Shrinking budgets, new media, membership prompts need for change from journalists and the news industry. | Credit: Ian Britton/freefoto.com

By April Choi
Voices

The AAJA Convention is evolving. Leaner pockets, a shift to multimedia and membership decreases are all prompting a need for change.

Ideas are circulating on how to combat shrinking budgets of individuals and the organization. Possibilities include expanding the vendor areas, adding a services fair, shortening the duration of the convention and offering a la carte programming, said Joe Grimm, a former Detroit Free Press recruiter who has attended every AAJA Convention since 1991.

“What that (a la carte programming) can do is drop the cost for individual members, and help the organization be more efficient so it can count how many people are actually at different things,” Grimm said.

Several AAJA members suggest cutting expenses and prioritizing programming.

“We need to scale down all the things we offered in the past to concentrate our limited financial and personnel resources,” said Janet Cho, a business reporter at the The Plain Dealer in Cleveland and AAJA’s national vice president for print.

This would allow AAJA to focus on programs and activities that members most want and most meet their needs, Cho said.

Other ideas range from tweaking the programming, including more workshops with hands-on learning, to holding conventions in cities where AAJA has not gone before. Some advocate carving more opportunities for journalists and the public to exchange information and ideas.

“We’d talk less among ourselves as journalists and more with our communities, our leaders, artists, activists and benefit not just from our expertise but, more important, from theirs,” said Craig Matsuda, a freelance journalist and former editor at the Los Angeles Times.

Most workshops at the convention are either half-day, full-day or 90-minute sessions. More variety could offer members a greater selection to indulge in their interests.

“Perhaps some topics could follow a college 101 format, with a 30- to 45-minute general overview and then an in-depth two-hour session for those whose interest is piqued,” said Amy Wang, co-president of the Portland, Ore., chapter and assistant features editor for The Oregonian.

This could create an opportunity to meet with panelists for a separate, deeper discussion, Wang said.

More multimedia training could meet a key industry need, Wang said. At the Boston convention, organizers are offering workshops about using social media, creating Web sites, working on multiple platforms and multimedia storytelling.

“In the past there has been a wall between print and broadcast,” Wang said. “But as we continue shifting to multimedia platforms, as the Boston convention programming acknowledges, we need to break down that wall.”

One of the biggest draws of the convention is the chance to network. Darleene Powells, online news producer for KCBS-TV in Los Angeles, says that’s one of the main reasons she attends AAJA conventions.

“I know that these conventions should include a lot of workshops and career-building seminars, but we also have to remember that many convention attendees are taking vacation time and money to be able to go,” Powells said. “This may go against conventional wisdom, but I really think the convention programmers should leave lots of time for hanging out and having fun and networking.”