The following are sessions confirmed for this year's Fall Conference. Sessions will be added as they are confirmed.
The official programs will be
given to delegates at registration at Arledge Auditorium at Lerner
Hall, 115th St. and Broadway on Monday, November 2, 2009.
Registration opens at 8 A.M.
9:30 a.m. – 10:15 p.m.
ADVISERS
Adviser’s Game Plan
Alena Cybart. Some newspaper staff members work hard while
others hardly work. Get tips, strategies and lessons plans to increase
productivity for all members of your class or club.
ALL PUBLICATIONS
Learning Photoshop Part 1
Eric Rowse. Learning Photoshop basics, the Adobe Bridge
fundamentals and using Photoshop modes.
Learning InDesign Part 1
Jerron Smith. Basic tools and navigation in InDesign.
Forward-thinking Design
Bruce Watterson. We know. It is not easy to implement
first-class looks every time. Make publication planning and design more
engaging, urgent and fun for readers. Learn how to combine text, graphics, and
photos and to use new design technologies to tell compelling, dynamic stories.
DIGITAL MEDIA
Geo-social media for an uncharted era
Alan Murray. Learn how you can channel the power of social
media, interactive outlets, and creative media business practices to engage
with their audiences and work together to discover and report the world like
the professional media.
Convergence Basics
Jacob Palenske.
Just like the title says, this is the intro class. What is
convergence, how and why is it happening, why should my students learn this,
what will I need with regards to equipment and software, etc.
LAW & ETHICS
Roundtable: Press Rights and Private Schools
Tracy Anne Sena. Advisers and students are invited to discuss your rights as student
journalists at private schools including the constraints, special issues and
challenges.
MAGAZINES
From Breath to Book-Page: Writing Autobiographically
Erica Fabri. Most writers have the desire to turn their own “story” into a work
of art. We will discuss the responsibility the writer has to not only “tell”
their story, but to allow the reader to “meet” each character from their life,
“visit” each place the writer has inhabited, and to learn to love or hate on
the page in the same way the author did when experiencing each moment in the
flesh.
Meter without Stress
Dean Kostos. Learn an understanding of poetic meter. It will
enhance your understanding of the craft of poetry, particularly poetry written
in the past. It will also be useful to all writers of poetry, even those who
prefer free verse.
Those Early Books
Christian McEwen. Attend this hands-on workshop on how to use children’s
literature as source and inspiration.
NEWSPAPER
In-depth, Enterprise reporting
Jenny Dial. The biggest trend in newspapers is enterprise stories- the story
beyond the story. How to take a topic and dig deep to write take-out features
that will make your readers think.
Why Nobody Reads Your Paper
Robert Greenman. How to make the very next issue of your paper more
interesting, relevant, timely, consequential and journalistically impressive
than the one you just published.
The Art of the Editorial
Melissa McLaney. The editorial sections of high school newspapers are often
home to teenage gripes, personal rants, and unsupported complaints. Learn how
to back your claims with reporting & researching and write a top-notch
editorial.
Basics of News Leads and News Writing
Helen Smith. How to provide well-written leads and stories to serve your
readers’ needs.
Verbal-Visual Connection
Ray Westbrook. Today’s newspapers needs much more than just outstanding photos
to engage the viewer. Captivating visuals, interesting headlines, secondary
coverage, and color are all tools you can use to create a lively design.
PHOTOGRAPHY
The environmental portrait
Mark Murray. A portrait can be more than just a likeness of a person. Expand
your options for your newspaper, yearbook or literary magazine by incorporating
portraits that do more than show you what the person looks like.
Basic Digital Photography
Mike Simons. Good for any new photographer, this workshop
will cover basic rules of composition and developing "The Eye" of the
photographer, regardless of equipment.
YEARBOOKS
Make Your 2010 Yearbook Amazing
Paul Ender. We'll start with 10 ways to make your yearbook
great... and then talk about another 10 considerations for raising the bar even
more. You'll see hundreds of examples from coast to coast as well as learning
some specific guidelines that will help you set your book apart.
Yearbook Editors-How to get the job done
Kathy Zwiebel. Join us to discuss leadership, organization,
motivation and staff management tips.
