The program is seeking dedicated reporters, photographers and
designers. UF SPJ members have participated for the past two years -
let’s get some Gators on this year’s staff, too!

Applications are due June 1. Learn more and apply at:
http://journoterrorist.com/homeless/.

Feel free to contact Meg Wagner, UF SPJ president and Will Write for
Food 2011 alum, at megwag@ufl.com with any questions.

President: Meg Wagner
Vice President: Kate Feldman
Publicity Chair: Sarah Kinonen
Social Chair: Haley Stracher
Treasurer: Kelly Price
Fundraising Chair: Erica Alyssa Hernandez
Community Service Chair: Andrea Carroz
Secretary: Colleen Wright
Webmaster: Dana Edwards
Historians: Ayana Stewart and Jensen Werley

Congrats to all the new officers!

Positions open:
President
Vice President
publicity chair
social chair
community service chair
fundraising chair
secretary
treasurer
webmaster
historians (2)

Send your cover letter and resume to ahemmy89@gmail.com by 11:59 p.m. on April 13th. You can apply to more than one position. We are excited for you to join the executive board!

Come out to SPJ’s resume workshop, just in time for the college’s interviewing day spring 2012.

Bring your cover letters and resumes to have them critiqued – we’ll be swapping them and giving tips on how to make them awesome.

As always, refreshments will be served.

Feel free to stay afterward for the exec meeting, we will be discussing the conference.

Get Excited! The University of Florida Society of Professional Journalists is pleased to have you attend this year’s Region 3 conference. We hope to provide you with fun, thoughtful and engaging sessions and events during a conference themed for the muckrakers and wordsmiths who inspired us all. Here we provide you with a packet of details that will be useful during your stay in Gainesville, which includes an itinerary of the speakers and events that will take place.

Attendees and speakers can start checking in to the conference at 3 p.m. on Friday, March 23, which will be at a table in the College of Journalism and Communications.

Any questions can be emailed to ahemmy89@gmail.com.

Can’t wait to meet you!
Ashley Hemmy, UF SPJ president

ADDRESS
University of Florida
2019 Weimer Hall
Gainesville, FL 32611

PARKING
All parking information can be located at http://www.parking.ufl.edu/. Look to this website tofind maps of the campus and the parking lots. Most parking is lifted after 4 p.m. on Friday, but be sure to check the signage when you park. Almost all parking lots are open and free on Saturdays.

If you choose to park early on Friday, the Reitz Union, which is located near the College of
Journalism and Communications (Weimer Hall), has a parking lot where you can park for a small fee.

THE SWAMP NETWORKING EVENT

All attendees and speakers are invited to the networking event that will take place at the Swamp
Restaurant, which is a short walk from the College of Journalism and Communications. Named by
Playboy Magazine as the #1 college sports bar in the country (we aren’t joking), the Swamp is a hotspot
for both college students and professionals. We’ve got the top floor to ourselves and food will be served.
Those who are 21+ are invited to order from the cash bar. Bring your business cards to make some
professional connections.

FULL SCHEDULE

Friday

Check in starts at 3 p.m. in the College of Journalism and Communications

5 p.m.:

• Molly MoorheadA reporter from the Tampa Bay Times’ Pulitzer Prize winning project, Politifact, Hollyfield will talk about what it takes to launch an idea that spreads to newspapers all over the country.

6:30 p.m.:

• Swamp Networking Event

Saturday

9:30 a.m.:

• TBA

10:35 a.m.:

• Meredith CochieJoin former journalist and new media journalism professor Cochie at this session to give you war stories on capturing your audience, tips and tricks for online coverage and a good ole fashion intervention on behalf of quality journalism.
• A panel comprised of broadcast journalists will discuss the telecommunications field.

11:40 a.m.:

• Dan Reimold, 100 Award-Winning & Ridiculously Awesome Story Ideas: Drug use. Cyber attacks. Campus nudist colonies. Eighth-year seniors. Reimold, blogger for College Media Matters, will share a slew of eye-popping and award-winning stories, aimed at providing you with related ideas of your own.

12:30 p.m.:

• Mark of Excellence winners announced and free lunch served

1:10 p.m.:

• Al Diaz: Diaz is a member of The Miami Herald news team that won the Pulitzer Prize Gold Medal for the
  newspaper’s coverage of Hurricane Andrew and the McClatchy President’s Award for Journalism
  Excellence for coverage of the devastating earthquake in Haiti.

