Tue, March 18 - The Future of Funding Investigative Journalism: Strategies & Challenges
What: Attendees will learn how to diversify revenue streams, approach funders while safeguarding editorial independence, and adapt to the evolving funding landscape. The panel brings together three top experts with deep experience in media fundraising, business strategy, and philanthropic support for journalism, ready to share their knowledge and real-world strategies.
Who: Pradeep Gairola is vice president and business head at The Hindu, one of India’s leading newspapers; Bridget Gallagher provides fundraising strategy, implementation assistance, and counsel to US and international clients working in media, information access, and civic participation; Willem Lenders is the program manager at Limelight Foundation and co-chair of the Journalism Funders Forum; The moderator is Francisca Skoknic, an accomplished investigative journalist from Chile.
When: 9 am, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Global Investigative Journalism Network
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Tue, March 18 - The World of Social Media
Who: Zachary Piotti, Coordinator & Digital Marketing Consultant at Widener Small Business Development Center.
When: 12 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: The Small Business Development Center Widener University
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Tue, March 18 - How to Supercharge Your Data with AI
What: Discover how AI-driven consumer intelligence can help brands and agencies drive meaningful engagement and sustainable growth by leveraging predictive consumer intelligence for enhanced acquisition with leaders from Resonate. You’ll get actionable strategies to: How to use real-time intent signals to spot and act on consumer interest as it happens; Predict churn and best customer modeling to retain customers longer and identify your next best buyers; How to gain first-touch insights to tailor the customer experience from the start with smart website personalization.
Who: Dean de la Pena Vice President, Data Strategy, and SaaS Platform, Grace Hall Product Manager, Data Products Strategy, Resonate.
When: 1 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Resonate
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Tue, March 18 - Science Essentials for Local Reporters
What: The key do’s, don’ts, and pitfalls to watch for when including science in your news reporting. Among the topics covered: Knowing whether and how science can enhance your story; Different kinds of studies and what each can—and cannot—reveal; Practical tips for identifying credible scientist-sources and interviewing them; and How to get the essentials from scientific reports, studies, and press releases.
Who: Freelance science reporter Elena Renken and Ph.D. neuroscientist Dr. Tori Espensen
When: 2 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: SciLine
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Tue, March 18 - Marketing Trends Nonprofits Need to Know (and Embrace)
What: Join us to discuss the marketing trends that’ll shape your nonprofit’s future and grow your impact, including: Storytelling to impact your nonprofit; Using influencer marketing to increase fundraising; Creating digital experiences that create awareness; Building automation into your marketing and outreach efforts; Taking advantage of latest approaches to search engine optimization; How to use artificial intelligence (AI) to engage.
Who: Kiersten Hill, the driving force behind Firespring’s nonprofit solutions.
When: 3 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: FireSpring
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Tue, March 18 - AI Anxiety? A Google Pro Separates Fact from Fiction
What: This session will help you move beyond the AI hype and into hands-on implementation. Discover how Google's AI tools—like Notebook LM—can streamline your workflow, enhance learning experiences, and empower your team with credible, well-structured AI outputs. You'll leave with concrete steps and resources to confidently incorporate AI into your learning programs.
Who: Nikki Le Head of Impact Evaluation, Assessment, and Research, Google.
When: 3 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: ELB Learning
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Tue, March 18 - Piercing the Wall: How to report on sexual abuse in schools
What: Learn how to uncover serious educator misconduct inside often insular academic institutions, including finding sources, obtaining documents, earning trust, interviewing trauma survivors, unlocking key stakeholders and holding educators and administrators accountable.
Who: Matt Drange, a reporter based out of Business Insider's San Francisco bureau. He pieced together, "The predators’ playground: Unraveling 40 years of sexual misconduct at a single California high school."
When: 7 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Student Press Law Center
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Wed, March 19 - The Right to Know: Protecting and Expanding Access to Public Records
What: The evolving landscape of government transparency and the fundamental role that information access plays in maintaining an accountable democracy. The discussion will address key topics such as the legal framework behind freedom of information, the obstacles faced by journalists, librarians, researchers, and citizens in securing public records, and the implications of government secrecy on public trust.
Who: Dr. David Cuillier from the Brechner Center for Freedom of Information; Dr. Frank LoMonte, a legal expert; Dr. Kenneth Evans from Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.
