M&M in L.A: The Big Plan

Okay, time to start getting down to the nitty gritty on our big visit. We arrive around 2:30 Saturday and leave at 6 the following Saturday. My big agenda is attached below, as the business types say. Here's the short hand:

Saturday Night: Available for a poker game involving the Christensens, Cohens and Wares-Humes clan, if anyone's up for hosting such a thing.

Sunday-Tuesday: Booked with business

Wednesday: Business ends at 2 p.m. Might hang with Mark's friend McDermott that night

Thursday: Open. I’d like to hang with Kaye in the afternoon, maybe walk up and down second street, stuff like that. Mark will probably play poker, or maybe do whatever he wants. Could be a good night for a fabulous dinner, if Kaye & Val or Laurie was planning on having us over at some time. If not, we do want to play at the Hustler one time, so this might be the night.

Friday: Not sure what time, but I’m going to the Register during the day to check out their new CCI system. Could be a good night for a fabulous dinner, if Kaye & Val or Laurie was planning on having us over at some time. If not, we do want to play at the Hustler one time, so this might be the night.

Saturday: Departure day. We’re going to take it easy and wander around doing whatever till it’s time to leave.

The work agenda:

“Journalism in a 24/7 World:
Decision-making for the Online Editor”
Knight New Media Center
USC Annenberg School for Communication
Los Angeles, CA
September 30 – October 3, 2007

Sunday, September 30: Opening Lunch
12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Introductions and discussion of workshop plan, including what’s expected of the content teams created at time of selection (fellows will be broken into teams of three. Each team will be assigned a news issue or topic which will be the focus of their workshop project.) There will be two teams assigned to each topic, encouraging innovation and diversity in the final projects. Topics will be: Immigration; Election 2008; Climate Change.

1:45 to 3:15 p.m. What is the state of online journalism and your place in it?

Amy Mitchell, deputy director, Project on Excellence in Journalism

3:30 to 5 p.m. Who IS the audience? What do you need to know and why about who they are and how they “consumer” online news? • How do you go about knowing your audience? Review of tools, techniques, data analysis, other strategies, etc. • How do you serve and grow your audience?
MODERATOR/Discussant: Neil Chase, Federated Media
Michael Pond, Nielsen/Netratings representative
Meredith Artley, executive editor, LATimes.com (INVITED)
TBA

6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Reception and Dinner

Program: Informal discussion of what online editors believe their role is within their organization and how it relates to journalism

Monday, October 1 – The Foundation:

8:30 to 10 a.m. Becoming a better online editor – Standards, Quality and Ethics: Manipulation, attribution, verification and deadline decision-making
Presenter/facilitator: Bill Mitchell, Online Editor, Poynter Institute

10:15 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. -- Best practices: Digital story-telling and online integration of multi-media.
Presenter/facilitator: Ashley Wells, Creative Director, MSNBC.com

Board bus to USC Annenberg

Noon to 12:45 p.m. LUNCH on Annenberg Patio or University Club?

1 pm to 2:30 p.m. -- Lawyered-up – Online copyright and fair use of copy, images, video and audio, intellectual property rights Privacy, Libel and defamation
Presenter/facilitator: David Wittenstein via videoconferencing from D.C.

2:45 p.m to 4:15 p.m. -- Best Practices: Writing for online is different Presenter/facilitator:
Eric Ulken, LATimes.com
Rachel Nixon, BBCnews.com

5 to 6:30 – ANNENBERG AUDITORIUM -- Blogs, Mashups, Social Media, Wikis and more – What happens when User Generated Content meets Journalism?
MODERATOR: Michelle Nicolosi, Assistant Managing Editor, Seattle P-I
Amy Gahran, conversational consultant and editor of Poynter Institute's group weblog, E-Media Tidbits
Michael Davidson, CEO of Newsvine
Kinsey Wilson, executive editor, USAToday.com
Neil Budde, editor in chief, Yahoo! News
Mitch Gelman, executive producer, CNN.com

6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Reception with students, faculty and regional journalists.

BOARD SHUTTLE TO BONAVENTURE OR TO A RESTAURANT FOR DINNER AS A GROUP WITH PANELISTS
OR
Working Dinner On Your Own
Teams will brainstorm an online journalism web project focused on the topics to which they have been assigned.


Tuesday, September 2 – The Modules:

9 to 10:30 a.m. Best Practices: Programming & driving engagement – how to program front-page news and other content to drive and deepen user engagement – Would include: Planning Content: How is it done • How to plan portal content on an annual, monthly, weekly and daily basis • Why planning is critical • Can you plan for news? The answer may surprise you. • How do you balance 25+ properties/channels on the homepage of a portal. The Thin Green Line (content, marketing and advertising)
Facilitator/presenter:
Don Sena, MSN.com
Bill Gannon, Lucasfilms

10:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Best practices: Case Studies in Online Decision-making
A discussion facilitated by Don Sena, Bill Gannon and Vikki Porter

12:30 to 2 p.m. Small group breakout Q&A working lunches with topic experts and specialized journalists on content project topics.
Immigration Reform: Marc Cooper, senior fellow Institute for Justice and Journalism
Election 2008: TBA
Climate Change: Jim Detjen, Knight Chair in Environmental Journalism, Michigan State University

2 to 2:30 p.m. Practicum project launch – Bill Gannon

2:30 to ???? Teams work on projects

Working dinner on your own


Wednesday, October 25 – The Practicum Projects

9 a.m. to 11 p.m. Team project presentations with critiques by fellows and faculty

11:15 to 12:15 p.m Taking it Back to Newsroom Exercise with Vikki Porter

12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Graduation Lunch