Training seminars abound in March, April

SNPA, KPA, AP to sponsor Traveling Campus in April

The Southern Newspaper Publishers Association and the Kentucky Press Association are sponsoring the SNPA Traveling Campus to be held in Louisville April 17-19 at the Hurstbourne Hotel and Convention Center, off Hurstbourne Lane, and near Interstate 64. Best of all, Traveling Campus sessions are free.

The Kentucky AP Editors Association is helping support attendance of the event which is funded by a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, which promotes excellence in journalism. The three-day extravaganza of sessions will appeal to staffers from every department of your newspaper.

On Wednesday, April 17, sessions will cover readership, computer-assisted reporting, improving writing skills and essential skills for new managers.

Thursday’s schedule includes copy editing and headline writing, succeeding in ad sales, single copy sales and providing extraordinary customer service.

Friday’s session will cover telephone selling skills, building home delivery circulation, design and graphics and photojournalism.

The Traveling Campus is designed so that your staff members can drive in for one day or even a half day, so that newspapers will not have overnight room fees. However, if you do need lodging, it is available at the Hurstbourne Hotel.

Some separate training is being provided at the same time as the KPA Spring Ad Seminar. This includes a three-hour advertising layout and design session and the KPA Advertising Contest luncheon. For that portion of the schedule, a registration fee and lunch fee will be charged. Materials promoting the KPA Spring Ad Seminar will be mailed soon.

A separate program will be held from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 20, for high school journalism advisers.

Watch for additional information on the SNPA Traveling Campus in your mail in mid-March. It will include a registration form.

For additional information, call KPA at (800) 264-5721 and ask for David Thompson, executive director, or David Greer, member services director. Or call SNPA at (404) 256-0444 and ask for Shannon Plaster.


WKU to hold public affairs reporting seminar in March

The Western Kentucky University School of Journalism and Broadcasting, in cooperation with the WKU Society of Professional Journalists and the Kentucky Press Association, is sponsoring a public affairs reporting seminar on Friday, March 15.

The seminar, geared toward those who cover government for their papers, will include a field trip to the Warren County Courthouse. On-campus presentations will be in Room 308 of Gordon Wilson Hall. The seminar’s cost is $30 per person which includes lunch.

Registration will be from 8 to 9 a.m. CST. Participants will depart at 9:15 a.m. for the courthouse. Transportation will be provided by the university.

From 9:30 to 10:30 a.m., Warren County Deputy Court Clerk Janice Beach will show participants how to use courthouse computers to gather information for stories.
From 10:45 to 11:45 a.m., Frank Boyette, a reporter at the Henderson Gleaner, will discuss researching records for stories.

Lunch will be served from 11:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m.

From 12:45 to 1:45 p.m., Matt Batcheldor, a Courier-Journal police reporter, will talk about police reporting.

Linda Blackford, education writer for the Lexington Herald-Leader, will discuss covering the schools from 1:45 to 2:45 p.m.

From 2:45 to 3:45 p.m., C.D. Bradley, government reporter for the Paducah Sun, and Debi Highland, regional editor of the Bowling Green Daily News, will focus on city, county and regional reporting. Bradley will focus on city and county government while Highland will discuss regional coverage and project stories.

There will be five-minute breaks between afternoon sessions so they may run late.

For more information, call Jim Highland, WKU journalism professor, at (270) 745-4143.