Los Angeles

Category: News (page 2 of 5)

ONA Local: Harnessing ONA15 energy all year

ONA’s annual conference is a great time to meet and network with colleagues from around the world. We hope you carry the energy and inspiration that you get from our community back to your own to improve your work, share tips and connect with other digital journalists.

To help you keep the momentum going, join our ONA Local program. Our 50 ONA Local groups around the world connect more than 10,000 journalists, technologists and educators through meet-ups and professional development events. Getting involved is a great way to collaborate with others who are passionate about digital journalism. Continue reading

It’s go time: Get on board

bing-newsThis post is sponsored by Bing News.

Bing News pushes the boundary of news with cutting-edge technology on news search, personalization and recommendation. Stemming from Bing.com, Microsoft’s search engine with 20% market share, Bing News develops experiences that delight and inform users across mobile, desktop and new surface areas across the Microsoft ecosystem. Connect with the Bing team at ONA. twitter.com/bingtingnow

You’re either already in town, or packing a bag.  Here are some final reminders and tips to get you situated at ONA15.

Weather:  People live in LA for lots of reasons. The weather is definitely one of them. The forecast this week is why they make movies here: 90 degrees and sunny. Every. Day.  Bring comfortable shoes for walking the Exhibit and Midway floors, fancy ones for the OJAs, receptions and parties, and flip flops for the pool.

The hotel:  The Hyatt Regency Century Plaza has a great history. It’s where Sonny and Cher started their variety act (sparking our campaign to have Board President Meredith Artley and former Board President Jim Brady sing a Sonny and Cher duet — which still needs your support, so please contribute here.) Ronald Reagan loved it so much, the hotel was known as the Western White House while he was in office and there is a lot of Reagan history lining its walls. And if the lobby and ballrooms look familiar, you may have seen them in recent episodes of “Modern Family” or on star-studded awards shows. Continue reading

Good eats in the ONA15 neighborhood

It would be impossible to try to include all of the amazing food that LA has to offer in a single blog post (or even many blog posts). We will leave that up to Jonathan Gold and the food staff at the LA Times. But you’re going to be in one of the best dining cities in the world for a few days, so even if you can’t leave the area around the hotel, you should eat well. Continue reading

Getting your digital self organized for ONA15

KWF_with_tag_This post is sponsored by Knight Wallace Fellows at Michigan.

Now accepting applications for the 2016-2017 academic year, the Knight-Wallace Fellows is a sabbatical study program for full-time journalists with at least five years of professional experience. U.S. Fellows receive a $70,000 stipend plus all tuition and fees. Stipends for international fellows vary. Deadline to apply is February. 1, 2016. Learn more about the program and apply online.

So you’ve heard by now: ONA15 will keep you hopping for three straight days. Conference sessions, networking events, parties, product launches and karaoke … it’s a lot to juggle!

Thankfully, there’s plenty you can do to prepare. You can check out all of the staff blogs, including my colleague Irving’s “strategy for introverts,” and also board member Kim Bui’s “local guide to LA.”

But here we’ll discuss how to get your digital life prepped and organized so you can maximize the fun on site. And don’t worry if you’re not an over-planner like me . . . most of these tips are designed to be quick wins. Continue reading

Cant-miss guide to ONA15: Jane McDonnell’s picks

Note: This is one of a series of posts written by ONA staff and conference organizers recommending sessions they feel will be particularly interesting. Previous recommendations came from Julie Westfall and Luis Gomez, co-chairs of the ONA15 Program Team,  and ONA staff: Jen Mizgata, Senior Communications Manager, Jess Strelitz, Senior Manager, Strategic Partnerships, Jeremiah Patterson, Digital Manager, Deputy Director Irving Washington and Digital Director, Trevor KnoblichThis final list was created by Jane McDonnell, ONA Executive Director.


Jane McDonnell

Jane McDonnell

“Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” — Peter Drucker.

“You can say that again.” — Every journalist in the world.

ONA15 will offer lots of strategies and real-world tips for folks to take back to their newsrooms, and hooray for that. But anyone who’s lived through journalism since the mid-1990s knows that the hardest struggles — and most-effective successes — have been in changing the top-down, guardian-at-the-gate culture of news organizations.  We’ve blended newsrooms,  we’ve pushed for digital-only, and we’ve started up from scratch, building a new paradigm. Continue reading

New Midway Programming Announced

This post was written by Christine Johnson, our #ONA15 Midway Producer.


Make sure that a visit to the Midway is part of your ONA15 plan. You’ll get a hands-on look at what’s new in tech tools for journalists via dozens of quick-hit information sessions and demos.

And did we mention NASA will be there? Continue reading

Can’t Miss Guide to ONA15: Trevor Knoblich

Note: This is part of a series of posts written by ONA staff and conference organizers recommending sessions or tips they feel will be particularly interesting or helpful. Previous recommendations came from Julie Westfall and Luis Gomez, co-chairs of the ONA15 Program TeamJen Mizgata, ONA’s Senior Communications Manager, Jeremiah Patterson, ONA’s Digital Manager, Jess Strelitz, ONA’s Senior Manager, Strategic Partnerships and Irving Washington, Deputy Director at ONA. These tips were created by Trevor Knoblich, ONA’s Digital Director.


Trevor Knoblich

The ONA annual conference, at its heart, is about connections and innovation. And any expert in innovation will tell you that when tackling a difficult problem, sometimes the best ideas come from outside your industry. Learning how experts in other fields have looked at problems and asking “How might this apply in my own context?” can sometimes foster truly radical ideas  . . .  that may lead to new audiences, new revenue or new ways to tell a story.

Take this tweet from ONA14’s keynote with the muppets of Sesame Street:

Continue reading

Why you should RSVP for ONA15 workshops

Over the years, we’ve experimented with how and when to offer workshops — smaller sessions featuring hands-on training — as part of the conference. We’ve done an informal day of workshops before the conference,  offered them at outside locations, and added another full day to integrate them into the program. At ONA15, we’re offering 12 small workshops. After high demand last year, we decided to require pre-registration, or RSVPs.
Continue reading

Get on the List: Guide to Parties, Receptions + Events

latimes-logoThis post is sponsored by the Los Angeles Times, proud sponsor of ONA15’s closing event: Karaoke! Join us in the Westside room Saturday night after 9 p.m. Looking for insider tips on nearby food, drink and places to see? This special guide is our gift to you: latimes.com/ONAeats

If you’re bored during (or the night before) ONA15, consider yourself hard to please.  All official events are free and open to registered ONA15 attendees  — official events and special programming requires a full conference pass.  Here are the deets: Continue reading

Time is running out! Set up your karaoke fundraising campaign now!

We’re less than two weeks away from ONA’s karaoke fundraiser closing party! The campaign to have Board President Meredith Artley and former Board President Jim Brady sing a Sonny and Cher duet needs your support, so please contribute here. We’re currently at 28 percent of the initial goal.

Screen Shot 2015-09-11 at 11.47.00 PM

We’re looking forward to ONA15 attendees starting other campaigns! If you’re interested in creating a campaign for yourself or someone else, you should launch it soon and start fundraising. We’re happy to help spread the word about other campaigns, which could have goals at any dollar amount. Continue reading

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