Build Your Writing Career Before Graduating Liz Funk. Learn how to write professionally and build a career writing for local and national newspapers, magazines and web sites before even graduating high school.
10:30-11:15 a.m.
ADVISERS
Motivate for sanity
Mary Kay Downes A veteran adviser provides survival tips and
inspiration for the best group of people in the universe – publications
advisers. Come and laugh, de-stress and leave with tips to survive
another year.
ALL PUBLICATIONS
An Introduction to Columbia Admissions
Peter Johnson. Students interested in applying to Columbia College or
the Fu Foundations School of Engineering and Applied Sciences can meet
with this admissions representative to find out about the application
process.
Learning Photoshop Part 2
Eric Rowse. Navigating the workspace, exploring the selection tools and an introduction to layers.
Learning InDesign Part 2
Jerron Smith. Setting up and working with templates.
DIGITAL MEDIA
Writing and Reporting for Online Media Jacob Palenske. Learn how to
adapt the normal reporting schedule and structure to facilitate
up-to-the-minute online journalism, as well as how to use converged
information sources like Twitter and Facebook to generate content
ideas. We’ll also talk about how to choose the appropriate
format/distribution method for content.
MAGAZINES
The Right Side of Copyright Law
Adam Goldstein. Copyright law limits your ability to use others’
cartoons/photos but also protects your works from use by others. Learn
what’s legal and what’s not.
See, Hear, Smell, Taste, Touch: The Five Senses in Writing
Erica Fabri. The five senses are the only colors you are given to paint
a picture with. We will read samples of authors and discuss how they
are able to re-create sights, sounds, scents, tastes, and feelings with
words and then complete a writing exercise to generate vivid and
luscious sensory images.
Making Music Without Music
John Hampson. Song structure will be discussed by songwriter John Hampson. Groups will then create their own lyrics.
Persona Poems & Dramatic Monologues
Dean Kostos. The word “persona” means “mask.” Enlarge your poetic voice
by writing as anyone or anything. Paradoxically, you will learn more
about yourself.
Slow Down for Poetry
Christian McEwen. Learn how to find space for writing in a souped-up world.
NEWSPAPERS
Making your Sports Page Writing Pop to Capture Readers
Jenny Dial.
Learn how to engage your readers to read more than just the scoreboards.
How Not to Let the Administration Push You Around
Robert Greenman. How administrators attempt to manipulate, intimidate
and subvert high school reporters, editors and advisers, and what you
can do about it.
The Music of Writing
Michael Lydon. Make your writing sing! Exercises and ideas on how to
“musicalize” your writing with rhythm, phrasing, word sounds,
opposites, emotion, and more.
The State of the Journalism Industry
Melissa McLaney. What types of journalism jobs will be out there when
you’re ready to enter the field? What should you do now to begin
building up your resume? How do you start networking with editors?
Learn how to focus on internships, networking, and trying your hand at
freelancing.
Winning Awards for Your Editorials
Edmund J. Sullivan. Learn ways to shape the opinions of your readers with persuasive editorials.
Controversial and Sensitive Issues
John Taglareni. Learn how to cover controversial stories both
journalistically and legally to make sure they get printed and read.
PHOTOGRAPHY
The Power of Light
Mark Murray. Improve your photographs by seeing light in a different
way. Discuss the qualities and directions of light and the impact they
have on imagery.
Killer Captions
Mike Simons. Learn how to help staff develop journalistic,
story-extending captions that will make a good publication a GREAT
publication!
YEARBOOKS
Better, By Design
Paul Ender. These principles of design make the difference between good
yearbooks and great ones. See how knowing what subtle changes to make
can create a drastically different look in terms of sophistication and
polish.
People First
Gary Lundgren. By focusing on people, your book will transform from a
ho-hum recap of the year into a captivating and memorable story. Learn
how to cover every student in your school at least three times. From
interesting feature topics to whole-book links, this session puts
people first.
A Roadmap to Better Yearbook Themes
Bruce Watterson. Discover where you go right and where you go wrong in
developing a theme for your book. Learn how to plan for and use
creative thinking and graphic tools to build a theme that captures,
that delivers the core of the memorable experience that is your school,
your year.
