Get your lab coat: We’re experimenting with the journalism conference experience

Earlier this year, we started asking a question at Hearken: How could we better serve the people in the industry who are dedicated to driving change? Where might we be able to help them connect, not only with us, but with each other?

And most importantly, how could they get access to the strategies and resources they need to advance their newsrooms now?

This is a new way of looking at our role in the journalism ecosystem. Until now, we only offered consulting and tech for newsrooms partners to help them meet their editorial and business engagement goals. There is, of course, still a very important place for that kind of work — we believe in it greatly and still do it! We just saw another need to support the individuals who are catalyzing change, and we believe in the power of convening, connections and curiosity.

So we decided to hold our first convening, and we’re calling it the Engagement Innovation Summit. And it’s designed for people who already believe that treating the public as a partner, and not a consumer, is how the industry must evolve.

At its heart, this summit is our attempt to answer some key questions facing engagement innovators in the journalism industry at this particular moment. We’re approaching this whole summit as one big experiment, and we’re eager to test our hypotheses to get answers to these following important questions:

Question 1: What conditions are needed for journalists to be able to *immediately* apply new ideas from a conference experience to their work?

Hypothesis: If we design an event entirely around actionable insights, strategies and takeaways, journalists will be better positioned to incorporate what they learned upon returning to their newsrooms. We’ve all gone to conferences and then spent time combing through unintelligible notes a week later, and struggled to answer: was that worth my time? We want to ensure the answer to that question is an emphatic “heck yes!”

Test conditions:

• Require every session to be focused on transmitting knowledge, strategy and utility. There will be no “sage on a stage” or panels — every session will include interaction or exercises, and generate a practical takeaway or guide.
• Provide all attendees with a literal binder to fill with the toolkits and strategies they collect at the conference, to give them a go-to resource library to put their ideas into action.
• Also teach everyone how to pitch and sell their new strategies to their bosses, so when they get home, full of excitement and potential, they aren’t met with the sad brick wall of “Sorry — we can’t do that. No.”

Question 2: What new sources of relevant information might exist for people already on board the engagement train?

Hypothesis: There is an absurd abundance of inspiring and effective engagement work happening outside of journalism. We should not limit ourselves to case studies from within the industry, but explore how others dedicated to informing their communities and driving change are approaching this work.

Test conditions: Gather engagement innovators from further afield! Confirmed sessions on the adjacent inspiration track include (but are not limited to):

• Diagnosing the truth: What journalists can learn from the art of medicine — Alexa Miller of Arts Practica
• What journalists can learn from community organizers — James Thompson and Mike Rispoli of Free Press
• Listening with love: What journalists can learn from community health workers — Tamala Carter and Jill Feldstein of the Penn Center for Community Health Workers
• What journalists can learn from career services / alumni offices about engagement — Mara Zapeda of Switchboard
• Strangers no more: what journalism can learn from restorative justice — Shailly Agnihotri and Gabrielle Burton-Hill of The Restorative Center
• Real money, real power: Learning about engagement from participatory budgeting — Jennifer Godzeno of The Participatory Budgeting Project
• Pass the plate: What journalism can learn from religious communities about being member-supported — Cameron Trimble of the Center for Progressive Renewal
• Tailgate parties and growing your fanbase: What journalism can learn from professional sports teams — Caitlin Moyer of the Milwaukee Brewers

Question 3: How can we help newsrooms develop campaign coverage that supports a more informed and empowered electorate?

Hypothesis: With the 2020 U.S. election looming, journalists are looking for ways they can create election coverage that goes beyond the horse race to the issues that their communities most care about. (Sounds silly, we know. But there is *so* much room for current campaign coverage to improve.)

Test conditions: We gather proven, effective, alternative approaches to campaign coverage and teach exactly how other journalists can try them in their organizations. The fantastic Joseph Lichterman of the Solution Set newsletter will help translate these case studies into an easy-to-grasp structure and ready-made guides! And at the Summit we’ll teach and co-create new campaign coverage experiments, like the Citizens Agenda.

Then — Publish our Findings

No serious investigation would be complete without sharing out the methodologies and reporting on results — stay tuned to our Medium page to follow along.

How’s this all sound? Want to create the future of engaged journalism with us? Or maybe just learn a few kickass approaches you can adapt to your work the moment you get back to your desk?

You can learn more about The Engagement Innovation Summit and register here. Early bird rate expires Sept. 18, 2019.

Bonus: it’s at a gorgeous venue filled with natural light, plants, and no conference hotel carpet. :)