Ivan Lajara, engagement editor for Digital First Media’s East Region, sent us this picture of Steve Buttry’s video presentation at last week’s workshop.
Last week, about 20 Digital First engagement editors from Pennsylvania newspapers gathered in West Chester, Penn., for a skills workshop that featured sessions on cutting edge interactive tools and techniques for journalists. Presentations by Steve Buttry, Buffy Andrews, Vince Carey, Mandy Jenkins, Ivan Lajara and Diane Hoffman covered current and rising techniques for the editors to bring back to their newsrooms. The workshop also was broadcast live on UStream.
Buttry said the goal was to present quick, easily-digestible sessions to give editors an idea of some of the different techniques they could be using.
“We can dive in and do real detailed how-to tutorials on a few things, but if somebody already knows that tool, it’s not going to be helpful for them,” he said. “Or, we can do a quick taste, cover a lot of ground and start the conversation on a lot of subjects.”
Some of the topics covered included:
- How to get community members organized and interested in blogging.
- The best way to share photos with readers, whether it’s on Facebook or in the print edition.
- Broadcasting live from the newsroom.
- Marketing your newsroom’s content so it’s seen by a wider audience.
- Newer digital tools such as Geofeedia and New Hive.
- Getting journalists and reporters excited about engagement.
Many of the workshop participants and teachers took to Twitter to discuss what they learned. Here are some of their reactions.
Plans currently are in the works to bring similar engagement workshops to other Digital First Media clusters, according to Buttry. More content from the workshop can be found on his website.