Nine reasons to attend the APA Convention this summer

The 2023 APA Convention will be held in Little Rock on July 20-22. Previous convention attendees know that a good time is in store for them. Never attended before? Here are some excellent reasons why this year’s convention should be your first!

1. To learn something new. The APA Convention will offer a variety of breakout session topics. Planned topics for this year include Digital and Paywall Strategies, Improving Healthcare in Arkansas Through Media & Medicine, Photojournalism via Smartphone, Maximizing Operational Efficiencies, Breaking Stories Using FOIA and more.

2. To step out of the bubble. It’s so easy to get comfortable just covering your community…the same people, the same schedules, the same beats. Conventions provide you and your staff ways to get out of a rut and shake things up a bit.

3. For the opportunity to travel. What’s better than learning new best practices? Doing it in a new place, of course! Full of natural beauty, interesting history, landmarks, museums, shopping and more, Arkansas’s capital city is well worth a visit.

4. To socialize. Don’t think for a moment that the convention will be all work and no play. With luncheons, dinners, receptions and social hours all on the schedule, there will be plenty of social opportunities for making new friends as well as catching up with old friends.

5. To connect with other journalists. Conventions bring people together to exchange ideas, share the struggles and keep the passion for journalism alive. We can only imagine what great ideas will come alive in your newspapers after meeting other reporters, publishers and editors.

6. To get inspired. Janet Harris, Executive Director/CEO of the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute, will be the keynote speaker on Friday. In addition, a wide variety of vendors will be participating in the trade show that day…visit the trade show booths and vendors to learn about new technologies in the industry and also what Arkansas stories are waiting to be told

7. To bond as a staff. There’s nothing that will bring a staff together more than a good road trip and hotel stay together. If you’re bringing a convention veteran, have them partner up with a newer staffer so they can learn more about one another and share their travel and convention excitement!

8. To celebrate! Friday night’s Honors Banquet will see the installation of Eliza Hussman Gaines as APA President, and the presentation of the Journalism Educator of the Year and the Golden 50 Service Awards. On Saturday at the awards luncheon, the first-ever winner of the Ernie Deane-Brenda Blagg Award for excellence in column writing and the winners of the Better Newspaper Editorial Contest will be announced.

9. To remember you are not alone. Arkansas is full of dedicated journalists telling the stories of their communities. We are sure you will leave the convention with a newfound love for community journalism and full of inspiration and ideas.