TODAY'S SCHEDULE

SATURDAY, AUG. 23

Breakfast
9:30AM-10:45AM

Breakout Sessions
9:30AM-10:45AM

Breakout Sessions
11:00AM-12:15AM

Lunch Plenary
12:30PM-2:00PM

Breakout Sessions
2:15PM-3:30PM

Closing Session
3:45PM-5:15PM

Authors' Café
3:45PM-5:45PM

Not-So-Silent Auction
6:45PM-8:45PM

View the full schedule here

TODAY'S WEATHER

WHAT IS NLGJA?

Find out more about NLGJA at the official website.

MENTORS

A big thanks to our mentors:

Brett Zongker
The Associated Press

Caroline K. Hauser
The Washington Post

Mark S. Luckie
Entertainment Weekly

Larry M. Shaw
ABC

Dennis M. Powell
ABC

Doug Mitchell
NPR

Convention has many opportunities for attendees

by Kandice Day

One thing that is on every journalist's mind these days: survival.

This year's NLGJA national convention will attempt to ease pink-slip paranoia by adding many professional development sessions including extensive online training.

"We want to help members get into newsrooms and stay in newsrooms," deputy executive director Thomas Cashman Avila said.

While the topic on everyone's minds may be surviving an economic disaster in which journalists seem in limbo, it is NLGJA's hope that, at least for this week, a dissolved passion for the work will reignite.

True to its word, NLGJA Goes to Washington is offering five sessions ranging from blogging to managing Web videos, as opposed to the 2007 convention which showcased only two sessions educating NLGJA members on new technology.

The 2008 convention presents three survival sessions to help journalists prepare for the future.

NLGJA's executive director David Barre said conventions on the East Coast usually draw a larger crowd than the West. It is NLGJA's commitment to staying on top of an ever-changing field that will hopefully raise registration numbers, he said.

The online skills training, a "mini retreat" as Avila nicknames it, begins with a session on Friday and ends with a "Beyond the Basics" session late Saturday. It's a way to not only improve rusty techniques, but learn some new ones.

Being on the cutting edge of news also means sticking to what works and those staples are easy to find at the convention. Some prefer politics, some prefer entertainment, but no matter the preference, workshops are expected to be filled.

This year Elliot Spitzer, Jim McGreevy and Larry Craig will be discussed in "Strange Bedfellows." Opening day will also feature many politically themed sessions, introducing members to the flavor of Washington with a bit of NLGJA flare.

"The March on News Coverage" will take members on a journey to a time of hard news and away from entertainment.

The lunch plenary on Friday, which will feature guest speaker Cambridge, Mass. Mayor E. Denise Simmons, is an opportunity to be introduced to openly gay women in politics. Simmons is the first mayor in the country to be open about her sexuality and will share her experiences and viewpoints on the infamous glass ceiling.

Saturday features the Author's Café, which allows for a "new perspective into the work" that members do every day, Avila said. Due to the popularity of past Author's Cafés NLGJA decided to add more time to the schedule.

"Use these two hours wisely," he said. "They are a nice break from sessions without actually leaving the convention."

Some may assume every journalist secretly, or not so secretly, dreams of writing the great American novel. Regardless of anyone's opinion, publishing sessions are included in every NLGJA convention. This year's "Writing (& Selling) The Personal Memoir" will give members a chance to take the first step in reaching that dream.

Organizers say the convention schedule was designed to redirect the helplessness many journalists are experiencing in an uncertain job market.

"We want to remind people why they went into this business; why they drive into the office everyday," Avila said.