for local news than network affiliates.  Many cities and local governments are producing newscasts and informational programming on hyper-local issues.  This session will help you brainstorm ideas to produce quality visual and personalized stories out of so-called boring topics like city council and school board meetings to community elections and social issues. Panelists: Mike Johnson- News Director Cable 12 News/Brooklyn Park, MN, JJ Murray- Executive Director/NATAS-Upper Midwest.

2:45 – 4:00 p.m.

Shark Tank

You need a thick skin to survive some of the sharks living in the in the journalism ocean.  This session will allow a panel of award-winning story tellers to take a bite out of your work and do it in front of everyone in our tank.  This is a chance for everyone to learn from each other’s stories.   You’ll get great advice on writing, photography & editing skills needed to take your stories to the next level, no matter the market size or platform.  If you’re willing to get “in the Tank,” bring some work along for critique. Moderator: JJ Murray- Executive Director/NATAS-Upper Midwest.  Panelists:  Boyd Huppert- Reporter/KARE 11, John Gross- Videojournalist/KSTP-TV, Brett Akagi- Sr. Video Producer/Star Tribune

6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.

NBNA Reception and NBNF Auction

7:00 p.m.

NBNA Awards Banquet

Join us for our annual Eric Sevareid radio and television awards ceremony and meet this year's winner of the Mitchell V. Charnley Award.