Blogger Conferences: Virtual Events to Attend in October

Welcome to Blogger Events, a monthly column of what’s happening in the blog world. If you have an event you’d like featured, reach out to the Beyond Bylines team via Twitter at @BeyondBylines.

As many of us plan to hunker down at home (or continue doing so) for the next few months, why not add a few unique learning opportunities to your calendar to pass the time and make your days more interesting?

October has several events to help journalists, bloggers, and freelancers hone their skills.

Have another event that’s not on the list? Let us know in the comments!

Anytime: LinkedIn Learning Courses

LinkedIn’s recently released Online Course catalog has a great selection of free and paid options covering a variety of topics. If you’re logged in, click on “Work” in the top right corner and then choose “Learning.” Courses cover SEO, editing, social media, Photoshop, and more. If you have skills listed in your LinkedIn profile, the tool will recommend relevant courses to help you boost your knowledge in that area.

Multiple Dates: Freelancing with Tim

The October Zoom panels with Tim Herrera, Smart Living editor at The New York Times, and a panel of experts will include courses including “So you want to write a book” and “How to find stories during quarantine.”

Fridays in Oct.: #BlogHer Biz

Next up in the year’s free digital #BlogHer events is one focusing on the blogging business. Weekly virtual workshops in October will “introduce you to best-in-class tools and platforms, provide insight from industry experts, and the opportunity to connect with like-minded creators and entrepreneurs.” Each week has a different theme: How to Start a Business; The Power of the Pitch; Is This Thing On-LINE? (standing out among digital competitors); and Mind Your Biz (how to scale, grow, and diversify revenue).

Oct. 1: Investing & Retirement for Freelancers

This hour-long webinar will be hosted by Wudan Yan and Jenni Gritters, co-hosts of The Writers’ Co-op podcast. They’ll be joined by investment expert Stephanie Xenos and CPA Valerie Moseley to discuss retirement tips for freelancers, including the best retirement accounts, savings, rolling over a 401k, and more.

Oct. 1-16: ONA20 Everywhere

The Online News Association’s (ONA) annual conference has been moved to a virtual format this year. The spread-out schedule is designed to allow attendees to participate while still juggling responsibilities at home and at work. The digital journalism event will focus on three main areas: learning, networking, and inspiration. It will cover the latest trends and best practices in digital media and offer opportunities to network and test out new tools. “Engaging with Reddit’s Endless Content,” “Making Analytics Useful to Journalists,” and “Fundraising for Journalism 101” are just a few of the topics that will be covered.

Oct. 5-Nov. 1: Digital investigations for journalists

This instructor-led course will be hosted by the Knight Center and will focus on the theme “How to follow the digital trail of people and entities.” The goal of the course will be to teach journalists “how to investigate key digital assets including social media profiles, websites, and images, and how to bring all of these elements together to make connections and generate insights for your reporting.” Instructors include reporters from BuzzFeed News, NBC News, and Bellingcat.

Oct. 8-10: ShiftCon

ShiftCon, the “Eco-Wellness Influencer Conference,” will offer the online influencer community three days of virtual health, wellness, and sustainability learning to grow their blogs. Shifters seek healthier and more sustainable lives, promote brands that mirror their values, and help causes that speak to their soul. The Elite Track tickets will help attendees hone their craft in blogging, social media platforms, photography skills, and level of professionalism.

Oct. 10: TECHmunch Los Angeles

TECHmunch is the place for food bloggers, content creators, and influencers to learn how to level-up their content. The intensive one-day conference covers the latest tools and tactics for creating top-notch digital content.

Oct. 13-16: Content Marketing World 2020

This four-day virtual conference offers 100+ sessions and workshops to help you develop a strong content marketing strategy. Boost your skills with tracks that include visual storytelling, social media, writing, and audience building. #CMWorld will feature sessions like “10 Simple Tips For Savvy Writing,” “Developing Global Content For Local Audiences,” and “Podcasting – All The Essentials For Success.”

Oct. 14-18: Double Exposure Symposium

Double Exposure is a film festival and symposium presented by investigative news organization 100Reporters. DX 2020 will celebrate “a rebirth of relentless investigative reporting alongside exciting new forms of storytelling that mix journalism with film, serial podcasts in audio and video, hybrid storytelling, virtual reality–even poetry.” Filmmakers and journalists will attend the three-day online symposium that includes panels, master classes, workshops, small group meetings, and a legal clinic.

Oct. 19-29: Podcast Movement 2020

Podcast Movement will feature several tracks for the thousands of podcasters and industry professionals in attendance, including: Creation, Technical, Industry, Marketing, Monetization, and Society, Culture & Advocacy. The “world’s largest gathering of podcasters” has moved to a virtual format, making it easier and cheaper for podcasters to attend. In addition to the 100+ breakout sessions and keynotes, the event will also feature workshops, networking events and parties, and a virtual expo hall to learn about all the podcasting gear you could want or need.

Oct. 20: How Publishers are Growing Commerce Through Uncertain Times

This webinar, hosted by Digiday, will dive into how the sponsor StackCommerce’s “network of 200-plus publisher partners continued to generate earnings in the first half of 2020 despite unprecedented challenges.” Attendees will learn how to launch and sustain e-commerce during the busiest shopping season of the year and will have the New York Post to use as an example.

Nov. 5-6: Beer Now Summit

After being postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s Beer Now Conference has been moved to a virtual format. The feed will be free for anyone to watch live so that the organization can provide its content to its audience. Whether you create content about beer in a blog, podcast, newsletter, or other publication, this is a great event to add to your calendar.

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Rocky Parker is the manager of Audience Relations at PR Newswire. Check out her previous posts for Beyond Bylines and connect on LinkedIn. When she’s not working, Rocky typically can be found cooking, binge-watching a new show, or playing with her puppy, Hudson.