Wish-I-could-be-there environmental journo training program with Poynter and the SEJ. Details below.

DATE: Nov. 3, 2014
APPLY BY:  Oct 13, 2014

LOCATION: 
Poynter Institute, 801 3rd Street South, St. Petersburg, Florida

Making Science Storytelling Engaging and Accurate

 This is a one-day intensive workshop that will help science and environmental journalists, bloggers and students produce engaging and informative content.

With increasing demand to produce compelling science stories, journalists are also faced with entertainment successes, such as "Shark Week" and "Sharknado," that can confuse scientific fact and fiction. As the need for science stories continues to grow, it has left the American public more misinformed about science than ever.

Join us for a comprehensive day of learning how to pitch, investigate and 

Kelly McBride Vice President  of Academic Programs Poynter Institute

craft compelling science-based stories in a competitive media landscape to accurately inform the public while keeping them engaged.

You'll learn how to:

• breathe excitement into your stories
• pitch to editors
• tap into research tools that make data accessible
• begin an investigation into an individual or organization

The day's schedule: (subject to change)
9:00 a.m. – 9:15 a.m. ~ Welcome

Jennifer BogoExecutive Editor, Popular Science

9:15 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. ~ Session 1, The Pitch with 
Jennifer Bogo
Whether you are a freelance writer pitching various editors, or a staff writer pitching your boss, your pitch must be on target. In this session faculty will walk the workshop audience through the various methods for developing a story ideaand sounding it out to editors.

Angela Posada-Swafford Freelance Science and Exploration Writer

10:45a.m. – 12:00 p.m. ~ Session 2, Getting it Right with Angela Posada-Swafford  
There's so much to get wrong. And it's so difficult to find the right sources to provide the foundation for the best information. In this session, we will describe the methods for judging an expert's appropriateness for contributing to a story, translating scientific jargon into the vernacular and fact-checking the work before publication.

12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. ~ Lunch

1:00 p.m. – 2:15 p.m. ~ Session 3, Longform Science Journalism with 
Angela Posada-Swafford
A time-tried way to engage the public is by telling a good tale. But that requires the ability to organize and execute a complicated project, often within a short time frame. In this session, we will lay out the methods for organizing a long project from conception to publication.

2:30 p.m. – 3:45 p.m. ~ Session 4, Character-driven Stories with 
Jennifer Bogo
Science is often complicated and inaccessible to the audience. One of the best ways to get readers over that hurdle is a character-driven story. In this session we will describe how reporters find characters and bring them to life in stories about science.

3:45 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. ~ Wrap-up

Who Will Benefit: Science and environmental journalists, bloggers, students and anyone interested in reporting about science and the environment.

Price: $79.00
(Lunch is included.)

Price for SEJ members and students: $59.00

Email SEJ HQ  or call 215.884.8174 for the promo code.

REGISTER NOW

DO NOT MISS this two-day-long intensive class for beginners to learn how to produce radio. Details below.

+++++++++++++++++++

Don't just listen to stories, tell your own!

Do you love Ira, have a secret crush on Terry Gross, or wanna be Audie Cornish when you grow up? Come to Radio Camp's October Boot Camp and learn how to produce a radio story from start to finish. 

This hands on class will cover the basics of writing for the ear, (very different than print) and producing for radio using professional equipment and software. The provision of a laptop for financially challenged students is possible. Be prepared to grab your gear and hit the streets. Learn interviewing and mic techniques by doing the real thing. Voicing will also be covered. Students will produce two stories over the course of the weekend. *There will be an hour and a half (approx) of homework on Saturday night.

October 4th and 5th, 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
AT UnionDocs, 322 Union Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11211
More here: http://www.uniondocs.org/radio-boot-camp/

Details below!

—-
Time again for The Kitchen Sisters Recording & Interviewing Workshop. Davia Nelson is holding a new one on July 24 at Francis Coppola's historic Zoetrope building in San Francisco. This three-hour session is designed for those who want to acquire and hone their skills for an array of audio projects–radio, podcasts, online stories, storytelling, oral histories, audio slideshows, family histories, news, documentaries, and other multimedia platforms.

In The Workshop, Davia covers interviewing and micing techniques, sound gathering, use of archival audio, field recording techniques, recording equipment, how to make interviewees comfortable, how to frame evocative questions that make for compelling storytelling, how to build a story, and how to listen (which is harder than it looks).

The workshop is customized to fit the projects you are working on. People who have attended in the past have come from radio, film, multimedia, detective agencies, newspapers, journalism, photography, oral history, historical societies, farms, music, ophthalmology, writing, libraries, archives, web design, restaurants, health care organizations, film, cheese-making and beyond. The groups are always lively and good contacts are made.

The workshop is in North Beach at 916 Kearny St. Of course, snacks will be served.