JEA/NSPA Spring National High School Journalism Convention 

Pre-convention workshops

Thursday, April 7
8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Start your convention experience early with a pre-convention workshop Thursday, April 7. These half-day and full-day workshops offer in-depth instruction in a specific track.

Additional fees and advance registration is required. Last day to register is March 15 or when workshops reach capacity.

 

Leadership: Building a successful staff culture  |  $40
8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Limit 70.

Your publication is up and running. Now it’s time to refine your leadership skills and put into practice the best methods for growing staffers, mediating conflict, and creating a culture of excellence. 

In this workshop led by Annie Gorenstein Falkenberg, CJE, adviser at Longmont (Colorado) High School, and Carrie Faust, MJE, adviser at Smoky Hill High School, Aurora, Colorado, participants will explore leadership styles and strategies, feedback protocols, motivating staffers, and managing workflow.

You will leave this class with the tools you need to create communication pathways, an understanding of who you are as a leader and how that interacts with others’ styles, and strategies to grow your staff with positive and productive feedback.

 

Student Press Freedom 101  |  $25
8:30 a.m. to noon. Limit 40.

This workshop shares an overview of censorship, libel, invasion of privacy, copyright, access to records and meetings and reporter’s privilege presented by Student Press Law Center’s resident legal experts — superheroes who have helped thousands of students across the country.

 

New Voices skills training   |  Free
1-5 p.m. Limit 40.

Presented by Student Press Law Center staff, this workshop will help you use your voice to advocate for student journalists.

Students will leave this skills workshop with all the tools needed to tell your story and make student press freedom the law in your state. 

 

Writers’ workshop  |  $40
8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Limit 40.

If you’re looking for ways to sharpen and brighten your writing so others will clamor to read it, this interactive workshop is for you. 

This seminar, led by Pete LeBlanc, CJE, Antelope (California) High School, will entertain and inspire as we analyze excellent writing and apply the pros’ techniques to your work. 

Whether you need to write a catchy headline or a 2,000-word feature, you’ll learn to improve every aspect of your writing as we discuss leads, voice, narrative style and literary devices to tighten and strengthen your writing. 

 

Broadcast and video boot camp  |  $40
8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Limit 40.

In this hands-on workshop, beginning and intermediate students will learn the fundamentals of creating an effective news package from the ground up. 

This includes videography, sound recording, editing and story structure. Working in small teams, participants will spend the morning developing their videography skills and planning a story, and the afternoon shooting and editing that story. 

Participants must bring their own video cameras, tripods, microphones and laptops with editing software. Please test and become familiar with your equipment before attending the session, as the presenters may not be familiar with your specific hardware/software. 

 

Online and social media boot camp  |  $40
8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Limit 40.

Are you overwhelmed with the thought of managing a website, a social media presence, multimedia posts, and even live coverage online? 

This workshop, led by Chris Waugaman, MJE, will cover online storytelling using Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram and the many third-party social media platforms in addition to incorporating video and audio content into your WordPress site. Your online team will leave with a plan to execute online storytelling with best practices in social media, multimedia posts, and live coverage. 

Participants may want to have login and password data available to use from their own site. All participants must bring either a laptop or tablet device.  

 

Digital photography workshop  |  $40
8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Limit 70.

Designed for photographers who have at least one year’s experience shooting for their publications, this intensive workshop will cover composition, lighting, cropping and camera technique. 

Led by Michael Simons, MJE, and Jed Palmer, CJE, participants will receive instruction and be given a photo assignment within the hotel.

Following the photo shoot, the instructors will critique students’ work and offer editing tips and techniques. 

Participants must bring a digital camera, and they are encouraged to bring a laptop computer with the photo-editing program (Photoshop, Lightroom) they will use. 

An off-site permission form is required for each student attending this workshop.

 

Redesign seminar  |  $40
8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Limit 40.

During this intensive, hands-on, one-day design seminar, newspaper, newsmagazine and yearbook students will actually redesign elements of their publications.

Led by Amy DeVault, Wichita State University, students will study advanced packaging techniques, including modular design, typography, marriage of elements, negative space and photo packaging. 

Students need to bring some of their favorite magazines. Students also are required to bring the most current version of their publication and to have a laptop computer with a working version of InDesign.

 

Photoshop workflow  |  $25
8:30 a.m. to noon. Limit 40.

Taught by Mark Murray, Santa Fe, New Mexico, participants will learn to use Adobe Photoshop. This workshop will emphasize a basic workflow for preparing photographs for publication. 

Some laptops will be available; however, participants may bring their own laptops with Adobe Photoshop CS6 or later installed. Two students may share one laptop. 

This session is open to both students and advisers.

 

Advanced InDesign  |  $25
1-5 p.m. Limit 40.

Take your design skills to the next level with this seminar that will show you how to use the power of InDesign to streamline your publication production. 

Bradley Wilson, MJE, Midwestern State University, Wichita Falls, Texas, will cover libraries, styles and other InDesign tricks. 

Some laptops will be available for participants; however, if you bring your own laptop please have Adobe InDesign CS6 or later installed. Two students may share one laptop.