Society for Features Journalism

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SFJ19 conference schedule (including VENUE UPDATE): Renaissance Revival in Detroit

Spirit of Detroit

ESPN's Kelley Carter to kick off Society for Features Journalism's 2019 conference

VENUE UPDATE FOR THURSDAY: We will now meet at St. Andrews, a decommissioned church on Wayne State's campus, right next to the Communications building, Manoogian Hall. (Not to be confused with St. Andrews Hall on E. Congress, which is a downtown music venue.) If you're staying at the hotel, the shuttle driver will drop you at Manoogian Hall, and you will see the church just next door.

If you're coming on your own, we're at the corner of Warren Ave. and the Lodge service drive. If you're driving, Garage #2 is just behind the church on W. Kirby and the Lodge service drive. It's a public, pay parking garage.

ORIGINAL POST: The Society for Features Journalism announces its 2019 conference schedule, starting with its keynote speaker, a Detroit native who's reporting on the national stage for ESPN's The Undefeated. Check out the full schedule of sessions below, plus everything you need to know to plan your visit:

WEDNESDAY | 09.18.19

Tour Downtown Detroit | 2 to 4 p.m.
Pick-up and drop-off, Element Detroit at the Metropolitan
Never been to Detroit before? Jump on this tour bus, provided by The Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau. A seasoned guide will show off some of the city's most beautiful architecture, from Art Deco masterpieces to mid-century modern standards. Register here for the free tour.

Opening reception and registration | 7 to 9 p.m.
Pendant Room, Element Detroit at the Metropolitan
Meet your fellow features creatures, register for the conference and relax. Enjoy a glass—or two—of wine, some hors d’oeuvres and good conversation. SFJ President Margaret Myers and other officers will welcome guests and introduce some special folks, such as our Diversity fellows and panelists in attendance.

THURSDAY | 09.19.19

9-9:30 a.m. | Coffee and registration, St. Andrews, Wayne State
The Element hotel provides free breakfast for guests. We will provide a shuttle from the Element to Wayne State.

9:30 a.m. | Keynote with Kelley Carter from ESPN's The Undefeated
We are thrilled to feature Detroit’s very own Kelley L. Carter! Kelley is an Emmy-winning journalist and the Senior Entertainment reporter for ESPN's The Undefeated. She got her start at the Detroit Free Press, and since then has written for some of the most recognized news outlets in the business, including USA Today, Vibe, BuzzFeed, Ebony, Essence, ESPN.com, MTV News, and the Chicago Tribune. At The Undefeated, Kelley's developed a beat that draws from the intersection of entertainment, pop culture, and race.

10:30-11:30 a.m. | The future of Detroit (and who gets to write it)
Reporters—and headline writers—like Detroit. There are news stories: “Five years after bankruptcy, Detroit's comeback still has a long way to go.” There are stories that use Detroit as a metaphor: “Russia's Detroit falls on hard times.” And there are stories that target potential visitors: “Detroit: The most exciting city in America?”

But how can we get a real sense of Detroit and its future? For starters, you can listen to the experts—people who live or have lived here and have made time for thoughtful observation. We have four of them on our panel: Nicole Avery Nichols, Urban Affairs Editor at the Detroit Free Press; Candice Fortman of Outlier Media; Martina Guzman, a local features reporter; and Ron Fournier, the former publisher and editor of Crain’s Detroit Business.

11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. | Parenting coverage: What works, what falls flat, and why?
Some parenting stories resonate with readers so profoundly that they break traffic records for their publications and spark meaningful, important discussions. Other parenting stories garner almost no traffic at all. Why the disparity? What works and what doesn’t? Is there a magic sauce?

This panel can help you decide whether your publication should have a parenting beat and, if so, how that beat might work best in your part of the country. With Rebecca Dube, head of TODAY Parents Digital for the TODAY show; Ron Fournier, author of "Love That Boy," a book about his relationship with his son with autism; and Amy Joyce, On Parenting editor for The Washington Post.

12:30- 2 p.m. | Lunch and Show & Steal part I
Back by popular demand! Just as writer's block is real, so is editor's block. Get inspiration from some of the best work by SFJ members from around the country. Laura Coffey of TODAY.com and Sharon Chapman of the Austin American-Statesman will guide this highly visual ideas bonanza.

2-3 p.m. | Freelancer AMA
Editors, how strong—and how diverse—is your freelance roster? With shrinking staffs and audiences’ demand for authenticity, now is the perfect opportunity to cultivate your bench and uncover deeper levels of storytelling. And writers, do you know how to develop your niche and do you even need one? How do you manage the business side of things while staying focused on the creative work?

In this frank discussion, we will hear from veteran freelancers who are all in different stages in their careers, with different backgrounds and goals for the future. They will share advice with the editors and the writers in the room on everything from pitching to pricing. With Daniel Hernandez of the New York Times, Janelle Harris of AARP's Sisters, and Evan F. Moore of Chicago Sun-Times.

3-4 p.m. | Innovation and on-demand audio
Why the podcast and on-demand audio space is so ripe for innovation. But first, what even is innovation? And how do you know if you’re doing it? A look at The Washington Post’s approach to podcasting, with a focus on smart approaches to innovation in any medium. With Jessica Stahl, the head of audio for The Washington Post.

4-5 p.m. | How to Cover the Arts on Any Beat
For years, local news organizations under financial strain have cut back on arts coverage or eliminated their arts staff altogether. Features writers and beat reporters are asked to pick up the coverage in newsrooms, while writers dedicated to covering the arts are left to navigate the freelance world.

Our panel will give resource-strapped reporters and editors creative and sustainable approaches to incorporating arts coverage in business, features and breaking news stories. With Christopher Wynn, arts and entertainment editor of The Dallas Morning News; and Joshua Barajas, deputy online editor at PBS NewsHour.

