2019 WNA Convention & Trade Show Schedule
*This schedule will continue to be updated in the coming days.
At A Glance
Thursday, March 7
| 9 a.m. | Registration Opens |
| 10 – 10:50 a.m. | Kickoff Speaker > Alex Lasry, senior vice president for the Milwaukee Bucks |
| 11 – 11:50 a.m. | > Improving Your Ad & Page Design |
| > Podcasting for Newsrooms | |
| > Navigating Change in the Newsroom |
| Noon – 1:30 p.m. | WNA Dine Around |
| 1:30 – 2:30 p.m. | > Getting Your Photos to Pop Off the Page |
| > Digital Revenue Solutions For Any Market | |
| > Solutions Journalism | |
| > Digital & Social Best Practices |
| 2:40 – 3:10 p.m. | Ice Cream Break |
| 3:10 – 4 p.m. | > Facebook & Instagram tools to enhance your storytelling |
| > Growing Your Audience Using SEO | |
| > How (Whether?) College Students Consume News | |
| > WNA Annual Meeting |
| 4:10 – 5 p.m. | > Facebook & Instagram tools to enhance your storytelling |
| > Great Idea Exchange | |
| > Legal Workshop | |
| > Art of the Interview |
| 5 – 6 p.m. | Awards Reception |
| 6 – 9 p.m. | Awards Banquet |
Friday, March 8
| 8 – 9 a.m. | Breakfast |
| 9 – 10 a.m. | Kickoff Speaker > Tom Rosenstiel, executive director of the American Press Institute |
| 10 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. | > Getting Your Best Shot |
| > Using Data & Documents in Your Reporting | |
| > Dealing with the Aftermath of Newsprint Tariffs | |
| > Student Media Idea Exchange |
| 11:30 a.m. to Noon | Flash Sessions |
| Noon – 1:30 p.m. | Student Honors Luncheon |
| 1:45 – 3 p.m. | Job Fair |
| 1:45 – 2:45 p.m. | > Taking Your Photography to the Next Level |
| > Public Records Tips & Tricks | |
| > Starting Over |
| 3 – 4 p.m. | > Listen & Learn: Redefining Engagement |
| > Email Newsletters: Strategies & tools to grow your audience | |
| > Words That Click: Writing for Digital |
Thursday Sessions
10 to 10:50 a.m.
Kickoff Speaker
11 a.m. to noon
Improving Your Page and Ad Design
You’ll laugh and learn a lot during this session. Kevin will cover the gamut from space to fonts to content to help you improve the design of your newspaper.
– Kevin Slimp
Podcasting for Newsrooms
Session description & speaker(s) coming soon.
Navigating Change in Your Newsroom
Change in the news industry is constant — from job duties to technology to revenue sources. It can leave employees exhausted, frustrated and worried. In this interactive session, Marty Kaiser will guide participants through techniques for navigating this uncertainty and better collaborating as a team.
– Marty Kaiser
Noon to 1:30 p.m.
WNA Dine Around
1:30 to 2:30 p.m.
Getting Your Photos to Pop Off the Page
Kevin Slimp has been training photo editing and color correction for “longer than he likes to admit.” You will learn simple and advanced skills to improve the reproduction of photos in your newspaper and make your photos pop right off the page!
– Kevin Slimp
Digital Revenue Solutions For Any Market: 3 Ways To Effectively Win Back Retail, Automotive & Real Estate
Milwaukee-area based Wehaa has become one of the fastest-growing digital solution partners to newspapers and media groups across the U.S. & Canada. In this session, National Director of Digital Marketing & Sales Mike Martoccia will provide best practices for monetizing digital ads and reclaiming auto and real estate sales revenue. Mike will also discuss some of Wehaa’s turnkey solutions and provide case studies that will leave you with ways to implement them back in your markets.
