This year’s Maine Press Association annual conference will offer something for everyone — reporters, editors, ad reps, designers, publishers, as well as the family and colleagues of this year’s three Hall of Fame inductees and anyone interested in hearing about the internal workings of the New York Times. And more!

Sure to be memorable for the awards ceremony alone and the honoring of Maine newspapers’ best work in 2018-2019, this year’s fall conference will also offer:
• A newsroom bootcamp on three topics: 1) Dealing with a combative public and threats 2) An open records primer 3) A look into the world of today’s college newspapers, hosted by Maine college newspaper editors
• A session on design, for both print and web
• An advertising workshop on successful selling
• A reporters’ roundtable offering free-flowing discussion on issues of the day
• A look at the Portland Press Herald collaboration with Google and newspapers across the U.S. developing new strategies for boosting readership and revenue through digital subscriptions
• A keynote talk by Maine native and New York Times Assistant Managing Editor Rebecca Corbett

Of course the conference will also feature the popular Hall of Fame luncheon, an address by last year’s Journalist of the Year J.W. Oliver of the Lincoln County News, the delightful and raucous scholarship fundraising auction, and many opportunities to talk with other journalists from across the state.

The conference is set for Oct. 19 at the DoubleTree by Hilton Portland Hotel, 363 Maine Mall Road, South Portland. We’ve negotiated a super hotel rate ($109) for the nights of Oct. 18-19 for MPA members and guests at the DoubleTree.

To book your room, call the DoubleTree at 1-800-774-1500 and reference Maine Press Association. For online bookings, go to portlandme.DoubleTree.com and use group code MPR (yes, MPR). Hotel reservation deadline is Friday, Sept. 27. The hotel will try but cannot guarantee group rate and room availability beyond this date.

You can find conference registration information and a registration form on the MPA website at www.mainepressassociation.org (look for the 2019 Fall Conference tab on the top left). Conference registration deadline is also Friday, Sept. 27.