Schedule – Friday, April 11, 2025

8:00 am – 4:45 pm Plaza Mall | On-Site Registration

8:00 am – 4:45 pm Plaza Mall | Career and College Fair
Recruit and network with media professionals and students from across the six-state region. Hosted in partnership with the Upper Midwest Emmy Awards Chapter.

8:15 am – 9:30 am Plaza 5/6 | Main Session:
What psychologists wish journalists knew about mental health inside the newsroom
To kick off the conference, we’ll get in depth about the challenges of maintaining and improving the mental health of journalists who work in a fast-paced, stressful environment.
Moderator: Scott Libin
Presenters: TBA

9:30 – 9:45 am Plaza Mall | Break to visit Career and College Fair booths

9:45 am – 11:00 am Plaza 5/6 | What psychologists wish journalists knew about mental health outside the newsroom
We’ll continue the main session by examining mental health aspects of reporting for interview subjects and audiences.
Moderator: Scott Libin
Presenters: TBA

11:00 – 11:15 am Plaza Mall | Break to visit Career and College Fair booths

11:15 am – 12:30 pm Garden Court | SPJ Mark of Excellence Awards Luncheon
Speaker TBA
Sponsored by SPJ.

12:15 – 12:30 pm Plaza Mall | Break to visit Career and College Fair booths

1:00 – 5:00 pm Plaza 3 | Critique Sessions
Here’s your chance to have your resume, video, audio, and/or writing critiqued by newsroom managers from around the Midwest. Please provide your reel on a flash drive, CD, or simply bring along links to your work online. This is an open session, so come and go when it works for your schedule.

12:30 – 1:45 pm Breakout Sessions

• Breakout 1A Plaza 1 | Cultivating contacts
  For any journalist entering a new market or taking over a new beat, building a list of contacts is key to improving the speed and depth of your reporting. We’ll take a close look at how to create a strong list of sources and interview subjects you can count on.
  Presenter: Lou Raguse, KARE-TV
  

• Breakout 1B Plaza 2 | The state of student media
  In college classrooms across the country, journalism programs are constantly evolving to best serve their students and provide them with the best experiences they can to succeed in newsrooms. We’ll talk with educators and students about what is working today.
  Presenter: TBA
  

1:45 – 2:00 pm Plaza Mall | Break to visit Career and College Fair booths

2:00 – 3:15 pm Breakout Sessions

• Breakout 2A Plaza 1 | Podcasting
  Podcasting has become huge, both for independent content creators and for newsrooms working in other media who are finding new audiences, especially for longer-form projects. We’ll look at best practices and learn about how to get a new podcast up and running.
  Presenter: TBA

• Breakout 2B Plaza 2 | Artificial Intelligence
  As artificial intelligence tools go mainstream, how can journalists take advantage of the technology to make their jobs easier in a transparent and ethical way? We’ll look at how AI is finding a place in newsrooms.
  Presenter: TBA

3:15 – 3:30 pm Plaza Mall | Break to visit Career and College Fair booths

3:30 – 4:30 pm Breakout Sessions

• Breakout 3A Plaza 1 | Covering courts with livestream rules and restrictions
  While cameras and microphones are being allowed in more courtrooms, questions are being raised by judges and attorneys about whether livestreaming video and audio should be allowed or if procedings can only be recorded for later use. Also a subject of debate are live blogging and social media posting from courtrooms. We’ll dig into the issues.
  Presenter: TBA
  

• Breakout 3B Plaza 2 | Agriculture and environmental reporting
  The Midwest is a major agricultural producer for the world and has significant environmental effects that extend far beyond the fields. We’ll examine ways to improve your reporting on ag issues.
  Moderator: TBA
  Panelists: TBA

6:00 pm Ballroom Foyer | Upper Midwest Emmy® Student Awards Reception and Career Fair

7:00 pm Garden Court | Upper Midwest Emmy® Foundation Student Production Awards Ceremony
This event requires separate registration – visit midwestemmys.org to register.

Schedule – Saturday, April 12, 2025

7:30 am Plaza 3 | MBJA Educators Breakfast

8:30 am – 4:45 pm Plaza Mall | On-Site Registration

9:00 am – 10:15 am Plaza 5/6 | Main Session: Visual storytelling
The growing need for compelling video across multiple platforms requires some skills behind the camera, whether it’s a traditional television camera, DLSRs or smartphones. In our Saturday opening session, we’ll take a close look at video techniques to make your content jump off of any screen.
Presenter: Devin Krinke, KARE-TV

10:15 – 10:30 am Plaza Mall | Break to visit Career and College Fair booths

10:30 am – 11:45 am Plaza 5/6 | Storytelling with Boyd Huppert
One of our most popular sessions returns, with award-winning KARE-TV reporter Boyd Huppert, who will share examples of stories that rise above the routine and offer his advice on making stories shine.

Moderator: Barney McCoy, Univ. of Neb.-Lincoln

11:45 – Noon Plaza Mall | Break to visit Career and College Fair booths

Noon – 1:15 pm Garden Court | RTDNA Luncheon and MBJA Business Meeting

• • Buffet Lunch
 
• • MBJA Business Meeting and Elections
 
• • Remarks from RTDNA Executive Director Dan Shelley
 
• • Guest Speaker: TBA
 

1:15 – 1:30 pm Plaza Mall | Break to visit Career and College Fair booths

1:00 – 5:00 pm Plaza 3 | Critique Sessions
Here’s your chance to have your resume, video, audio, and/or writing critiqued by newsroom managers from around the Midwest. Please provide your reel on a flash drive, CD, or simply bring along links to your work online. This is an open session, so come and go when it works for your schedule.

1:30 – 2:45 pm Breakout Sessions

• Breakout 4A Plaza 1 | Sports
  What makes for great sports stories for local audiences? Learn about some approaches to daily sports coverage that mean the most for audiences.
  Moderator: TBA
  Panelists: TBA

• Breakout 4B Plaza 2 | Negotiating for what you need from sources
  Politicians, public information officers, communications directors and public relations staffers are all people journalists encounter while trying to tell a story. How can you work with potential sources and interview subjects to get the most from them? Learn about strategies to improve those relationships before a big breaking story happens.
  Moderator: TBA
  Panelists: TBA

2:45 – 3:00 pm Plaza Mall | Break to visit Career and College Fair booths

3:00 – 4:15 pm Breakout Sessions

• Breakout 5A Plaza 1 | Critiques
  In a focused session, we’ll put newsroom leaders in the room to take a look at your audition reel and offer suggestions to make it stronger.
  Moderator: TBA
  Panelists: TBA

• Breakout 5B Plaza 2 | Social media and digital platforms
  No matter your medium, off-platform content is a big part of attracting audiences. We’ll do a deep dive on best practices to make the most of your reach.
  Moderator: TBA
  Panelists: TBA

4:15 pm Plaza Mall | Open time for networking

6:00 pm Plaza Mall | Reception and MBJF Online Auction with cash bar

7:00 pm Garden Court | Midwest Broadcast Journalists Association Eric Sevareid Awards Banquet – Join us for the annual Eric Sevareid Awards ceremony, which honors the best in radio and television, and meet this year’s recipient of the Mitchell V. Charnley Award for outstanding contributions to broadcast journalism. Sponsored by Gray Television.

• • Dinner
 
• • MBJF Diversity Scholarship
 
• • Jack Shelley Scholarship
 
• • Mitchell V. Charnley Award
 
• • Eric Sevareid Awards ceremony
 
• • New MBJA president inducted