{"id":1683,"date":"2020-08-07T13:33:46","date_gmt":"2020-08-07T18:33:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nabjmonitor.com\/2024\/?p=1683"},"modified":"2021-08-18T09:29:10","modified_gmt":"2021-08-18T14:29:10","slug":"historical-virtual-convention-paves-road-for-the-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nabjmonitor.com\/2024\/historical-virtual-convention-paves-road-for-the-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Historical Virtual Convention, Paves Road for the Future"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By Christian Crittenden<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The National Association of Black Journalists and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists entered into the unknown this year with a virtual convention amid the COVID-19 pandemic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is a historical moment for NABJ,\u201d President Dorothy Tucker said the day before the conference opened. \u201cIt is our first virtual convention. It is uncharted waters. It has been both exciting and exhilarating and stressful and frightful all at the same time. I think it\u2019s going to be great. I know it\u2019s going to be great.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

NABJ began to prepare for the possibility of a virtual convention in early March, and while there was never any plan of canceling the annual convention, the official announcement to make the switch didn\u2019t come until late April. The organization had to move swiftly to make sure everything was in place and that the millions of dollars were not lost in cancellation fees.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere has been a really big learning curve for all of us,\u201d Executive Director Drew Berry said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The organization worked to find the best way to move the in-person programming that was scheduled to virtual. With the current climate, programming has been adjusted to make things more relevant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere were several workshops that we picked out in March that didn\u2019t make the cut because we had to make room for COVID-19 as well as talk about the racial reckoning that\u2019s going on in the country,\u201d convention programming chair Walter Smith-Randolph said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feels like the real thing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

NABJ has done its best to provide attendees of this year\u2019s virtual convention with as close to the in-person experience as possible. Participants have the opportunity to be a part of over 100 sessions and panels, some of which have been pre-recorded, so they can go back and rewatch if they\u2019ve missed something. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In addition to the panels, one added feature of this format is the ability to schedule interviews with recruiters at the career fair, one of the most important parts of the convention. In the past, lines could last for hours, but now members can sit one on one with recruiters and have a private interview. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One added incentive is that NABJ was able to partner with Grubhub to provide over 1,500 meals, so members could feel they were a part of an actual luncheon from home. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think the thing I enjoyed the most was the luncheon experience,\u201d NABJ member and past student representative Kyra Azore said. \u201cI feel like NABJ thought about their members when they did that. They thought about how their members would feel, how they could get the most out of this.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A virtual student newsroom<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The annual NABJ Student Multimedia Project has gone completely virtual as well. A team of professional journalists and students have made the switch, with the students reporting on multiple platforms from across the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI never expected the student projects to go virtual like it did this year,\u201d Dr. Sheila Brooks, founder of the project, said. \u201cBut isn’t it a wonderful change? I think it is. I think it’s a wonderful change because it gives our young people just another opportunity to gain some other skills that they didn’t have, those digital skills, technical skills that come with those digital skills.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just a few glitches<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There was a lot of anticipation and uncertainty from the members on how the virtual format would work for them. The unknown nature of the convention didn\u2019t stop 3,713 members from registering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was so excited that the conference moved virtually because I really do believe that the networking pool would be maximized,\u201d NABJ member Kamara Daughtry said. \u201cThere are so many people who will be able to connect.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The organization provided each registrant with a link to the website and their own password. Once participants gained access they were taken to an interactive dashboard that has links to the career fair, specials events, workshops and more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, when dealing with technology there will be hiccups and bumps in the road, but most of the issues have been minor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSome of the workshops would have technical difficulties,\u201d student Brittany Jarret said. \u201cI\u2019d click on a workshop and there would be a black screen and they would let you know that it was moved to Zoom, so that was a little frustrating because I was missing out.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

NABJ already has begun to put pieces in place if a virtual convention is required for next year. Even when the in-person conventions return there could be some forms of the virtual format that remain because of the success of this year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s going to be some sort of virtual component at every convention going forward,\u201d Berry said. \u201cIt won’t be this big grand thing unless we have to, but there\u2019s going to be some sort of virtual component. It makes it accessible to more people.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThis is a historical moment for NABJ,\u201d President Dorothy Tucker said the day before the conference opened. \u201cIt is our first virtual convention. It is uncharted waters. It has been both exciting and exhilarating and stressful and frightful all at the same time. I think it\u2019s going to be great. I know it\u2019s going to be great.\u201d […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":1687,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42,221,138,19],"tags":[137,151,52,160],"class_list":{"0":"post-1683","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-archives","8":"category-nabj-2020","9":"category-nabjnahj20","10":"category-technology","11":"tag-nabjnahj20","12":"tag-christian-crittenden","13":"tag-dorothy-tucker","14":"tag-virtual-convention"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabjmonitor.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabjmonitor.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabjmonitor.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabjmonitor.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabjmonitor.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1683"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/nabjmonitor.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1683\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2080,"href":"https:\/\/nabjmonitor.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1683\/revisions\/2080"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabjmonitor.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabjmonitor.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabjmonitor.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabjmonitor.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}