12:15-1 p.m.
ADVISERS
Teaching to the CD Mark Murray.
Learn how to use the CSPA Crown CD as a great teaching tool as well.
Come learn some tips for making the most of this benefit of CSPA
membership.
Learning Photoshop Part 3
Eric Rowse. Image size and resolution, using RGB & CMYK, creating a
workflow, choosing colors and achieving good color corrections.
Learning InDesign Part 3
Jerron Smith. Working with images and graphics
DIGITAL MEDIA
Setting Up your Online Presence — Cheaply and Easily
Jacob Palenske. Learn how to use WordPress or something similar to get
started. Learn how to choose a template, upload video and audio as well
as stories and photos, etc. You’ll also learn how to set up access
accounts so only editors or the adviser can approve stories for posting
on their site. Plus learn workflow management tools such as Google Docs
as and how to find cheap web hosting and register a domain, and getting
e-mail accounts setup for their staff members at their chosen domain.
New media for your news medium
Joshua Wilwohl. Newspapers are adapting quickly to changing newsrooms
that include online video, audio, podcasts and Google maps. Armed with
more than a pen and paper, young journalists today have USB recorders,
flipcams, iPhones and digital cameras attached to their hip because you
never know when news will happen. Learn how to use of such technology
and how it will advance your news publication to better prepare for the
future.
LAW & ETHICS
Protecting Your Press Freedom
Adam Goldstein. What rights do student editors have when it comes to
making your own content decisions? Learn about the law and ways to
protect your independence.
MAGAZINES
When a Man is a Monster and a Belly is Balloon: Metaphors in Writing
Erica Fabri. That man is a monster! Her belly is a balloon! This room
is a garbage dump! We turn to metaphors as a way to drive home a point
when it does not seem that saying something “literally” will
appropriately convey its intensity. We will read examples of powerful
metaphors and then create some of our own.
Literary Lyrics
John Hampson. Learn techniques to improve your lyric and poetry writing
abilities. Songwriter John Hampson will discuss the poetic devices used
in his hit song “Absolutely (Story of a Girl)” and their intended
effect, to demonstrate the process.
Poetry: The Language of Music
Dave Johnson. Create poems by finding the music in your own voice. We will listen to music as part of the music process.
A Broad Overview of Poetry
Dean Kostos. Learn how voice, imagery, figurative language, sound syntax and sound structure affect poetry.
The Space Between
Christian MeEwen. Some Notes on Silence, Stillness & Creativity.
Protest Poetry
Violet Turner. Many poets have used their art to call attention to
wrongs and to right (write) them. A variety of protest-style poems will
be examined. Ideas on how to turn topics about which you are passionate
into poetry will be explored.
NEWSPAPERS
Right Under Your Nose: Stories and Photos School Newspapers Miss
Robert Greenman. Common sense and imagination will lead you to interesting, unusual, colorful and memorable stories.
Writing about Contemporary Popular Music
Michael Lydon So you want to write the cover story of Rolling Stone/
How to write about pop music and get published--star interviews,
reviews, essays on trends--without writing puff pieces.
From Copy to Design Working as a Team
Tracy Anne Sena. The right work flow can make a very happy staff. Join
this session to learn how to organize your staff to work from gathering
the news to designing it into newsprint.
How to Sell Advertising
Helen Smith. Find advertising prospects and finance your paper’s freedom of the press.
Modern In-depth Reporting
John Taglareni. Strong writing and thoroughly covered issues plus exciting graphics equal outstanding double trucks.
PHOTOGRAPHY
Through the Camera’s Lens
Cary Conover. Unlike painting or sculpture,
photography is an artform still in its infancy. From its 19th century
chemical origins to its 21st century digital mediums, this session will
deal with photography’s history and its scientific applications as well
as contemporary fine art photography and photojournalism.
Basic Digital Photography
Mike Simons. Good for any new photographer, this workshop will cover
basic rules of composition and developing “The Eye” of the
photographer, regardless of equipment.