5:15-5:45 p.m. | Features 911
We’ll have a 911 box available throughout the conference, and we’ll ask conference attendees to ask questions, both big and small. Jim Haag and Sharon Chapman will lead this quick and lively session.

Dinner on your own tonight. Check out these lists for recommendations: the Free Press's top 10 and Eater's 38 Essential.

FRIDAY | 09.20.19

8:30 a.m. | Coffee, African Room, Department of Communication, Wayne State University
We will provide a shuttle from the Element to Wayne State.

9-10 a.m. | Soul for the Food
Telling the stories of a community by writing about its food. Regional cuisines are a product of the area's history, native ingredients, colonial influences and more. So writing about Tex-Mex, Frogmore Stew, scrapple or other regional dishes gives us opportunities to write about the communities themselves.

This panel will explore how to mine an area's food scene for the community stories that lie just beyond. With Emily Spicer, features editor at the San Antonio Express-News; Daniel Hernandez formerly of LA Taco; Jamila Robinson of the James Beard Awards Journalism Committee; and Paul Stephen, food writer San Antonio Express-News.

10-11:30 a.m. | Are features stories endangered species? 
At a time when the industry is focused on investigative, project and data journalism, we ignore—at our own peril—the kinds of feature stories that resonate with our readers. Tom Hallman Jr. will lead a workshop drawn from the real world of storytelling, discussing what’s needed to find, report and write feature stories with impact. More than a class on theory, Hallman will examine his stories, and the stories of other writers, to break down what is required to bring stories to life.

Participants will learn skills they can use immediately. While Hallman has written series and stores as long as 6,000 words, he believes a story does not have to be long, nor does it require months of reporting and writing. Hallman, a senior reporter at The Oregonian, won the 2001 Pulitzer in Feature Writing.

12-1:30 p.m. | SFJ award winners luncheon, Italian Room
We laud the winners of the 2019 Excellence-in-Features Awards.

2-3 p.m. | A new beat for an old magazine 
Why on earth would someone spend $50 on a water bottle? What does it say about you if you do? "If you can understand why so many people would spend 50 bucks on a water bottle, you can understand a lot about America in 2019," writes Amanda Mull, a staff writer at The Atlantic. From why we obsess over fancy S’well bottles to the reason that young Americans are so sick of booze, Mull is carving out a fresh approach to examining contemporary culture, while developing a brand new audience for a 163-year-old publication.

3-4 p.m. |Write the Power: Community stories as told through music writing
Music culture coverage isn’t just cool, bringing dismissive hipsters to the fold or sending Boomers into nostalgic overloads. This arts beats is an essential part of journalism because it often tells us the stories of the overlooked and ignored. Whether it’s using a feature on a hip-hop group to showcase how people are powering pride in a crumbling part of town or examining cultural ties by explaining how K-Pop connects a second generation of Americans to their ancestral homeland, these stories unite us through art while bringing different faces and stories to news sites. In a time of representative reporting and diversity course correcting, the music beat can look on point. But the truth is music writers have been reporting on diversity and representation for years by simply finding the best stories about the best art.

We talk with a panel of veteran music and culture writers to explain how music coverage is more than snide album reviews or fawning Q&As; it’s a highly effective way to get diverse people on the front page and timely issues into the news sites. With Mesfin Fekadu, AP Music writer; Imani Mixon, freelance culture writer in Detroit; and Jim DeRogatis, author and former Chicago Sun-Times music critic; and Robert Morast, Senior Arts & Entertainment Editor at the San Francisco Chronicle.

4-5 p.m. |Breaking down R. Kelly
In 2000, The Chicago Sun-Times was the first news outlet to publish a report that alleged R. Kelly had engaged in sex with minors. Veteran music reporter Jim DeRogatis has been reporting on this tragic story from Day 1. Now, as the pop singer awaits arraignment on federal sex crimes, we have this special opportunity to sit with DeRogatis and discuss this 20-some-year tragedy.

5:15-5:45 p.m. | Features 911
We’ll have a 911 box available throughout the conference, and we’ll ask conference attendees to ask questions, both big and small. Jim Haag and Sharon Chapman will lead this quick and lively session.

7-9 p.m. | The SFJ Foundation Auction, The Detroit Writing Room 
Meet us two blocks from the hotel at Detroit's only co-working space for writers! And it was co-founded by a former features reporter for the Detroit News. We'll have an open bar and apps. We hope you will bid big to help support the SFJ Foundation’s Diversity Fellowship program. Emily Spicer and Jim Haag will lead the craziness, with able assistance from those in the crowd.

SATURDAY | 09.21.19

Stevie Wonder Room, michigan.com

9 a.m. | Coffee and doughnuts

9:30-10:30 p.m. | Digital storytelling—10 things digital editors wished you knew
Barbara Allen and Kristen Hare from Poynter will lead this session. Come with questions!

10:30-11:30 a.m. | Show & Steal part II
Laura Coffey of TODAY.com and Sue Campbell of Star Tribune Magazine showcase more great feature ideas from SFJ members.

11:30 a.m.-noon | Changing of the guard
It’s a time-honored tradition: The current SFJ president, Margaret Myers turns over the gavel – and few surprising pieces of clothing – to the incoming president, Sharon Chapman of the Austin American-Statesman. Then, sadly, it’s time to wrap it up.

Editor's note: We have updated this post to reflect a few changes from the original. Namely, Detroit's Aaron Foley will not be joining us due to a scheduling conflict. We will miss him! Also, Sue Campbell from the Minneapolis Star-Tribune will be joining Show & Steal this year.