A full day of events is planned for the MPA’s Fall Conference on October 18, including editorial and advertising sessions, plus a Photo & Video Help Desk. Here are the session details:
New Session! Reporting on Suicide: Safe Reporting Guidelines (editorial) 9:00 am – 10:15 am
Each year, approximately 200 people die by suicide in Maine and the past decade has seen those numbers increase. Sometimes the loss occurs in a manner or to a person that is newsworthy. How media reports on a suicide death can have a significant impact on the risk for suicide contagion in other vulnerable people. The recent death of Robin Williams presents us with a good example of such a newsworthy death by suicide. This session will look at suicide in Maine and recommendations on reporting suicide in a manner that increases help-seeking not additional suicides. Led by Greg A Marley, LCSW, Clinical Director of NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) Maine and a well-known suicide expert in Maine. Marley has developed and presented suicide prevention and assessment education to multiple partners across Maine and the USA. He lives and reads the local media in Rockland.
Keeping it Fresh Roundtable (editorial) 9:00 am – 10:15 am
How many times can you cover the same meeting, annual event, or similar events, without boring yourself and your readers to tears? Do you cover the 4th of July fireworks with just a photo or do you ask some folks what they think is so special about the occasion? Been to your 100th Baked Bean Supper? Who there will share the secret family recipe? Town council fighting over the budget again? Hard to make readers care when the reporter obviously doesn’t. This session will collect concerns and frustrations from participants and share ways others have found to keep the pages of our papers and websites fresh and interesting. Moderated by Earl Brechlin, Editor, Mount Desert Islander.
Keeping It Fresh Roundtable (advertising) 9:00 am – 10:15 am
Tired of that same old special section? Can’t bear the thought of gearing up to sell another county fair bannered page? Come to this session to hear and share ideas on how to freshen up your approach to selling advertising. Bringing new ideas to customers is the best way to position yourself as a marketing expert and someone who cares about the results you generate for your customer.
Photo & Video Help Desk 9:00 am-Noon
The doctors are in! Have a nagging question about the best way to approach a visual assignment? Do wish you knew what all those buttons on your camera did? Do you need a better digital workflow? Wondering what’s the best way to get rid of ‘camera shake’ in your videos? Do you just want to talk shop and pick the brains of Maine’s best photojournalists? Now you can. Maine Press Association Vice President Troy R. Bennett has assembled a crack team of the Pine Tree State’s best shooters. They’ll be on hand all morning to answer questions, brainstorm solutions and shoot the breeze. If they can’t guide you to an answer, nobody can.
Going Digital: Managing Change in a 21st Century Newsroom (editorial) 10:30 am – 11:45 am
Do you sometimes find yourself saying, “there’s got to be a better way, I just don’t know what it is”? Newsrooms, and the way news is produced, is changing at a rapid rate. It’s no longer enough to create excellent journalism on a deadline. Considerations must also be made for print, web, social media, mobile apps and multimedia tie-ins when assigning and crafting a story—sometimes simultaneously. How are you navigating this change? Who is responsible for what? How has this changed the production process and what resources have you found to help you? What HAS worked in your newsroom—or better yet—what HASN’t worked? Come and share your experiences and learn from others who are also grappling with these issues. Moderated by Faith DeAmbrose, Managing Editor of Penobscot Bay Press, publishers of The Weekly Packet, Castine Patriot and Island Ad-Vantages.
What’s NOW and What’s NEXT! (advertising) 10:30 am – 11:45 am
Mobile, SEM, Audience Extension, E-mail, Social – With all of today’s choices what digital products are advertisers in Maine buying? What’s working and what’s next? Our panel of experts will look at the challenge and choice in today’s digital marketing landscape. Moderated by Mark Hardin, Digital Sales Manager at MaineToday Media. Panelists include Chris Stanley of Lamey-Wellehan Shoes; Abbie McGilvery, owner of Abbie McGilvery LLC; Hillary Dow, owner of Live Work Play Maine; and Jenika Pouliot, Marketing Director of Page One Web Solutions.
Don’t miss the tour!
One of the most highly anticipated events at this year’s annual conference in Lewiston-Auburn will be a lively tour of the Twin Cities during Saturday afternoon’s open session. Join us as we start with a Baxter Brewery tour and sampling, and end at Lisbon Street’s The Vault for a wine tasting. In between, our tour bus will take the group to view or visit several community highlights. Details to come, but they will likely include brief stops at Museum L-A, the Kora Temple Shrine and the Basilica at Saints Peter and Paul, the largest cathedral north of Boston.
The tour will begin at 2 p.m. at the conference venue, the Hilton Garden Inn Auburn Riverwatch, and end at about 5 p.m. After the wine tasting, the bus will return to the Hilton for the ever-popular Scholarship Auction and the evening’s festivities. The tour is free and open to the first 40 people to sign up. Contact Mark Mogensen at the Sun Journal at 689-2805 or mmogensen@sunjournal.com to register.
Going, going, gone? Auction items sought
The MPA is seeking items for the ever-exhilarating annual auction to benefit its scholarship fund for journalism students at the University of Maine. Each year, the auction gives bidders a chance to buy items at a substantial discount off retail while supporting a good cause.
Among the more popular items in past years are stays in Maine vacation cottages, whale watch tickets, passes for rounds of golf, hotel stays, restaurant gift certificates, ski lift tickets, as well as books, videos and promotional merchandise from member paper sway closets.
Auctioneer Earl Brechlin of the Mount Desert Islander notes the success of the auction depends entirely on the generosity of members and friends of the MPA. “It’s a great chance to help younger folks on the way up and have a lot of fun doing it,” said Brechlin.
Items can be brought to the conference so they can be displayed prior to the start of the live auction. Some larger items may be done by silent auction bidding.
The auction will begin at 5:30 p.m. prior to the annual banquet and awards, during the annual Fall Conference. If you have something to donate, please contact the MPA at mainepressmail@gmail.com.