YEARBOOKS
There’s More to the Story
Paul Ender. Gone are the days of a single formula that defines good
coverage in the yearbook. While solid traditional coverage can still
tell the story of the year, these ideas help make the storytelling
process and your book more interesting.
Space: The Final Frontier
Gary Lundgren. White space is an overlooked design element. Learn how
to use three levels of spacing to create out-of-this world yearbook
spreads. As we travel through the galaxy, we’ll also recap the
fundamentals that every yearbook designer should know.
Guide to What Works in Yearbook Design
Kathy Zwiebel. Come learn design methods with examples from ads and media.
1:15-2 p.m.
ALL PUBLICATIONS
Build Your Writing Career Before Graduating
Liz Funk. Learn how to write professionally and build a career writing for local and national newspapers, magazines and web sites before even graduating high school.
Tips on Type
Gary Lundgren. With hundreds of fonts at your fingertips, see how to use them effectively in student publications. Learn the basics to make your type look fresh and refreshing to you and the reader.
Learning Photoshop Part 4
Eric Rowse. Using quick mask, using the pen tool and clipping paths.
Learning InDesign Part 4
Jerron Smith. Advanced functions in InDesign.
DIGITAL MEDIA
Making audioslides — Learning to tell a story through photos and sound Michelle Hoos. It takes more than mixing photos and sound to make an effective audio slideshow. Come learn what type of photos and sound you will need to and how to outline your story before you put it together.
Video for Convergence
Jacob Palenske. Learn how to plan and storyboard a video package for the web, and to use whatever video editing software available to you (Windows Movie Maker, iMovie, Premiere Pro/Elements, Final Cut Pro/Express) to export their videos correctly and upload them to the web. Compression formats will also be discussed as well as the best way to host videos online for free, and how to embed video code into webpages so content shows up WordPress templates, and not as a clickable link to their video hosting site. Please note this is *not* a Final Cut Pro/Premiere video-editing class, it’s an overview of the video process.
LAW & ETHICS
Your right to school records
Adam Goldstein. Learn how you can use freedom of information laws to get facts about your school that can make great stories.
MAGAZINE
Writing the Impossible Erica Fabri. When writing fantasy and when creating characters and situations that are, or seem to be, impossible, the writer must be even more devoted to the art of “reality.” Stories that are dream-like, unrealistic and far-fetched need to be even more specific and detailed in order to draw the reader into the scenario. This session explores how we can write from our imagination and wonder, but still cut deep into a reader’s heart and emotion by making our “impossible” stories seem real.
Poetry: The Language of Art - The Visible Word
Dave Johnson. Learn to write poetry with visual art.
Surrealism: Its Relevance to Writers Today
Dean Kostos. Frank O’Hara said that surrealism made it possible for poets to write love poems in the twentieth century. Explore this image-driven language of dreams to better articulate any emotion in the twenty-first century.
Tomboys and Cissy Girls
Christian McEwen. Join this hands-on workshop that will explore gender issues in life and literature.
I Don’t Know What to Write About! NOW YOU DO!
Violet Turner. In addition to giving you inspirational ideas, everyone will be asked to contribute at least one technique he/she uses to break through writer’s block.
NEWSPAPERS
Covering Tragedy and Natural Disasters
Jenny Dial. Learn how to cover important events that are difficult such as a student’s death or an aftermath of a hurricane.
Take It From The Times
Robert Greenman. How to create and write compelling articles for your paper, using story ideas, background material and writing styles from The New York Times.
Hows and Whys of Sports Writing
Helen Smith. Writing a sports news story is just as important as a straight news story. Learn the “hows” and “whys” of sports writing.
PHOTOGRAPHY
Learning When to Press the Button.
Cary Conover. Capturing moments is what photographers do best. Indeed, the photographer’s mantra has always been “F/8 and be there.” This presentation will deal less with photography’s technical aspects, and more at the “be there” aspects. We will look at iconic news and sports imagery from the past century, amazing moments caught on film around the world that have stood the test of time.
Photo Safari
Bruce Watterson. Don’t consider yourself a visual journalist? No worries. Regardless of your position on staff, join this session, this visual safari, to discuss the emerging role of the photojournalist, and be prepared to be awed by a collection of great student work. This session offers creative alternatives to the predictable photos that seem to re-appear year after year in newspapers, magazines and yearbooks.
