Five great pre-conference workshops! | ONA 2008 Conference and Awards Banquet

Maximize your time at this year's Online News Association conference by taking one of five workshops Thursday September 11, 2008 before the conference begins:

* Tackle Ruby on Rails applications with Investigative Reporters and Editors
* Have an in-depth conversation about the issues and challenges facing your site
* Examine the use of news games and searchable databases with JLab
* Find out how aspiring journalists can become entrepreneurs on the Web with JLab
* Learn how to integrate video on your site with Washington Post
All these workshops will take place Thursday, Sept. 11 at the Capital
Hilton, 16th at L Street NW, Washington DC

(Fees for these workshops are NOT included in registration for ONA Conference Sept. 12-13.)

1) Dynamic Websites for Newsrooms: A Ruby on Rails Workshop with IRE

You've heard the hype around Web frameworks like Ruby on Rails. Now see why. Investigative Reporters and Editors will host a one-day bootcamp that takes you from the basics to a fully functioning data-driven application in Rails, the Web framework that drives eye-catching projects like Hulu, Scribd, Twitter and parts of several news websites, including the L.A. Times, N.Y. Times and The Associated Press. This bootcamp is geared toward those who already have some advanced skills and are interested in writing database-driven applications for the Web or for their own internal intranets. It's a soup-to-nuts course, in which you'll start with a blank slate and wind up with a fully functional, near Web-ready application. You'll go through a series of hands-on sessions that walk you through every step of the process.

The bootcamp will be limited to 20 participants. Because it's an advanced sequence, please make sure you meet the following prerequisites before signing up:
* Experience with a programming language including PHP, ActionScript or Javascript
* Familiarity with Web database concepts is recommended.

Cost: $150 Non-ONA members, $100 ONA members
Register: Click here to register online! Only 20 spaces available.
NOTE: Participants MUST bring their own laptops to participate. This workshop is NOT being held in a multimedia classroom.

2) Like Minds: Tailored Workshops for Newspapers, Magazines, Broadcast & Standalone Websites

Are you wanting to spend some quality time with others like you, digging deep into issues and challenges facing your Web space? On Sept.11, from 1-4 p.m. at the Capital Hilton, you get this chance. The session will start with Anthony Moor, an ONA board member and online chief from the Dallas Morning News, providing a "State of the Industry"presentation. Then attendees will break into groups for focused conversations. Invited leaders of each session: Catherine Sharick of Time.com for magazines; Dale Steinke of KING5.com for broadcast sites (TV & radio); Jennifer Carroll of Gannett for newspapers; and Neil Budde of DailyMe.com for standalone sites. These people or their co-leaders will be in touch with people who sign up in advance, so that you can seed the conversation with relevant case studies.

The size of the smaller groups (10-20) will allow people to share specific examples, best practices and solutions to your particular challenges. This session is designed to deliver results, for veteran online leaders, but also to involve their counterparts who are also working to stengthen their product -- and their own skill set and mindset. (Note: this session earlier was called "Social Networking & Beyond: Workshops for Newspaper, Magazine, Broadcast & Standalone News Leaders.")

Cost: $30 Non-ONA members, $20 ONA members
Register: Click here to register online! Only 80 spaces available.

3) J-Lab: Playing the News

When does a news "experience" tell the story better than a news "story?" This daylong workshop focuses on what's happening in the world of news games from election, budget, environmental and other exercises. We'll look at the creation, usefulness and ethnics of news games and searchable databases. And we'll hear from both the journalists and the programmers who build the games.

Produced by J-Lab: The Institute for Interactive Journalism
Funded by the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation.

Cost: $60 non-ONA member, $50 ONA members. (Both J-Lab sessions: $80 non-members, $70 ONA members)
Lunch included.
Register: Click here to register online! Only 100 spaces available.
Complete agenda (pdf)

4) J-School Entrepreneurship Bootcamp

What should we teach aspiring journalists these days: Writing and copyediting? Multimedia productions? They need the right mindsets as well as skill sets. Learn how journalism programs around the country are seeding innovative ideas, launching hyperlocal news sites and breeding new media entrepreneurs.

Cost: $30 ONA members, $40 Non-ONA members. Light dinner included.
(Both J-Lab sessions: $80 non-members, $70 ONA members)
Register: Click here to register online! Only 65 spaces available
Complete agenda (pdf)

5) ONA Video Workshop - Online Video 101 from Washington Post's Chet
Rhodes

Chet Rhodes of washingtonpost.com will give a workshop on how to integrate video into your organizations website. Reporters and site managers will come away feeling like video is less daunting and more do-able.

"Chet Rhodes of Washingtonpost.com did a great job of removing the specter of fear from online video. A much less apocalyptic vision of the future. Thanks!" -- Sam Wood, The Philadelphia Inquirer, who attended Chet's workshop at a recent Philadelphia workshop.

When: Thursday, Sept. 11, 2008
9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Lunch included
Register: Click here to register online!