Host an Event

How to host a quick course, roundtable or other snd event

Duties of a host: A Quick Course or Roundtable is not a formal event. The goal is simplicity, keeping costs down, and keeping registration fees down. Any profits on Quick Courses or Roundtables help SND fund other educational and outreach activities. We don't expect fancy hospitality, luxurious meeting rooms or four-star hotels (though we won’t decline them!) Here's what we do need a host to do:

  • Designate a person as site chair.
  • Arrange for a meeting location to handle 50-75 people with up-to-date audiovisual equipment. Speakers usually bring their own laptops, and, if necessary, SND can provide an LCD projector. SND does not pay for meeting-room space, so consider a newspaper assembly room or college classroom if your organization is unable to pay for a hotel meeting room.
  • Arrange for local hotel discounts for attendees if possible. Many colleges and organizations have arrangements with local hotels for a "University" or "Corporate" rate. Try to get those for our attendees. Aim for a room rate in the $75-$100 range.
  • Provide one or two coffee/soft drink breaks during the day.
  • Ensure that participants can buy lunch inexpensively and within 1-1/2 hours. Some sites have arranged to sell box lunches on-site if restaurants are not nearby. Delivered pizza is always a hit.
  • Publicize the event through phone calls, faxes, direct mail, e-mail and contact with local and state press groups. The SND office can provide a sample flier and mailing lists in the form of labels or computer files. The SND office must approve all fliers before being distributed to ensure consistency of information. SND’s regional director for your area will also assist you in publicizing the event.
  • Provide or recruit two volunteers who receive free admission in exchange for helping with the registration desk, AV needs and other on-site tasks. Make sure you give the names of these volunteers to the SND office so they will receive name badges.

Designing your program: The beauty of Quick Courses and Roundtables is that attendees receive hands-on, personal instruction in an intimate setting. These workshops are geared toward anyone who works with storytelling: copy editors, designers, artists, photographers, editors and managers. They are very popular with students and journalists at small papers who often lack the resources to attend larger, more expensive conferences. When planning your program with the Quick Course Director, think about the kind of nuts-and-bolts training journalists in your area would benefit from most.

Select a date that makes the most sense for your area. Turnout seems to be greatest on Saturdays as most people aren’t needed at work. Fridays and Mondays may work better if organizations must pay overtime for their folks to attend on a weekend. Steer clear of holidays, religious days and major news events (elections, Super Bowls, etc.).

A typical Quick Course program includes five presentations and ample time at the end of the day for individual critiques. SND pays for two nights’ lodging and meals (no personal items or alcoholic beverages) for speakers, and will pay (coach only) airfare to fly in two speakers from outside your area. The other three speakers should come from your regional area to emphasize the course’s local flavor. The Quick Course Director must approve all speakers before they are asked to participate.

The Quick Course Director can offer suggestions for speakers and presentations and will work closely with the site chair to tailor the workshop to local needs. It’s usually easiest to identify local speakers first, then determine which topics remain to be handled by long-distance speakers. Once a line-up is approved, the Quick Course Director will confirm all speakers and provide them with instructions for handling expenses.

Here’s a sample schedule:

8:30: Coffee/walk-in registration
9:00 - 9:15 Opening remarks, site chair
9:15 - 10:30 First Session
10:30 Break
10:45 - 11:45 Second Session
11:45 - 1:00 p.m. Lunch
1:00 - 2:00: Third Session
2:00 Break
2:15 - 3:15 Fourth Session
3:15: Break
3:30 - 4:30 Fifth Session
4:30 – 6:00 Critiques and wrap-ups by the entire faculty.

Timetable: SND schedules its Quick Courses 12 months in advance, in time to promote the upcoming year’s schedule at SND's annual fall Workshop and Exhibition. By September, each host must provide the following information for next year:

  • Name and title of the site chair with contact phone, fax and e-mail address.
  • The meeting site location (hotel, college, newspaper conference room, etc.), including the address and room if known, any special travel arrangements or directions, distance from the hotel or shuttle arrangements.
  • Hotel(s) information: Name of hotel, address, room rate, deadline for registering, phone and fax and e-mail for registrations.

Within nine months of the event, we’ll need the schedule of speakers and their topics.

Within six months of the event:

  • Focus on local publicity. The SND Web site and notices in SND's Update and Design journal will draw some people (mostly SND members), but we need your help to appeal to people outside of SND. We'll ask you to contact publications, schools, businesses, state and local press groups and others in your region that might benefit from the Quick Course. Contact the state press associations in a 200-500 mile radius long before your Quick Course. They all publish newsletters and it is the primary method of reaching all those non-SND members.

Within three months of the event:

  • Pump up publicity. This is the single most important thing you can do to guarantee success. Personal phone calls and e-mails to newspapers and journalism schools within a four-hour driving radius will pay off.
  • Contact your speakers to determine their audiovisual needs. Obtain a short bio and mug shot of each speaker and prepare a program of the day for participants.
  • Line up the two volunteers who will help on the day of the event.

Within one week of the event:

  • The SND office will ship promotional materials such as membership information, the SND Store flier, and back issues of SND's Update and Design journal. The number of copies will match the size of the group expected at your site. The day before the session, you will receive a FedEx package containing (1) a roster for checkoff purposes, (2) name badges for speakers and registrants, (3) expense reimbursement forms for speakers who need them, and (4) blank "generic" receipt forms for anyone who pays on-site and wants a receipt. There will be blank name badges in the packet for "walk-ins."

The day of the event:

  • Your volunteers will arrive early, inspect the arrangements, check in registrants from the list we have provided, and give them name badges and course materials. Expect a few "walk-ins" who have not registered, and require them to fill in a registration form and collect their money or provide credit card information on the registration form.
  • You will need one table for registration and another for handouts. A table for coffee/water breaks is useful.
  • Provide ample signs at and around the site so people can find the meeting room, registration area and restrooms.
  • Give attendees a list of places to go for a quick lunch or provide box lunches for a set price. Encourage the attendees to get a speaker to go to lunch with them. (And encourage the speakers to go to lunch with the attendees, not each other.)
  • We'll e-mail evaluation forms for attendees to fill out and ask you to distribute and collect them.

The day after the event:

  • Ship all the registration forms the "walk-ins" have filled out, with their payments, to the office in Rhode Island. The office will process the credit cards and take care of the checks. Include the marked-up registrants' roster in the packet to the office.
  • Send completed evaluation forms and one copy of each speaker’s handouts to the Quick Course Director. A copy of each speaker's handout should also be sent to the SND office, along with any registration forms and expense forms.

Hosting benefits: All members of the host organization may attend at SND member rates, whether they are members or not. As a token of SND’s appreciation, the site chair will be granted complimentary admission to the following Annual Workshop. This is not transferable, and members of SND’s board of directors do not qualify.

Check your Quick Course information often on the SND Web site and make sure you send the office any updates, changes or corrections ASAP. (E-mail is easiest: we can cut and paste your information right into the Web site. Please proofread it for spelling, especially of names.)