It’s only a matter of weeks until school’s in session throughout most of the country. With the kids back in class, it’s time to think about pursuing some educational opportunities of your own.
Thankfully, fall is a great time for writers’ conferences, with gatherings that focus on everything from how to be a better blogger to the latest trends in online news.
Here’s a brief rundown of some conferences that freelancers, bloggers and other writers might enjoy; some are national, some are in my neck of the woods. Depending on the event, registration fees vary from tens to hundreds of dollars. If you know of other conferences or seminars, please leave the details in a comment.
WordCampPDX, Sept. 17-18, Portland – These weekend bootcamp for bloggers in all things WordPress are different in every city that hosts them. The Portland meetup, for example, will feature three keynote speakers including WordPress developer Andrew Nacin. The rest of the event will consist of an “unconference,” with topics suggested and decided by attendees on the first morning. If you’ve never been to an unconference the format may sound confusing, but the result is people get information they want to learn in an informal way that invites conversation: all good stuff. Here’s a list of all planned WordCamps through February 2012.
ONA 2011, Sept. 22-24, Boston – The Online News Association’s annual conference has gotten so popular the last two sold out weeks in advance, so if you have any interest in going, act quickly. This year’s event features workshops on programming, media law and entrepreneurship; sessions on election coverage, social media, covering revolutions, crowdsourcing, video and more; plus a pre-conference career summit. You don’t have to be an ONA member to attend, but you’ll save $300 off the non-member registration fee of $899 if you are.
Wordstock Festival, Oct. 6-9, Portland – This popular book festival includes two days of writing workshops on Oct. 8 and 9 covering fiction, nonfiction and other genres. As of earlier this week, workshop details hadn’t been published, keep checking the website. Workshop tickets go on sale in early September and should be close to last year’s prices of $35 for one, $60 for two and $20 for any additional, according to event organizers.
BlogHer Writers Conference, Oct. 20-21, New York City – BlogHer used to run one annual conference a year, but it was so successful, the women’s blog network split it in two, then started holding regional conferences devoted to subjects such as food and business. The BlogHer Writers Conference ’11 is the company’s newest endeavor and is being staged in partnership with Penguin Group USA. The conference is specifically designed to provide bloggers with next steps to get published, either in fiction or nonfiction genres. The conference is limited to 200; registration is $199 plus a $5.97 handling fee.
News University – Can’t get away? Poynter Institute’s News University online media training site offers a variety of self-directed courses, webinars, broadcasts and other training programs. Upcoming courses include Mobile Apps: Expanding Your Reach and Audience (Sept. 8); Becoming a More Effective Editor: Strategies for Editing Yourself, Others (October); and Becoming an Entrepreneurial Journalist: From Idea to Implementation (self directed).