Patrick Beeson

Socked in East Tennessee continues to get rain and cold, but for those journalists able to brave the weather there are two events of note.

And lucky you: I'm part of both!

The first is the two-day Intercollegiate Online News Network Founders Conference held the University of Tennessee on January 15 and 16. This event is the first for the newly formed ICONN, and is being put together by Dr. Jim Stovall.

Stovall, as I might have mentioned on this blog, created the now-in-hibernation Dateline Alabama, the student-run news Web site that boosted me into the world of online journalism back in 2003.

I am part of a panel happening Thursday at 3:15 p.m. discussing what the media industry is looking for from journalism education. This panel includes fellow UT journalism adjunct and knoxnews.com producer Lauren Spuhler, Director of News Innovation for knoxnews.com Jack Lail and former Scripps Interactive News Group project manager Staci Baird who is now Senior Internet Marketing Manager with Lucasfilm.

This event focuses on Web journalism education, and involves a number of prominent professionals and educators. You can find more information about ICONN and the conference on Facebook.

The second event is the Online News Association Workshop on January 30 at the Freedom Forum in Nashville, Tenn.

This event is a bargain for cash and job strapped journalists at only $25 for ONA members and $35 for non-members.

The schedule includes panels such as:

• Entrepreneurial Journalism: Adding an ROI to the Five Ws
• Link Journalism
• Passion sites: Scratching a niche
• Beyond reporting and writing
• The Evolving Newsroom
• Multimedia Designer's Toolbox
• Bloggers & Journalism
• Build it Yourself for Free

I, along with bloggess Katie Allison Granju, am part of two panels for this event.

The first is titled "Beyond reporting and writing" and is billed as the such:

Discover how using social media can develop and expand your sources and audience. Also learn how to effectively use social media tools and strategies to build your "Brand Me."

Basically, Katie and I are hoping to educate attendees on how to become their own public relations agent in the social arena of the Web. This has the obvious effects beyond the story, such as community management and search engine optimization.

The second panel Katie and I are heading up, "Build it yourself for free," is more straightforward:

How to build a microsite in an afternoon for free. Take home the knowledge of at least five free Web tools that will allow you to powerfully tell and cover a story.

As most journo-geeks know, the Web is chock full of free, easy-to-use Web apps that can be combined to create a basic, but effective micro-site. We're hoping to make folks aware of these opportunities, and how to take advantage.

If you have any questions about these great journalism events this month, please post a comment or contact me directly. Hope to see you there!