Schedule for Indy Conference - National Society of Newspaper Columnists

NSNC 2015 — Indianapolis

Thursday, June 25, 2015

All events are confirmed. Updates to the schedule, however, will be clearly noted.

4 – 6 p.m. — Registration (check-in time for The Alexander is 3 p.m.)
3 – 5 — NSNC board meeting
6 – 9 — Optional group dinner at Scotty’s Brewhouse, meet in lobby at 6, details including cost being emailed to registered conferees and not part of registration fee … or dine on your own
9 – midnight — Hospitality Suite opens

Sign up for the weekend at “Register Here for NSNC’s Indy 2015 Conference.”

Reserve your hotel room online at this special Alexander NSNC link.

Water Clock, Children’s Museum of Indianapolis

Friday, June 26

8 – 10:30 a.m. — Registration
8 – 9 — Continental breakfast, included in registration fee
8:30 – 8:45 — Welcome from NSNC President Jerry Zezima, announcements
8:45 – 9:45 — “How to Speak to an Audience and Make More Money” — Watchdog columnist for The Dallas Morning News Dave Lieber
9:45 – 10:50– “Panel on Ethics” — NSNC Media Director Ben Pollock and Hoosier State Press Association Executive Director Stephen Key
10:50 – 11:05 — Break
11:05 – 11:55 — “Columnists & Elected Officials: The Times They Are a Changin'” – Former Congressman turned columnist Lee H. Hamilton
Noon – 1:30 p.m. — Lunch — included in fee. Traditional “Roll Call of the States.” Presentation of 2015 Jeff Zaslow College Columnist Award.
1:30 – 5 — “Start Your Engines” — Free afternoon. Go see Indianapolis! Taxi service within 5-mile radius is $5. The city’s Cultural Trail passes by the hotel’s front door. (On your own)
2-3 — [May 11 update: Optional group discussion dropped.]
5 — Board buses to the Indiana State Museum
5:30 – 9 — Tour of the Bill Foley exhibit and talk by Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Bill Foley. Dinner at the museum. Presentation of Will Rogers Humanitarian Award to Indianapolis Star reporter Marisa Kwiatkowski. Keynote address by Chicago Tribune columnist and Pulitzer Prize winner Mary Schmich.
9 — Board buses to hotel
9:30 – midnight — Hospitality Suite open

Saturday, June 27

8 – 8:45 a.m. — Continental breakfast, included in fee
8:45 – 9:30 — Facilitated Open Forum, a group discussion of columnist issues. Moderated and presented by Canadian humor columnist and interviewer Dan St. Yves.
9:30 – 10:15 — “‘What Makes You Sound Like That?’ — Finding Your Writer’s Voice(s)” — Huffington Post and Milwaukee Public Television commentator Rick Horowitz
10:30 – Board buses to the Indianapolis Star [Update 5/16: Newspaper programs revised]
10:45 – 11:10 — Welcome by Star Publisher Karen Ferguson, then her talk, “Managing a Newspaper in the Digital Age”
11:10 – Star Opinions Editor Tim Swarens and Editor Jeff Taylor discuss Indiana’s controversial Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 2015
11:25 – 11:55 — “Your Community in Crisis” — Tony Messenger, editorial page editor of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, addresses the Ferguson, Missouri, protests, his writings about which made him a co-finalist for the 2015 Pulitzer Prize in Commentary.
11:55 – 12:30 p.m. — Building tour
12:30 – Board buses to Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library
1:00 – 2:30 — Lunch and Keynote by Newsday critic Gene Seymour
2:30 – Board buses to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway
3-5:30 — Tour Indianapolis Motor Speedway followed by presentation of “Your Community in Crisis” — Tony Messenger, editorial page editor of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch who will talk about his Pulitzer-honored experiences as a columnist during the Ferguson crisis.
6:30 – 7:00 — Book Fair with author signings; Silent Auction items displayed
7 – 10 — Reception and dinner in Alexander ballroom. Dinner included in fee (cash bar). 2015 Ernie Pyle Lifetime Achievement Award presentation to Judith Martin aka Miss Manners. Presentation of NSNC Column Contest Awards. Live auction (both auctions benefit NSNC Education Foundation scholarships).
10 – not quite dawn — Hospitality Suite open

Sunday, June 28

8:30 – 9 a.m. — Continental breakfast, included in fee
9 – 10:30 — NSNC annual membership meeting and election of officers
10:30 — Adjourn (Hotel check-out time is noon)

Sign up for the weekend at “Register Here for NSNC’s Indy 2015 Conference.”

Reserve your hotel room online at this special Alexander NSNC link.