2:15 p.m.:

• Kristin Harmel: You’re looking at a career in journalist in the near future, but since you know your way around words, you see yourself writing a book one day too. Does this describe you? Harmel, who is about to release her
  seventh novel, will share what it takes to write and publish a book.
• A Political panel of reporters from Miami Herald and Tampa Bay Times Tallahassee bureaus
  Panel of reporters and photographers will share their experiences in the sports field.

3:20 p.m.:

• Recent Grad Panel: Recent University of Florida graduates will share what their first few years out of college are like.
• I-word Panel: UF’s Institute of Hispanic Latino Cultures will hold a discussion on ethics an using the word “illegals” in the media.
• Suzette Cook: Suzette has launched her own newspaper, Suzette’s Gazette, in Newberry, Fla. Learn what it is like to
  work in small town journalism.

4:25 p.m.:

• Carolyn Carlson: Learn what the rules are governing the Federal Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and how you can cover campus crime and other campus news when so much information about individual students is hidden behind a federal privacy screen.
• The Independent Florida Alligator Staff: The staff will share what it is like to work on the largest student-run newspaper in the country.

5:30 p.m.:

• Closing session with UF SPJ president Ashley Hemmy and North Florida professional chapter president David Carlson.

WORKSHOPS DURING THE 24th:

• Programming
• Photography
• Resume Critiques
• Professional

All sessions and workshops will take place in the College of Journalism and Communications (Weimer Hall) at the University of Florida.

ALL ON PAPER:

Twenty attendees will be able to participate in All on Paper, a program that brings us back to a time of typewriters and darkrooms.

Participants will meet Friday before the conference begins and throughout the conference and then will work into late into Saturday night to create a newspaper that will be mailed to attendees and handed out around Weimer Hall. If interested, send a cover letter, resume and three clips to UF SPJ president Ashley Hemmy by March 1.

You can learn more about the event by visiting here.

Keep checking for an updated list of speakers and sessions.

Come to SPJ’s 3rd meeting of the semester, featuring UF News Bureau Director Steve Orlando.

Orlando will talk about his time as a reporter at The Tampa Tribune and how he transitioned into a media relations job with the University of Florida.

For more information about Steve Orlando, click here.
Hope to see you there!

You will take over the nations second-largest homeless newspaper and assemble an entire 24-page issue in 36 hours It’s called Will Write for Food, and 2012 will mark the fourth year!

Learn more by visiting the WILL WRITE FOR FOOD site.

Participants will meet Friday before the conference begins and throughout the conference and then will work into late into Saturday night to create a newspaper that will be mailed to attendees and handed out around Weimer Hall. If interested, send a cover letter, resume and three clips to UF SPJ president Ashley Hemmy by March 1.

From March 23 to March 24, We will be hosting the 2012 SPJ Regional Convention for region 3. SPJ members, journalism students, and professionals in the industry will be coming to the Gator Nation to engage in interesting conversation and events that actually apply to the real world. The field of journalism is going through some tremendous changes, it will be interesting to see what journalists are doing in present times and how these changes have impacted their careers.

The fee for SPJ members in only $20! To register visit the conference website, hurry tickets are going fast!

The fee for SPJ and FCPA members is $30, non members will pay $70.

Not an SPJ member? Join by visiting the national SPJ Site.

We want to thank all our members, old and new, for making our first meeting of the semester such a success.

If you were at Tuesdays meeting, you would know we are a busy bunch. There are several planned events and conferences in the works with plenty of opportunities to get involved.

• The SPJ Regional Conference is around the corner! Visit the conference website to register. If you would like to get involved send us an email.

• We are also excepting applications for the All on Paper program. Twenty attendees will be able to participate in All on Paper, a program that brings us back to a time of typewriters and darkrooms. For more information on how to apply, check out the post on our site.

• This year will mark the fourth annual Will Write for Food event. Twenty attendees will take over the nation’s second-largest homeless newspaper and assemble an entire 24-page issue in just 36 hours! For more information on how to apply, check out the post on our site.

We encourage everyone to get involved and don’t forget to attend our next meeting which is Feb. 7. .

If you have any questions or want to be apart of any of these events, contact us! Also, don’t forget to check our calendar.