13 Virtual Events for Journalists and Bloggers in March

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.

Check out these unique trainings, webinars, and panel discussions for journalists and other content creators in March. Fit one into your calendar before the end of Q1.

Have an event that you’d like to be added to this or future event calendars? Let us know in the comments or tweet the team @BeyondBylines.

Anytime: Transferrable Skills and Using Your Writing Skills in Other Industries

In this webinar from The Writers’ Co-op, panelists discuss how they built up transferrable skills to assist them if/when they were to leave the journalism profession. “Whether you want to leave journalism eventually or you just want to add new service offerings to your docket, this workshop is for you.”

Anytime: Online harassment: strategies for journalists’ defense

This is a free, self-directed course from the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas. The four modules include (1) an introduction to online harassment, (2) understanding privacy, (3) trolls and their strategies, and (4) digital security steps for online harassment. Participants will hear from women journalists who go over the strategies they’ve used to deal with online harassment.

Anytime: Covering Protests: New Challenges for a New Era

This is a recording of a panel discussion from late February hosted by First Amendment Watch at New York University and the Center for Journalism Ethics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The panelists discuss “how reporters, photographers, and editors should weigh their responsibility to report on public matters balanced against ethical concerns such as the privacy and safety of their subjects.”

Anytime: Improving the Representation of Women in the News

Check out the recording and takeaways from this webinar hosted by The International Journalists’ Network (IJNet). In it, Luba Kassova, author of “The Missing Perspectives of Women in News,” discusses her and her team’s research that found a lack of women’s voices in news coverage, specifically in stories about the pandemic. The discussion includes practical recommendations for reporters, editors, newsroom leaders, and executives looking to better represent women in all their coverage.

Anytime: Health Reporting: Finding Data and Verifying Expert Claims

This is another recent webinar from IJNet. In this one, Nigerian health journalist Paul Adepoju shares tips to help reporters incorporate data and expert sources into their health stories. He discusses digging deeper into the data, asking follow-up questions, avoiding bias, and putting the data into context for readers.

March 1-2: Design Influencers Connect

This year, the Design Influencers Conference is offering three virtual events that act as the “intersection of interior design and the world of new media including blogging, social media, e-commerce, digital branding, book publishing, line promotion, and more.” Registration is free for all three Connect events. The end of both days of the event will feature a Speed Networking session, in which attendees are randomly paired for 5-minute face-to-face chats before being paired with someone else.

March 3: The New Rules of Business: How to Report on ESG

This hour-long panel will be hosted by the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing. Panelists will include reporters from GreenBiz, Bloomberg, the Financial Times, and CQ Roll Call. As the site explains, “Environmental, social and corporate governance topics are increasingly shaping the way businesses operate and where investors direct their dollars. ESG efforts range from adding diverse board directors to avoiding dealing with certain businesses, including oil and gas producers and weapons manufacturers. This panel looks at how journalists are reporting on ESG, including how some news organizations are re-evaluating how they cover the financial world.”

March 3-5: NICAR 2021

The annual data journalism conference from Investigative Reporters & Editors (IRE) will be taking place completely online this year. Whether attendees have beginner, intermediate, or advanced data journalism skills, NICAR will have something for everyone. Pre-recorded videos and lessons will cover spreadsheets, SQL, programming, data visualization, and more. Note: Attendees must be current IRE members.

March 8: BlogHer | International Women’s Day

On International Women’s Day, BlogHer will be joined by Priyanka Chopra Jonas to “celebrate women’s achievements and raise awareness about women’s equality featuring inspirational and educational workshops and conversations from our dedicated female community members, activists, and celebrity influencers.”

March 9: Share+Learn About Community Engagement

Southern California Public Radio’s KPCC and LAist.com have become engagement models to learn from. It’s known for its public service journalism, live community storytelling, and successful podcast unit. Co-hosted by the Center for Cooperative Media at Montclair State University, this event will explore the successes and challenges of the organization’s community-centered programs.

March 18: International Food Blogger Conference | Website + SEO

In 2021, the International Food Blogger Conference will include four virtual events in addition to the planned in-person conference in October. The second of the one-day virtual summits is focused on website and search engine optimization. The day will feature several sessions and attendees can choose just one session or get an All-Access Pass to participate in all of them. Sessions include “The #1 Thing You Need to Streamline Your Blog Post Process,” “The Art of Recipe Writing,” “Top SEO Priorities for Bloggers in 2021” and more.

March 19: Narrative Journalism Conference

This free online event will be hosted by Boston University. Virtual keynotes and sessions will cover in-depth storytelling to help journalists boost their skills.

March 19-April 22: TV Power Reporting Academy

This online seminar from Poynter will “give TV reporters and VJ/MMJ/backpack journalists the skills, strategy, and confidence to elevate their career in broadcast journalism.” It will feature eight sessions over the four weeks taught by Poynter’s Al Tompkins and guest faculty. In the end, attendees will come out with better reporting, writing, ethical, and technical skills to elevate their careers in broadcast news.

Don’t forget to register for this upcoming event:

May 19-21: 2021 Collaborative Journalism Summit

Registration for this year’s Collaborative Journalism Summit is now open. The virtual conference will feature informative panels and exciting lightning talks. Participants will include the International Center for Investigative Journalists, the Local Media Association, and Solutions Journalism Network. If you have a topic or session idea, you can fill out this form.

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