When: 12 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Education Committee of the Government Documents Round Table
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Wed, March 19 - Questioning Generative AI Through Zinemaking
What: The self-publishing history of zines includes a long tradition of resistance through storytelling and art. While the explosive growth of generative AI in our society has been embraced by many, those interested in media literacy may have doubts about seemingly endless AI boosterism. In this session, we'll discuss making zines as an accessible way of providing opportunities for everyone to share their thoughts on the impact that generative AI will have on their professional and personal lives. Attendees will learn more about the radical possibilities of zines and create their own minizine exploring their hopes and concerns for generative AI.
Who: Violet Fox is a Cataloging & Metadata Librarian at Northwestern University’s Galter Health Sciences Library. She is the creator of the Cataloging Lab, a wiki designed to encourage collaboration in library metadata.
When: 12 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Media Education Lab
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Wed, March 19 - Unlocking Transparency: State Records Requests for Grassroots Groups
What: This session is designed for grassroots organizations looking to submit state public records requests to uncover critical information and hold government officials accountable. We will cover drafting effective records requests, navigating state-specific laws, engaging with agencies, and overcoming common challenges. Whether you're seeking budget documents, email communications, or policy records, we will break it down for you.
Who: Alissa Lopez, Strategic Partnerships Director at American Oversight; Elizabeth Haddix Senior Counsel at American Oversight; Julia Waddles Researcher at American Oversight.
When: 1 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: American Oversight
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Wed, March 19 - Advanced Prompt Writing for AI
What: After a quick review of prompt-writing fundamentals, we’ll work on prompts that can do specific designs in MidJourney, DALL-E and the LLMs, including designing a no-code website, and how to double-check that code for malware and other mistakes (there are some good free websites for this). We’ll also work more with Perplexity.ai prompts, which we only touched on in earlier sessions.
Who: Mike Reilley Senior Lecturer, University of Illinois-Chicago.
When: 2 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free for ONA members, $25 for nonmembers
Sponsor: Online News Association
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Wed, March 19 - How Photojournalism Can Better Capture Stories of Hope, Resilience and Climate Solutions
What: How compelling visuals can transform climate solutions into engaging stories, the role of diverse storytellers and subjects in illuminating community-led solutions, and practical insights for capturing solutions.
Who: Photojournalists Damaso Reyes and Justin Cook; Moderated by Project Drawdown’s Drew Arrieta.
When: 2 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Project Drawdown, Solutions Journalism Network
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Wed, March 19 - AI for Nonprofits, Part 1: Unlock Generative AI and Microsoft 365 Copilot for Impact
What: We will dive into the essentials of generative AI, address key AI concerns, and demonstrate how nonprofits can benefit from using Microsoft’s AI assistant, Copilot, to achieve their goals.
Who: Joshua Peskay, RoundTable Technology, 3CPO; Kim Snyder, RoundTable Technology, VP of Data Strategy
When: 3:30 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Tech Soup, Microsoft
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Thu, March 20 - The Local Sports Beat
What: News-academic programs of every size are finding success covering local sports beyond campus. In this discussion, we will hear about what’s working in community sports coverage and how it can strengthen university-led reporting programs.
Who: John Affleck, Knight Chair in Journalism at Penn State; Michael Bruce, department chair of Journalism and Creative Media at the University of Alabama, and Molly Yanity, Director of Sports, Media and Communication at the University of Rhode Island.
When: 12 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: University of Vermont
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Thu, March 20 - Breaking money misconceptions: How journalists can get clear about their funding
What: Learn how to combat accusations and build trust by getting on the record about where you get your money, how it influences your coverage and why you rely on community support. Join us as we walk you through best practices of how you can get on the record about your funding. We’ll show examples of how other newsrooms are doing this, and give you sample disclosures you can copy to use in your own reporting.
When: 1 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Trusting News
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Thu, March 20 - Online Reporter Caucus: Understanding the New Higher Ed Landscape
What: Help for reporters to make sense of the quickly evolving landscape for higher education students, staff and communities. Reporters will have the opportunity to share ideas, exchange tips and collaborate.
Who: Megan Henry, reporter, Ohio Capital Journal; Bianca Quilantan, higher education reporter, Politico.
When: 1 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free to EWA members
Sponsor: Education Writers Association
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Thu, March 20 - Covering the Second Trump Administration
What: How what the Trump administration is doing affects journalists covering Long Island and the region. for Long Island media.
Who: PCLI Board Member Bill Bleyer will moderate, a panel of speakers, including: Tom Brune who has covered Washington for Newsday for 25 years, Harold Holzer has been the director of the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College, John C. Zaher, founder of the Public Relations and Marketing Group.
When: 7 pm, Eastern
Where: Zoom
Cost: Free
Sponsor: The Press Club of Long Island
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