Finding the next campus-gate

This session was about investigative reporting, and the speaker was great. He gave me so many good ideas for investigative stories that I'm immediately going to start working on tomorrow. He also stressed accuracy, which can easily be overlooked when you get excited about a story, and giving all sides of the story the chance to respond. He showed us different Web sites and other places to look for good story ideas.

Although he stressed being polite, he also said: "If you're not pissing someone off, you're probably not doing your job." And I find that quite amusing.

Leigh

Keeping the dream alive

Friday morning I tried to go to "Thinking like an editor," but it was overflowing with students. So, I went to this one instead. It was about literary magazines, so it didn't really apply to me that much, but it was still interesting. It also helped to hear about business models and publishing, because I know zero about all that. The speaker was very encouraging, though, about continuing to write and to do whatever you're passionate about even if it doesn't seem like a success.

Leigh

Copy Editing

In this session they explained the role of a copy editor and then gave us a few exercises to practice. I don't feel like it presented anything knew to me. They preached AP style, which I know is important but is nothing new; David does that all the time. The Q&A section at the end was a little more helpful, because students brought up problems and others gave good tips. However, I don't think I learned much from this session.

Leigh

Ins and outs of resumes and portfolios

I actually went to this session by accident--I went into the wrong room. It was still helpful, though. It was basically a question-and-answer forum about what companies and editors look for in resumes and portfolios.

Important things the panel discussed included errors, which can also be errors of omission. You should include any skills you have that are valuable. Do not leave that kind of stuff out of your resume.

A really good idea that one member of the panel had was to set up an online profile/resume Web site. This would make me seem more versatile. It would display my ability to put information online while giving the editor a less time-consuming option to read my resume.

Leigh

General session: politics and the media

A political reporter from CNN named Sam Feist spoke about the role of journalists and about his passion for politics. That man really loves his job. He told us to find an area of journalism that we're really passionate about, and I think that's great advice. That really spoke to me, but a lot of the political stuff didn't mean too much to me; I'm not that interested in politics.

Actually, a lot of what he said spoke to me. For example, he said that our role as journalists is to challenge authority, get the story and make sure those in power are telling the truth. He also said, "If it's something you believe in, do it. Don't worry about the money. The money will come if you're good at it and if you're really passionate about it." I love that, and I think my family needs to hear it!

Leigh

In-depth and special projects reporting

This is another area of journalism that is very attractive to me, but I didn't know you could balance working on a long-term project while still doing your job with other stories. The key is time management.

Chris Adams, the speaker who is a special projects reporter, suggested blocking out so much time each day to spend on your project and also keeping a list so that when you have a break in your regular day you can automatically go do the top thing on your list. He said to "start small, but start doing something." He also stressed talking to your graphics and photo team ahead of time so that they can prepare something that will really go well with your big project.

The speaker said some really interesting things. A student asked about how persistent a reporter should be, especially when some people just don't want to talk. One thing he said that I loved was: "Be persistent; don't really worry about pissing them off." He really topped it of when he said: "We're reporters; we're supposed to be annoying."

Leigh

The daily grind: how to feed the machine without being ground up

This was the first session I went to on Thursday morning. Although we aren't a daily paper, I thought it would be helpful to hear any tips to improve the paper without getting too stressed out.

The speaker gave some good tips, and some of which we had already done. She suggested changing the look of the paper, and we've learned this semester that it definitely works. Even if the writing or the types of stories are no different than previous years, it looks different, so students tend to pick it up more than the same boring paper they saw all last year.

Something she suggested that I'd like to change is to make our editors' meeting longer, so we can do more brainstorming. I'd also like to meet with each reporter when I give him or her a story to discuss different angles and contacts. Then, I'd like to take the time to meet with the reporter after I receive the story to discuss corrections, changes, questions and affirmations. This will take a lot more time, but I think it will pay off in the end.

Leigh

So you want to be a foreign correspondent?

Yes, I want to be a foreign correspondent, so I thought this one sounded like a winner for me. It wasn't exactly what I was expecting, which was maybe another foreign correspondent speaking about the path he took. Instead, representatives from two different institutions talked about opportunities for studying abroad. One of the programs is focused on the media aspect, but the other is mainly about studying another culture.

I'm going to take a serious look into the Institute for Education in International Media, because it seemed like I could gain some invaluable experience about shooting and editing video and doing podcasts, which I know nothing about. The program is only four weeks long, but one student that went to Italy last summer discussed how much she learned and how helpful that experience has turned out to be.

Leigh

Covering the unimaginable: the Collegiate Times speaks about the Virginia Tech shooting

Two editors from the Virginia Tech newspaper spoke about how they handled the tragedy of the shooting and still got a paper out each day that week. They gave good pointers about staying in close communication with your printer about running late and why you're running late. Obviously, they had an excuse to be six hours late, and they were still able to get their paper out the day after the shooting. They said it was very chaotic and that the key was open communication with everyone: reporters, printers, authorities and staff.

They went through other problems, too, when their server crashed and they had to switch over to others around campus. Just getting to hear their story made me think about little things we could do even without a tragedy. They brought up the idea of having a current press pass for everyone on staff and also having policies about how to deal with outside media before any chaos begins. I thought those were good ideas, and I definitely think we should get the press passes.

Leigh

The world of covering the world

The second session I went to Thursday morning was probably my favorite. The speaker was Peter Baker, a White House correspondent for The Washington Post. He was a really great speaker and very interesting. He and his wife have both been foreign correspondents in Russia and Afghanistan.

This session sealed the deal for me. I've really considered the idea of becoming a foreign correspondent, but now it is definitely my goal. He talked about obstacles like the language barrier and the possible danger involved, but it's still what I want to do.

An interesting point Baker made was the problem of taking quotes in another language and writing an English story. You have to be careful to get the quote right and not change the meaning, but you also have to translate it to sound as intelligent as the person you quoted. Some very direct and literal translations end up sounding idiotic.

Leigh