Hurry! Registrations close Monday, March 16, 5:00pm.  

Melbourne: March 19 and 20, 2009 at the Telstra Conference Centre, 242 Exhibition Street

This year, international keynote speaker Mark Schapiro joins us from Berkeley, USA to discuss the future of investigative journalism - freelance and otherwise. With decades of experience as an award-winning investigative journalist and author, Mark is now editorial director for the Center for Investigative Reporting.

Our second keynote speaker Colin Freeman joins us by satellite on day two. Colin was a bored city hall reporter when he decided to up sticks and freelance in Baghdad. After some rudimentary “hostile environment training” in a local park at the hands of a reporter friend, Colin took himself off to Iraq shortly after Baghdad fell to US troops and started filing (getting shot in the backside along the way). Colin was released earlier this month from 40 days of captivity by Somali pirates - read his account here. Colin is now chief correspondent for the Daily Telegraph, specialising in trouble spots.

Speakers include:

Gideon Haigh, award-winning freelance journalist and author

Matthew Ricketson, author and Professor of Journalism, University of Canberra

John Andersen, roaming reporter for the Townsville Bulletin

Sophie McNeill, freelance videojournalist, 2008 Young Australian Journalist of the Year

Stephen Mayne, The Mayne Report

 

Featuring sessions on:

• I am the brand: marketing for established freelancers

• Guerrilla freelancing: from beginners up, a freelance survival guide

• Guns for hire – freelancers are journalism’s future

• Character and narrative: drawing out people’s stories

• Life’s a pitch: tips from commissioning editors to get you work

STUDENTS: Please call 1300 656 513 to receive a discount and register for the convention.