Relationship building at NICAR 2023

<!DOCTYPE HTML> <html class="no-js"> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /> <title>Relationship building at NICAR 2023 | OpenNews</title> <meta name="description" content="OpenNews connects a network of developers, designers, journalists, and editors to collaborate on open technologies and processes within journalism. 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(Photo by <a href="https://flic.kr/p/2jT6pK8">Don Sniegowski</a>)</p> <p><a href="https://schedules.ire.org/nicar-2023/">NICAR is back</a> and we鈥檙e excited to catch up with everyone who will be in Nashville! We love how events are a chance for us to build relationships with each other. At OpenNews, we believe that collectively we have the power to transform our industry, and we make that collective stronger by investing in individual relationships. So that鈥檚 what we鈥檙e focusing on at NICAR this year.</p> <h2 id="opportunities-to-expand-your-network">Opportunities to expand your network</h2> <p>We love creating easy ways for people to get to know each other a little better. We鈥檝e got a few activities planned this year, and they may already be full by the time you read this, but they are also ideas we鈥檙e planning to replicate at other events so you might have another chance later in the year.</p> <ul> <li><strong>Wednesday night welcome dinners</strong> These dinners are back! We鈥檙e organizing a few small group meals (with a mix of indoor and outdoor options) as people get into town on Wednesday. <a href="mailto:ryan@opennews.org">Email Ryan</a> for details.</li> <li><strong>Relationship-building meals</strong> We love small group conversations, but we also wanted to make it a little easier to have a one-on-one lunch chat too (which can be hard in the intensity of the conference!). So we鈥檙e experimenting this year with lunch gift cards to reduce a bit of that friction in inviting a colleague out to lunch. <a href="mailto:erika@opennews.org">Email Erika</a> for details.</li> <li><strong>Thematic group meals</strong> We鈥檙e excited to support some themed meetups this year, including for the California Reporting Project and people working on newsroom data and engineering. Community members are also organizing meetups for gender expansive folks and for members of the DEI Coalition鈥攊f you missed either of those links, you can <a href="mailto:ryan@opennews.org">email Ryan</a>.</li> </ul> <h2 id="so-many-chances-to-learn">So many chances to learn</h2> <p>Of course, NICAR is all about sharing knowledge and building skills, too. (<a href="https://schedules.ire.org/nicar-2023/">Look at that schedule!</a>) Some sessions and informal opportunities to chat that relate to recent work with OpenNews include:</p> <ul> <li><strong>Code buddies</strong> Need help on a data project? Having trouble figuring out how to use that cool tool you learned about in another session? Just want to network with some other news nerds? <a href="https://schedules.ire.org/nicar-2023#3178">Stop by this session</a> and get one-on-one help from experienced data journalists who would be delighted to help you solve your problems.</li> <li><strong>Welcoming more people into data journalism</strong> Cam Rodr铆guez and Aria Velazques will be leading a session to talk about how to make a more welcoming and accepting space in data journalism. <a href="https://schedules.ire.org/nicar-2023#3123">Join the discussion Saturday morning</a>.</li> <li><strong>Chatting about the News Nerd Survey</strong> We don鈥檛 have a session about it, but Dilcia Mercedes who conducted the salary analysis this year and mago torres who analyzed the overall findings will both be at NICAR and would love to chat with you about the survey. If we do end up having an informal discussion, we will tweet out details, but otherwise you can reach <a href="mailto:dmercedes2011@gmail.com">Dilcia</a> or <a href="mailto:mago@opennews.org">mago</a> by email.</li> </ul> <h2 id="treating-each-other-well">Treating each other well</h2> <p>Through events like these, we鈥檙e able to experience a tiny bit of the future we want for this industry, right now. A future that is well resourced, supportive, inclusive鈥攐ne that simply treats each other well and has space for all experiences. For many people, an event at this point in the pandemic and in a state with hostile LGBTQ legislation is still not that place. We鈥檒l continue to support virtual programming (hope to see you at NPA Summit in April!) and other ways to fortify our relationships. But for folks who are able to be a part of NICAR, we鈥檙e excited about small relationship-building activities like these as a chance to change people鈥檚 expectations about what is possible at a professional conference and what they deserve to receive from their workplace and their colleagues.</p> <p>We鈥檙e here to help fill gaps when circumstances and organizational decisions fall short, whether that be helping 20 people attend NICAR with scholarships or just taking the time to have a meal together and listening to what each other needs. After NICAR, we鈥檒l be following up with everyone we collaborated with to see how these experiments went! Did these opportunities succeed in helping people develop more and deeper relationships? Did you learn you had something in common with someone that you didn鈥檛 know before? Have a great conversation with someone you鈥檙e already planning to talk to again? Find out YOUR perspective was exactly what was needed in a conversation? We can鈥檛 wait to experience that together!</p> <p>(Oh, and if you鈥檙e thinking ahead to other conferences this year. Mark your calendars: <a href="http://srccon.org">We just published the SRCCON 2023 dates</a>. Back in Minneapolis on October 17-18.)</p> </div> <small>posted <abbr class="" title="2023-02-28 14:30:00 +0000">February 28, 2023</abbr> | posted in <a href="/blog/tags/OpenNews">OpenNews</a>  </small> </div> <div class="sidebox"> <div id="colleft"> <a class="sidebar-button" href="https://opennews.networkforgood.com/">Become a Sustainer</a> <div id="sidenav">  <div id="navlist"> <h3 class="nav"><a href="/what/community">What we do</a></h3> <ul> <li id=""><a href="/what/conferences">SRCCON Events</a> <li id="source"><a href="https://source.opennews.org/">Source</a> <li id="calls"><a href="/what/community/calls">Community Calls</a> <li id="scholarships"><a href="/what/community/scholarships">Scholarships+</a> <li id="survey"><a href="/what/community/survey">News Nerd Survey</a> <li id="dei-coalition"><a href="/what/community/dei-coalition">DEI Coalition for Anti-Racist, Equitable, and Just Newsrooms</a> </ul> </div> </div> </div> <div id="colright"> <div id="newsbox"> <h3>The latest from the OpenNews team</h3> <li><p class="blogtitle"><a href="/blog/erika-farewell/">Update on leadership of OpenNews</a></p></li> <li><p class="blogtitle"><a href="/blog/looking-back-2023/">Looking back at 2023&colon; We spent this year creating opportunity</a></p></li> <li><p class="blogtitle"><a href="/blog/srccon-2023-looking-ahead/">How we connected at SRCCON 2023, and what we're carrying into next year</a></p></li> <li><p class="blogtitle"><a href="/blog/giving-at-srccon-2023/">How we can give to each other as a community at SRCCON 2023</a></p></li> <li><p class="blogtitle"><a href="/blog/open-letter-press-forward/">Open letter urging Press Forward to ensure equitable distribution of resources to underrepresented voices in local news</a></p></li> <p>Read all our news in our <a class="feed_url" href="/blog">OpenNews blog</a></p> </div> </div> </div> </article> <footer> <section class="external"> <div class="busta"> <h2 class="logo-holder"><a href="/"><img class="logo" alt="OpenNews" src="/media/img/open-news-2017.png" /></a></h2> <div class="col col-left box"> <p>We help people strengthen relationships across organizations and build a more equitable future for journalism. 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Relationship building at NICAR 2023 | OpenNews