What conversations do you want to lead, join and learn from at ONA20 in Atlanta? The ONA20 Suggestion Box, open now through April 23, is your opportunity to pitch session ideas and presenters focused on the trends and topics most important to you.
We’ve reorganized the pitch process this year around the session formats participants have told us are the most valuable to them. When we publish the program, you will have the opportunity to search by session formats, roles and key areas of focus.
Event designers are learning that most adults prefer a more interactive environment, rather than a passive one. On the whole, most people prefer a chance to create something, or share and reflect on their own experiences. At ONA20, we’re aiming to ensure that most sessions are interactive. We’ll have a variety of sessions along the spectrum of interactive to passive, but will dedicate less space to passive lectures or panels.
Here are the new session formats we are looking for during the pitch process for ONA20, along with the maximum number of presenters each session might reasonably accommodate:
Best practices: provide takeaways for tips and tricks for improving work; 3 presenters max
- Examples: We Built a Product Team in One Year: Here’s Everything We Learned; Reporting on Networked Factions
Case Studies / Under-the-Hood: sessions that provide a deep dive into a project, illuminating both successes and challenges; 2 presenters max
- Examples: Collaborating For Impact: “Case Cleared” Investigative Partnership; VR in Paradise: Behind the Scenes on a Radioactive Atoll
Learn a skill: workshops that provide a hard skill to take back to your organization; 3 facilitators max
- Examples: Explaining the Explainer: How to Make Videos that Resonate; Design and Build a Voice Experience: A Workshop in Two Parts
Masterclass: a solo talk or fireside chat with a topical expert; 2 presenters max
- Examples: News Events with Margaret Low of The Atlantic; Journalism in the Climate Change Era with Gina McCarthy
Panel: a nuanced dive into a complex topic or challenge; 5 presenters max, including a moderator
Research: new information about the latest trends in news; 2 presenters max
- Examples: Locally Sourced Reporting: Are Americans Missing Out?; Getting People to Pay for Local News Online
Solutions gathering: get a group of people together in your network to dive into a current challenge and work to define a solution; 2 facilitators max
- Examples: Parenting in the Digital Newsroom, Speed Dating Style; SRCCON Takeover: A Salon from OpenNews and Journalists of Color Slack to Rest and Get Support
Template building: collaborate together on a template organizations could use to start a project or initiative, or improve workflows; 2 facilitators max
- Examples: Creating Guidelines for Machine Learning in the Newsroom; How to Get Sh** Done in a Remote Workplace and Beyond
The deadline for Suggestion Box submissions is April 23, 2020, at 11:59 p.m. ET. Explore resources for pitching: