March 17, 2022

Last month, we reached out to INN members and stakeholders to learn about their interest and comfort regarding conference attendance. The results showed that people are generally comfortable meeting in person, but not necessarily in a traditional conference format with large plenaries and long-distance travel. 

With this in mind, we decided to make this year’s INN Days a 100% virtual event to increase engagement and make it more accessible to folks across North America (and beyond). We’re looking forward to more excellent programming and community connection from June 13 to 15, under the theme of Igniting Our Collective Power. 

The key objective of this year’s INN Days conference is to foster personal connections and learning experiences that spark collective action. There are a few ideas we have on how to make this happen:

• Offering a suite of workshops where attendees can learn a new skill together
• Hosting a series of “huddles” where small groups of news leaders can connect on issues and topics they care about
• Selecting an online conference platform where attendees can easily follow up and reach out to one another directly

And it doesn’t stop there. The decision to go 100% virtual also sparked a new idea — to host smaller, regional gatherings throughout the summer and fall where INN members and supporters can connect and learn from each other.

We’re excited to announce that the Center for Public Integrity will be one of the first INN members to host a regional event this summer in Washington, D.C. INN will collaborate with CPI to develop a day-long program that pulls from their expertise as a longstanding, investigative newsroom. The program will also explore lessons learned in their growth to recently becoming an organization where the majority of staff are people of color. As they open their doors, INN members  and guests will have a chance to exchange lessons, practices, and experiences with their team and one another.

Each regional INN gathering will be open to a limited number of attendees, and members will also be eligible to apply for stipends to attend. If your newsroom is interested in organizing an INN gathering this summer or fall, please reach out to us at gatherings@inn.org.