ONA offers second multimedia Parachute Training session in South Florida

The Online News Association, the world’s largest membership organization of digital journalists, will conduct its second Parachute Training Initiative, a full day of free, intensive hands-on multimedia training, on Saturday, Feb. 20, in Boca Raton, Fla.

The sessions are tailored specifically to the needs of independent, community, non-profit, displaced and employed journalists, bloggers and students in the South Florida area. The event will take place at Florida Atlantic University, with help from the South Florida chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists and the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors.

Trainers are leaders in their fields and include:

• Dana Chinn, a lecturer at USC’s Annenberg School for Communication and specialist in using web analytics to build audiences
  
• Chuck Fadley, award-winning video producer from the Miami Herald
  
• Mark Potts, CEO of GrowthSpur, a company that provides tools and ad networks to help local Web sites grow revenue

Based on a survey of journalists in the area, the training will be offered in two tracks and cover the following topics:

• Producing effective video packages (hands-on, limited space)
• How to become a better blogger
• Using free-ware to display data in engaging ways
• Emerging business models
• Practical applications for web metrics
• What journalists and online publishers need to know about Internet law
• Mobile tools and applications
• Using social media as a reporting tool

The event is open to the first 90 registrants. Registration is $10, which covers lunch, and is available at Journalists.org. More details, including session descriptions and trainers, will be released as they are confirmed.

ONA's Parachute Training Initiative is a free training program made possible by a $50,000 seed grant from the Gannett Foundation that enables ONA to use its considerable resources to help digital journalists and fill journalism voids in areas hard hit by media organization closures and job losses.

The Online News Association is the world’s largest association of digital journalists, with more than 1,600 members worldwide. Its mission is to inspire innovation and excellence among journalists to better serve the public. ONA membership includes news writers, producers, designers, editors, bloggers, technologists, photographers and others who produce news for the Internet or other digital delivery systems, as well as academic members, students and others interested in the development of online journalism.

For more information, contact:

Jane McDonnell
Executive Director
Online News Association
646-290-7900
director@journalists.org

Sherry Skalko
Editor, Journalists.org
Online News Association
312-881-6477
sskalko@journalists.org