YEARBOOK
How to Motivate the Unwilling to do the Impossible for the Ungrateful
Mary Kay Downes. Advisers and Editors will learn how to keep staff morale high while in the throes of production. Learn how to keep your sanity, your sense of humor and your standards high while performing what might to appear to be thankless tasks.
Tell Me a Story
Ray Westbrook. Today’s yearbook writers must provide an interesting story for readers. The best way? Center your story around a person rather than facts or data using vivid openings and sure-fire narrative writing. It’s guaranteed to get people to read your yearbook—not just look at the pictures!
2:15 - 1 p.m.
ADVISERS
Adviser 101
Kathy Zwiebel. Join us to discuss staff management and grading tips as well as how to stay on top of your students while letting them to the work.
Pitching Your Book Stories and Getting Them Published
Liz Funk. Learn how to get a book deal in fiction or nonfiction! Editors are increasingly interested in acquiring books from young writers, so come learn how to package a pitch.
Learning Photoshop Part 5
Eric Rowse. Learning about painting, editing tools and the retouching tools as well as how to use them.
Learning InDesign Part 5
Jerron Smith. Working with Version Cue to share InDesign files with multiple users (if enough interested) or offer a Q&A class on InDesign
Head’s Up
Ray Westbrook. Even though pictures may dominate a spread, headlines are very important to your overall design. From basics to experimentative styles, get an introduction the story to the reader and lead them in to reading the story.
DIGITAL MEDIA
Photography and Audio for Convergence/SoundSlides Jacob Palenske. Learn to properly plan and gather a story using audio and photos, and then learn how to build their audio/photo/caption content into interactive presentations using SoundSlides. Also learn how make your photos available for sale online, to generate some revenue from your online publication.
Twitter and Your Publication
Tracy Anne Sena. Twitter is fastest growing social media network. Learn how to make Twitter work for your publications.
MAGAZINES
See, Hear, Smell, Taste, Touch: The Five Senses in Writing
Erica Fabri. The five senses are the only colors you are given to paint a picture with. We will read samples of authors and discuss how they are able to re-create sights, sounds, scents, tastes, and feelings with words and then complete a writing exercise to generate vivid and luscious sensory images.
Poetry in Translation Dave Johnson. Chinese written characters can be used as a medium for a poem. Get closer to the root of language by exploring relationships between symbol and meaning.
Memoirs & Personal Essays Dean Kostos. Use the craft of writing scene, summary, and retrospection to transform experience into art.
Tomboys! Feisty Girls and Spirited Women Christian McEwen. This documentary features interviews with four very different “tomboys” drawing the connection between the rebel girl and activist woman. Includes footages of Tom-old-lady “Granny D.”
Expanding your literary magazine Mark Murray. Explore ways to increase funds and improve content with 101 rapid-fire ideas.
NEWSPAPERS
Reporter’s Ethics and Protecting Your Work
Jenny Dial. Learn what steps to take as a writer to protect your work from theft of others in the age of the internet.
Writing Bright
Robert Greenman. Strong, lively and memorable writing must be more than informative. It must have flair, freshness and wit; essential elements that make people enjoy and remember news stories, features, reviews and opinion writing. Get readers to love your writing, not just learn from it.
Covering Arts in your School
Helen Smith. Is your school producing great plays or have musicians that need to get attention? Learn how to cover the arts in your school to get them noticed.
PHOTOGRAPHY
Through the Camera’s Lens
Cary Conover. Unlike painting or sculpture, photography is an artform still in its infancy. From its 19th century chemical origins to its 21st century digital mediums, this presentation will deal with photography’s history and its scientific applications as well as contemporary fine art photography and photojournalism.
YEARBOOKS
Creative Coverage in Non-Traditional Yearbooks
Mary Kay Downes. Learn tips on how to ensure adequate coverage is allocated to the five traditional yearbook sections – Student Life, Academics, Activities/clubs, Sports, People, when doing a chronological, non-section, or two/three section book. Organization and creative combinations are the key to success.
