Night in the Hilton Lobby

Our first experience with backpack journalism.

How to Rebirth Yearbooks

How to Rebirth Yearbooks
Kenna Griffin, Oklahoma City University

This was by far my favorite session. Kenna is amazing! I have so many ideas on how to make sure every copy of the Potpourri is distributed this year. I really want to have a distribution party when the yearbook comes in. I plan to have such an event it will put any SAB event to shame. It is definitely going to be a big deal! Again I was reminded how lucky we are to have the yearbook fee included in the price of tuition.

Lela Coker

Libel Fundamentals

Libel Fundamentals: What Everyone Needs to Know
Rodger Soenksen, James Madison University

Libel is the written form of defamation. There are two forms of libel, libel per se and libel per quod. It is much harder to libel a public figure or public official. The defenses for libel are fair comment, truth and statute of limitations.

We also talked about New York Times v. Sullivan and Gurz v. Welch. This session was a crash course in Communication Law.

Lela Coker

Sex, Love and Rock of Ages

Sex, Love and Rock of Ages: Handle with Care
Karen Sorensen, Azusa Pacific University

I was interested in going to this session because it was geared towards exploring taboo topics in church-related schools. While NSU isn’t a church-related school, it is defiantly in a conservative area. After the yearbook a few years ago covered a few controversial issues that were not well received, I wanted to head how church-related schools covered topics of that nature.

The first thing I learned was sex isn’t bad and we have a right to be loyal to readers. Also, writing an article on sex is not a reflection of the writer’s ideas or morals. They are just presenting what they found. Sex stories shouldn’t be written just for shock value, but instead to inform readers. Sorensen related sex to a physical and mental health issue.

Ideas to cover sex-related stories tastefully:
• Use pressing health issues, such as the HP virus.
• Talk to health experts in your area to find out what patients are asking about the most.
• Localize national sex health care headlines
• Explore myths and share the truth

One thing Sorensen emphasized the most was the importance was talking to health care providers and not relying on just internet research.

Lela Coker

Covering the Unimaginable

Covering the Unimaginable: The Collegiate Times Speaks About the Virginia Tech Shooting
Kelly Furnas and Amie Steele, Virginia Tech

This session gave pointers on a few things that all staffs should know in case a tragedy was to happen. Furnas and Steele also shared the stress of the week and things they had to think about before each deadline. I enjoyed this session a lot. I did not realize the impact a college publication can have in a time of crisis. The Collegiate Times had a big part in telling the story of April 16, 2007 and the days to follow.

Things to think about:
• Remember who you are writing for. Keep the focus on the readers and the community.
• Keep open communication with third parties. Steele had to be in communication with the printer because they missed the deadline by six hours but still wanted to the paper to come out as early as possible.
• Expect chaos, but stay focused. Stress and chaos isn’t a reason to get sloppy.
• Everybody needs a press pass.
• Have a policy in place concerning other news sources. The Collegiate Times shared their stories and photographs with other colleges and major news sources around the world.

Lela Coker

Writing Sports Columns and Blogs

Writing Sports Columns and Blogs
Joe Gisondi, Eastern Illinois University

I know sports aren’t usually my favorite section of journalism, but as the editor I thought it wouldn’t hurt me to be well rounded. Plus, Lauren and Brittany said such great things about Gisondi from a section the day before, I thought I would give it a try. I should have gone to a general sports writing session and not one about sports columns, but there were still a few things that can be applied to our yearbook sports writers.

• Go to the team’s practices, not just their home games
• Build a relationship with the coaches.

Sports Columns hints:
• Have a clear voice
• Read other respected sports columns
• Have a different point of view
• Don’t use “I” to much, readers will know it is your column
• Don’t focus on yourself
• Make sure you column is newsworthy
• Avoid clichés
• Pose a question
• Try to get people to think
• Put links in your blog. It makes it more transparent.

Lela Coker

Niche Marketing

Niche Marketing
Linda Puntney, Kansas State University

First, let me say how thankful I am that our students pay for the yearbook in their tuition and we do not have to rely on selling it ourselves. I thought this session would give us pointers for distributing the yearbook in the spring, but instead we discussed selling the yearbook. Puntney talked about promoting the yearbook before it comes out. A lot of schools have trouble getting students to buy a yearbook, which affects their budget. I am glad we do not have to stress about yearbook sells. I am, however, going to spend more time planning our distribution in the spring. It is important that as many students as possible pick up the yearbook.

Lela Coker

Managing a Staff:Knowing When to Lead or Get out of the Way

Managing a Staff: Knowing When to Lead, Follow or Get Out of the Way

Vince Filak, Ball State University

The three main things I learned was the difference between editing and fixing things myself and how the editor’s attitude affects the rest of the staff.

• Editing is reading someone’s work, making corrections and then making time to meet with them to go over the changes. By doing this you can focus on the things they did well and explain the things the areas they are struggling in. Editing makes it a learning experience. It will also help improve their writing skills.

• Fixing it myself is what I do most of the time because it is easier and takes less time, however, it is not to the benefit of the writer. From now on, I am going to make an effort to make more time to go over stories with the writers.

• The editor’s attitude rubs off on the rest of the staff. If I set a good example of being positive, hard-working and timely, hopefully the rest of the staff will follow.

Lela Coker

Feature Does Not Mean Fluff

Feature Does Not Mean Fluff
Tan Ly, Financial Design Director Deputy News Editor, The Washington Post

I was very disappointed in this session. It said it was for yearbook/design/newspaper, but all the examples were of newspaper. Don’t get me wrong: there were some really neat ideas for newspaper, but I was expecting to see a few yearbook layouts. Most of the main points could be applied to yearbook and newspaper.

• The content should drive the design
• Designing takes planning, brainstorming, gathering information and collaborating with reporters, photographers, section editors and design editors.
• Dominant photos are the main visual draw for the page.
• Quotes can be used a graphic.

Lela Coker

Managing the Chaos

Managing the Chaos
Mark Witherspoon, Iowa State University

This wasn’t my favorite session but I was reminded of a few things:
• Make sure your staff knows how much fun journalism is when it is done right.
• Decide you want to be excellent and then study other excellent publications. Compare your publication to these publications and take notes and set goals!
• Let your staff know why y’all do what y’all do. This will help them understand there is a reason for certain things and they will be more likely to remember it. Try to avoid saying “because I said so.”
• Nurture relationships with people outside the newsroom like President Webb, the university vice presidents and Sheila Gentry.

Lela Coker

How to Cover Your Campus Effectively

How to Cover Your Campus Effectively
Sally Turner, Eastern Illinois University

I learned from this session that sources are everywhere on campus. As journalist we should always have our ears open for story ideas. The best leads can come from overhearing someone else’s conversation.

Here are a few other tidbits:
• Cover the entire campus, not just the department that houses student publications
• The yearbook is a record of the year so include all the major events and how they affected students
• Cover events while they are happening. (I wish we would have covered Spring Fling, Greek Week, and last year’s spring sports stories while they were happening.)
• Localize national news. Find out how state and national news affects your campus.

Lela Coker