Free Press is a national, nonpartisan organization working to reform the media. Through education, organizing and advocacy, we promote diverse and independent media ownership, strong public media, and universal access to communications. 

 

The National Conference for Media Reform (NCMR) is an exciting, inspiring three-day gathering for people who are concerned about the state of our media and committed to working for change. The conference will convene more than 3,000 activists, concerned citizens, educators, media makers, journalists, artists, technologists and policymakers to discuss strategies for creating a better media system.

 

We will come together in Minneapolis to make media reform a bona fide issue on the national political agenda. We will focus on broadening the media reform movement, envisioning the future of our media system, harnessing new technology for change, and affecting durable change through concrete policy victories and sustainable organizing.

 

The Minneapolis event will be the fourth NCMR. Previous conferences were held in Memphis in January 2007, St. Louis in May 2005 and Madison, Wis., in November 2003.

 

There are two avenues for input on the conference program: Formal session proposals (if you have a fully developed idea for a workshop or panel you'd like to lead) and informal suggestions for presenters and topics (if you have a person or issue in mind that you think we should consider).

 

Program Priorities

 

We invite session proposals that inspire individuals to become more deeply involved with media reform activism and policymaking. We encourage session designers to review the program from our last conference to get a sense of the type of sessions we are seeking.

Sessions should fit into one of our themed tracks for NCMR 2008:

• Media Policy
• Media Reform Activism and Movement Building
• Journalism and Independent Media
• Civil Rights, Social Justice and Media
• Media and Democracy: The Next Frontier
  

Conference sessions should be designed to:

• Energize, inspire and motivate participants in their media reform work.
• Educate on pressing media reform issues and action steps to win change.
• Share models for successful media reform campaigns and actions.
• Strengthen the skills of activists working for media reform.
• Share "who's doing what" in media reform and engage allies.
• Provide opportunities to network and meet others interested in media reform.
• Discuss strategies for winning concrete changes in our media system.

Presentation format

• Each session will be slotted for 90 minutes. Presenters may propose to use two time slots for multi-part sessions, especially for skills-building workshops.
• Sessions will be accommodated in rooms that vary in size from 50 - 800 participants.
• All sessions should be interactive
• Sessions should include presenters who can offer diverse perspectives on media reform.

Proposal Selection Criteria

Please note that we will likely receive many more session proposals than can be included in the 2008 NCMR program. Before the last conference we received four times as many proposals as we could accommodate. Many worthy sessions will be declined simply due to the constraints of space and time, and others may be merged with similar proposals.

The Free Press conference program committee will select sessions using the following criteria:

• OBJECTIVE & FIT: Does this session fit with the priorities of this conference and our audience? Does it address solutions to the problems of our media system? Does it inspire individuals to become more involved in media reform? Is the objective clear? Is it doable in a 90-minute session? Is the session topic too broad or too narrow?
• NEED: Is this one of the most pressing topics in media reform?
• PRESENTER QUALIFICATIONS: Are the proposed presenters the most qualified people available to address the proposed topic? Will they be engaging, challenging, knowledgeable, open, inclusive, and well-prepared?
• DIVERSITY: Will the suggested presenters offer perspectives that include different professional, geographic, gender, racial and ethnic experiences and/or other diverse backgrounds that are relevant to the discussion?
• AUDIENCE: Does this session fit the needs and interests of a broad swath of conference participants (grassroots activists, concerned citizens, educators, policymakers, media producers, media organizations, etc.)? What level of information and discussion will be presented (introductory information for those just getting started or advanced discussion for experienced media reformers)?
• BALANCE: Does the session include a balanced presentation on topics, opinions or perspectives?
• FORMAT: Is the format appropriate for the objective? Does it allow for interactivity among participants? Does it go beyond the typical panel/Q&A format? Is this a format the conference can accommodate

PRESENTER POLICIES

• All presenters will receive a waiver of the conference registration fee.
• In order to keep conference registration fees as low as possible, we ask all conference presenters to participate in the conference on a volunteer basis and to pay their own travel and lodging costs.
• Exception: To include presentations by lower-income activists who do not have the resources to attend, Free Press may be able to help offset the costs for a limited number of individuals who would otherwise be prevented from participating. If you require financial assistance to participate, please indicate this on your proposal and discuss with Free Press staff if/when your proposal is selected.
• Presenters should make their own travel arrangements.
• We will ask invited presenters to formally confirm their participation in the conference, provide contact information and a short biography as requested, and communicate promptly with conference staff regarding A/V needs and other logistics.
• Presenters are responsible for bringing with them copies of any resource materials they would like to distribute at their session.

SELECTION PROCESS AND TIMELINE

• Free Press will review session proposals and presenter/topic suggestions on a rolling basis.
• Earliest submissions will be easiest for us to include due to limited space and time. Please submit your proposals and suggestions as soon as possible, but no later than Jan. 4.
• Please limit your submissions to no more than two proposals.
• Only information provided through this online submission process will be considered. Please do not send hard copies, attachments or any other documents.
• Free Press will notify session designers by February about the status of each session proposal, whether it is to be accepted, invited with modifications, or declined.
• While we will respond to each formal session proposal, we do not have the capacity to respond to each informal presenter or topic suggestion.
• We will likely receive many more session proposals than we can include in the conference program. Many worthy sessions and suggestions will be declined simply due to the constraints of space and time.
• The conference program committee may suggest that you combine or merge your proposed session with another session, shift the focus of your session, or alter your proposed lineup of speakers.
• If your session is accepted, we'll ask you to:

• Make modifications to the session in accordance with any recommendations from the Free Press conference program committee.
• Communicate with Free Press conference staff promptly as needed
• Identify room setup and audio/visual requirements by deadline requested
• Orient all presenters and rehearse the session before the conference
• Attend the 2008 National Conference for Media Reform.
• Bring with you any resource materials to be distributed at the conference.

November 16, 2007 - January 4, 2008			Session Proposals solicited and accepted on a rolling basis
January 4, 2008			Deadline for submitting session proposals
November - February			Free Press reviews all submissions and selects sessions on a rolling basis.  Session designers may be asked to clarify or provide additional information so that the conference program committee may make an informed judgment and decision
March			By the beginning of March, all session designers will have been notified whether their sessions are accepted into the 2008 conference program.  Free Press staff will liaison with all accepted session designers and presenters about programmatic and logistical issues
March - May			Session designers prepare presenters, refine the session's content, make modifications in the session if requested, complete format and agenda, submit room set-up and audio-visual needs.
May 1, 2008			Free Press will confirm schedule (day and time) for all sessions
June 6 - 8, 2008			Designers of selected sessions oversee presentation of the sessions at the conference