ONA Local

WHAT IS ONA LOCAL?

ONA has members all around the world. How can they connect beyond our annual conference?

We took the open-source approach to community building, relying on the expertise and strengths of digital journalists and their extended communities to organize events both online and off in cities around the globe.

Our ONA Local communities are run by volunteer leaders: members deeply invested in learning how to do their jobs better and to share that knowledge with the community. Their events are as individual as the regions they hail from, and can include networking meetups, training sessions and talks by industry experts — all serving as a great way to make connections, share resources and build skills.

ONA Local groups include:

  • Domestic

    • International

      • Student

        • Academic

          • Head here for a complete list of all ONA Local groups with their links to social networks.

          STEPS FOR STARTING A GROUP

          • Contact ONA’s Community Engagement Manager, Jeanne Brooks jeanne@journalists.org

          • Identify a diverse group of 3 to 8 leaders

          • Seek out partners and sponsors to help you host events

          • Work with ONA to build community online and off

          RULES AND REGULATIONS FOR THE ONA LOCAL COMMUNITY

          • Any digital presence using the ONA name or logo must be approved by ONA Central PRIOR to creation

          • All sponsorships for any ONA-related events must be approved and run through ONA Central

          • ONA Central should be notified of any events prior to or upon announcement

          • Please refer to your group as an ONA Local group; for legal reasons we ask that you don’t use the term chapter

          • Budgets for events are extremely limited for hosting Local events

          TIPS AND BEST PRACTICES

          • Every group is different. Your community has different resources and needs and you should organize accordingly.

          • Diversity is key: people, approaches, tools and technologies. Connecting with people and tools outside of your natural stream opens up new possibilities and helps you unlock blind spots. This is great for innovation and advancement in the field and is an important ingredient to a successful community.

          • Assign roles to team leaders. There’s lots of little details that go into pulling off a successful event. Assigning roles breaks up the tasks and helps each leader hone their skills.

          • When seeking out community partners and hosts for events look to local universities and colleges, free public spaces, media entities, technology start-ups or even just your local bar.

          • Work within your means. While large events with big name speakers and fancy tools are neat, there’s value in the little things, too. Don’t underestimate the power of gathering a small group for casual conversation.

          • Be consistent. Not every group has the time or resources to pull off monthly events. Perhaps every other month or quarterly works better for you. Be realistic about what your group can accomplish, stick to a regular schedule and communicate.

          • COMMUNICATE! Make sure you’re letting the community know what your goals are for the group, what resources you need and what resources are being shared. ONA will create a Meetup.com page for your community and you can use that as a tool to keep folks updated on new events, send messages requesting partners or sponsors and sharing resources created

          • Make sure you’ve notified ONA prior to announcing the event. This assures that journalists.org is updated and allows for ONA to assist with promotions and support for the event.

          • Work with ONA to build community online and off.

          HOSTING EVENTS 101

          • Running the registration table: 2-3 volunteers are generally required to run the registration table. It’s helpful to have a computer to check people in or to have print-outs of the registration list. If people have not RSVP’d in advance, we recommend asking for an email address. This will help you with future promotions. Name tags are encouraged and Meetup.com makes it easy to print straight from their site.

          • Promote the Local community and ONA membership and be sure to thank all sponsors and community partners. If you’re looking for talking points on ONA membership you can head to the member benefits page.

          • Event checklist:
            • Projector
            • Screen
            • Power cords
            • Laptops
            • Mics
            • Dedicated internet for presenters
            • Name tags
            • Pens
            • Notebook