Enjoy appetizers and drinks, mingle with your fellow journalists and learn digital skills.
Ken Ward Jr. will discuss two blogs he writes for the Charleston Gazette-Mail, “Coal Tattoo” and “Sustained Outrage.” He will talk about the benefits of beat blogging, the challenges of doing what amounts to more work for the same pay, and also focus on the importance of journalists trying to become experts in particular subject matter if they’re going to perform watchdog reporting on those subjects.
Roxy Todd, WVPB reporter and co-producer of the weekly podcast Inside Appalachia, will discuss tips for podcasters. Topics will include “Don’t Build an Audience, Discover Your Audience,” about connecting to listeners through social media, engaging them by including their input on your podcast, and connecting to listeners on air. Roxy will also share tips for helping sources record themselves on their smartphones for radio-quality recordings. She’ll also talk about WVPB’s new series, The Struggle to Stay: Reporters have spent up to a year following six young people who all have a struggle to stay or leave Appalachia. She’ll share how NPR’s storylab helped the WVPB newsroom craft this series, and what reporters learned when they visited NPR headquarters last summer.