– Michael Martoccia
How (Whether?) College Students Consume News
How do college students get their news? Facebook? Mobile? … Not at all? It’s been a topic of discussion in the news industry for years. In this panel, we’ll attempt to answer the question by going to the source. Moderator Chuck Melvin will ask a panel of college journalists and their peers about their news consumption habits, discuss why they do it that way and whether they feel they have surrounded themselves in a bubble that reinforces their own political, entertainment, spiritual and moral approaches to life. We’ll also hear from the student journalists about how they believe their careers might play out in today’s bumpy news landscape.
– Chuck Melvin
3:10 to 4:10 p.m.
Facebook & Instagram tools to enhance your storytelling (Part I)
This session will provide attendees with tips for newsgathering, storytelling and connecting with audiences by leveraging Facebook and Instagram products and tools, including Live, Groups, the Creators app
– Rachel Piper
Growing Your Audience using SEO
Session description & speaker(s) coming soon.
Solutions Journalism
Session description & speaker(s) coming soon.
WNA Annual Meeting
4:10 to 5 p.m.
Facebook & Instagram tools to enhance your storytelling (Part II)
This session will provide attendees with tips for newsgathering, storytelling and connecting with audiences by leveraging Facebook and Instagram products and tools, including Live, Groups, the Creators app
– Rachel Piper
Legal Workshop
Session description coming soon.
– Brendan Healey
Art of the Interview
Session description & speaker(s) coming soon.
Great Idea Exchange
5 to 6 p.m.
Better Newspaper Awards Banquet Welcome Reception, Trade Show Floor
6 to 9 p.m.
Better Newspaper Awards Banquet
Friday Sessions
8 to 9 a.m.
Breakfast, Trade Show Floor
9 to 10 a.m.
Kickoff Speaker
10:15 to 11:30 a.m.
Getting Your Best Shot
Attendees will learn simple lighting and composition skills that will allow them to get the shot when the pressure is on. Community publisher and photographer Jeremy Waltner will showcase several examples of what good photography looks like and provide plenty of time for questions. You’ll leave this session a better photographer, guaranteed.
– Jeremy Waltner
Using Data & Documents in Your Reporting
Session description & speaker(s) coming soon.
Dealing with the Aftermath of Newsprint Tariffs
Even though newsprint tariffs have “gone away,” newspapers are still feeling their effects — and likely will be for some time. During this session, panelists will discuss how they have survived in the aftermath of newsprint price increases. They will also share tips on how to cut costs and grow revenue to position your newspaper on stable ground so it can better weather any future storms.
Student Media Idea Exchange
11:30 a.m. to Noon
Flash Sessions
Noon to 1:30 p.m.
Student Honors Luncheon
1:45 to 3 p.m.
Job Fair
1:45 to 2:45 p.m.
Taking Your Photography to the Next Level
This session will focus on more advanced photography skills and topics. Community publisher and photographer Jeremy Waltner will discuss best practices for photo editing and storage, address ethical questions and provide tips for the ideal camera settings in every situation.
– Jeremy Waltner
Public Records Tips & Tricks
Session description & speaker(s) coming soon.
Starting Over
What would your newsroom look like if you built it from scratch today? Does the beat structure still work? How many multimedia journalists, desk people and assigning editors would you need? What exactly would they cover? What would your business model(s) be? We often talk about thinking entrepreneurially, but it’s hard to engender that mindset in an entrenched industry. In this session, we’ll start by offering frameworks, potential rosters
– Chuck Melvin
3 to 4 p.m.
Listen & Learn: Redefining Engagement
Session description & speaker(s) coming soon.
Email Newsletters: Strategies & tools to grow your audience
Session description & speaker(s) coming soon.
Words That Click: Writing for Digital
With newsprint shrinking and mobile screens offering only a few lines to capture a reader’s attention, it’s more important than ever to make every word count. Bright, tight writing is essential. So is choosing which background to include and which can be jettisoned without harming the understanding and fairness of a story. Headlines, once left to the copy desk, are the responsibility of every journalist — and they’re the single most important element of a mobile story. This hands-on workshop will share tips for telling stories compactly without stripping them of emotion, quotes, fairness and clarity. We’ll also put on our SEO hats, rewriting some digital headlines and then ranking our collective work.
– Chuck Melvin
