One of the biggest strengths of the annual Online News Association conference also presents its biggest challenge. The conference, held this year in Denver, is jam-packed with so much stuff that it can be hard to get your arms around all the ideas presented in a three-day span.
Fortunately, your fellow journalists have your back.
If you didn’t go to the conference — or if you, like me, went but had trouble fitting everything in — there are resources aplenty to catch you up on all the innovation.
Missed out on sessions?
Most of the panels and discussions at last week’s conference were either recorded or videotaped, which means they’re available for replay right now. The Online News Association has a list of sessions here, along with symbols that show which discussions and speeches were recorded.
If you’re looking to delve deeper into a specific topic, Lauren Katz has you covered. The social media manager at Vox.com started a Google spreadsheet that contains links for many of the articles, apps and ideas mentioned during the week.
Missed out on the news?
I filed a couple of stories from the conference last week, but I couldn’t keep up with the team of student journalists who offered flood-the-zone coverage from Denver. If you’re searching for a comprehensive take on the weekend’s events, you can’t beat the ONA Student Newsroom (which also includes plenty of video from the panels).
Missed out on networking and analysis?
One of the biggest upsides to the conference is meeting journalists from other newsrooms around the world and talking over the ideas presented at the conference. But even if you missed the conference, there are still ways to do that.
Nieman Lab, the future-of-news outlet from Harvard’s Nieman Foundation, was there in force and created a Slack Lounge for journalists to network and chat. You can also check out the #ONA16 hashtag on Twitter for a buzzy look at some of the highlights.
Missed out on inspiration?
Another perk of the Online News Association conference is finding inspiration from the work celebrated at its annual award ceremony. If you weren’t around this year to watch The Texas Tribune, Quartz, AJ+ and The New York Times take home top honors, you can catch up — and take in all the award-winning work — here.
