ONA Weekly #344: Conferences And COVID-19 Decision Framework

Conferences and COVID-19: Decision framework

As restrictions on travel and gatherings went into effect last year, leaders at journalism organizations and associations looked to ONA for ideas to navigate critical decisions about in-person events. We created — and shared with peer organizations — a decision-making framework to monitor the crisis and inform planning. We recently refreshed it based on how the crisis and the response have evolved. If your team also plans events, review ONA’s decision framework. It includes considerations about the public health response, government actions, travel advisories, community feedback, peer organizations, social responsibility and financials.

2020 in review

The prevailing theme for 2020 was adapting and reimagining our work in the context of overlapping crises. At ONA, we developed training, meaningful collaborations and other resources to inspire the journalism community to embrace possibilities beyond the crises. We are honored to share the 2020 Retrospective — a look at our work and impact on journalism during a uniquely challenging year.

Evergreen content meets the magic of email automation

Don’t let your evergreen content rest in the folder of forgotten archives. With email automation and some creative planning, you can adapt them into a series of accessible, bite-sized emails to teach your readers something new. Mini email courses can be a great opportunity to showcase your content expertise, reach an underserved audience, engage your loyal readers in new ways and experiment with new features or niche topics.

Dig deeper: Use Email Automation to Deliver Mini-Courses and Activate your Archives (2019) — video recording and slides highlighting lessons from Pew Research Center, The Washington Post, BuzzFeed and The New Yorker

• Featured experts: Ariana Rodriguez-Gitler, Andrea Caumont, Tanya Sichynsky, Dan Oshinsky
• Takeaways: Use an individual coach’s voice to guide readers through their learning; make each email self-contained; build in progress reminders; and 12 other best practices.

Career opportunities

ONA’s Career Center is an excellent resource for jobs, fellowships and internships in digital journalism. Recent postings include:

• News Director, KUOW Puget Sound Public Radio
• Audience Interaction Producer, The Wall Street Journal
• Social & Presentation Editor, The Colorado Sun
• Executive Director, The Beacon
• Story Editor (Politics), The Intercept, First Look Media
• Managing Editor, The Seattle Times
• Editor in Chief, San Antonio Report
• Managing Editor, MPR News, Minnesota Public Radio
• National Enterprise Reporter, NBC News Digital

On our radar

• As Trump leaves DC, The Palm Beach Post prepares to ramp up coverage, Amaris Castillo for Poynter
• He created the web. Now he’s out to remake the digital world., Steve Lohr for The New York Times
• Oakland news outlet connects with Spanish-language audience using text messages, Joe Lanane for Local Media Association
• Visualizing COVID-19’s impact on hospitals across the country, David Luo and Peter Walker for The COVID-19 Tracking Project
• Women take press lead in Biden era, Sara Fischer for Axios