Adobe Flash Training postponed; registration still open
ONA’s Adobe Flash training session has been rescheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 11 at 2 p.m. The format has been changed to a Webinar and registration is open. Those originally unable to travel may now receive training from the comfort of their office or home.
The original session scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 29 in Pickerington, had to be postponed due to a death in instructor Kevin Slimp’s family.
The registration fee has been reduced to $50 for the first ONA member registrant at each location and only $25 for each additional registrant. The deadline is Friday, Nov. 7.
Following the Webinar, ONA is offering a unique opportunity for writers. Pulitzer-Prize winning columnist Connie Schultz and writing coach Stuart Warner will instruct a column writing training session on Wednesday, Nov. 12 at the Ohio University Pickerington Center.
Topics to be covered include structure, ideas, audience, humor, narrative and free writing.
Schultz is a nationally syndicated columnist for The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, and Creators Syndicate. She won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary for what the judges called her “pungent columns that provided a voice for the underdog and the underprivileged.” It is a common theme in her work.
Warner, a writing coach and former projects editor at the Plain Dealer, has written or edited three Pulitzer Prize-winning entries and edited two other Pulitzer finalists. He edited Schultz’ columns that won the Pulitzer. In 2007, he began editing columnist Regina Brett and she was a finalist for the 2008 Pulitzer for commentary.
The last training opportunity of the year will focus on small-markets. “Writing & Selling for Small-Market Newspapers” is scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 19 at the Ohio University Pickerington Center. The event was deliberately scheduled after the election and before the holidays to allow for the busy schedules of small newspapers.
Jim Pumarlo, a writing consultant with 27 years of small daily newspaper experience, will instruct the morning’s writing program. His message is straightforward: community newspapers must focus on aggressive pursuit of local news if they are to remain relevant to readers and advertisers. The goal of this session is to prepare editors and reporters for dealing with commonplace and high-profile news decisions and writing policies to support them. The session will include:
Explaining newsroom policies & operations
“Bad news & good judgment: A guide to reporting on sensitive issues in a small-town newspaper”
Developing meaningful and credible business coverage
Attendees should bring copies of their news policies regarding sensitive issues to share among the participants.
In the afternoon, Arnold DeLuca who has 30 years of newspaper and shopper publishing experience, will instruct the selling program titled “Overcoming objections and closing the sale.”
“My budget is spent for the year…I don’t need to advertise…Everyone already knows about us.” This half-day session covers how to deal with these classic objections and many more. Each participant will receive Arnold DeLuca’s cassette tape, “Overcoming Objections,” to take home.
ONA members may register separately for the writing or selling program for $50. The full-day event is $75.
More information on each session is available at www.ohionews.org/member/training-calendar/. Questions should be directed to Sue Bazzoli, manager of administrative services, at sbazzoli@ohionews.org or (614) 486-6677.
