Step
One: Read this page. Please note that
due to current time constraints, SEJ prefers
cosponsorships and very simple,
staff-nonintensive events. We ask that you
keep this in mind when planning your
event.
Step
Two: Print out an
event pre-planning form (requires free Adobe Acrobat ® reader),
fill it out as completely as you can and then
fax it to SEJ at (215) 884-8175. Please contact
Chris
Rigel (215-884-8177) if you have questions. We're
here to help!
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Photo by Sara Thurin
Rollin
Journalists and
forestry experts piled into a hay wagon
and toured an experimental forest at a
2001 SEJ regional conference in Ohio.
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Regional journalism events are a vital
part of SEJ's program slate. These events help
build local ties between environmental
journalists and provide them with high-quality
programming — an especially valuable
service given that many members don't make it to
the annual conference — while introducing
SEJ to local institutions. SEJ regional events
range in size and scope from a casual evening
over pizza and drinks to a two-day meeting with a
packed agenda attended by 200 people. What makes
it all possible are the dedication, ideas and
energy of SEJ's volunteers. The following
information and form are designed to help you
work with SEJ to make it happen — to help
determine what kind of event you want to create
and to help SEJ see if and when it will fit into
our organization's schedule of program work.
SEJ's mission is an educational one:
to improve the quality, accuracy and visibility
of environmental reporting. Because of this, we
require that our events be well-balanced and
not dominated by just one point of view,
whether from an environmental group or an
industry coalition. That's also why we do not
co-sponsor events with interest groups and
instead typically pair up with universities,
charitable foundations or scientific research
institutions. Our outreach for these events is
first to our members, then to non-member
journalists and others who are eligible for
membership in SEJ. We do not customarily market
events to public relations professionals,
environmentalists (unless their
responsibilities in an environmental group are
primarily journalistic, e.g., a Sierra Club
magazine editor), government officials,
industry, etc., although some of these
individuals may be panelists and in most cases
are also welcome in the
audience.
The
event pre-planning form (requires free Adobe Acrobat ® reader)
is not something you can fill out in a minute
or two. Unless the event you propose is a very
simple one, the form will raise many questions
which will take careful planning, phone calls
and research to complete. It is possible that
the date(s) or type of event you have in mind
won't be available in SEJ's schedule of
programs. SEJ will try to find a creative way
to realize volunteers' ideas.
Many thanks for taking the first
step in planning a journalism event.
Types of
Events:
I. No-frills, several-hour
event — This kind of meeting often
doesn't even require registration: a gathering
of SEJ members and non-member journalists. This
event might take place in a pub or restaurant
for a couple hours over drinks and snacks that
are paid for by the collective. You might
simply gather to discuss a specific issue or
invite an expert to address the gathering. Or
you might get more ambitious and assemble a
panel of speakers. If the event sticks closer
to the "beer and pizza" model, most of the
accompanying
event pre-planning form can be filled in
with N/A.
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Photo by Christine
Rigel
Jeff Reutter of
Ohio Sea Grant prepares to dissect a fish
as participants in a day-long SEJ
regional event on the shores of Lake Erie
look on in October 1999. Journalists and
students spent the morning on a research
boat, and the afternoon doing hands-on
research in a laboratory.
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Photo by Christine
Rigel
Event attendee
Justine Edwards studies a water sample
taken from Lake Erie as Reutter describes
the sample's various ingredients.
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II. Single-day event with
speakers, catering and/or busing —
This event will require more planning, and a
bigger budget. If an early-morning session or
tour is planned, people will need the option of
arriving the night before and staying in a
hotel. You should make an effort to find a
university willing to co-sponsor, defer costs,
and offer a venue. Most often some catering is
involved with events like this, and
registration is handled by the SEJ office. (See
the
event pre-planning form for various
registration packages.) A modest registration
fee will be charged to offset the costs of
catering and busing.
This event will require more
speakers. SEJ asks that speakers be recruited
from the immediate area whenever possible, to
save travel costs. (See section 6 of the
event pre-planning form for speaker travel
guidelines.) Getting speakers recruited,
keeping them informed, helping them with travel
plans, explaining reimbursement policies, and
prepping them for their sessions takes time you
must be prepared to work into your planning.
Speaker handling is one of the primary reasons
that even a small event easily takes up to six
months to plan adequately. SEJ office staff can
help with speaker handling only if our schedule
of programs for that time allows. Often session
moderators will help with this task, but they
must be fully apprised of the reimbursement
conditions.
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Photo by Dale
Willman
On the second
day of an SEJ regional conference in New
Jersey that attracted more than 200
journalists and speakers, a busload of
attendees took a field trip to downtown
Manhattan to hear EPA officials describe
the system of air monitors (in plastic
bags) put in place after the Sept. 11
attacks.
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III. Multiple-day event with
speakers, catering and/or busing —
This event is very similar to the one above
only with more speakers, more events, and
generally more attendees. It also takes much
more advance planning, and usually a year's
lead time. Please note that as numbers go up,
costs and time investment do too. For an
example, please visit our past regionals page and click on
the Boston-to-Baltimore Regional Briefing
link.
Please use
the event pre-planning form (requires free
Adobe Acrobat ® reader)
to help you decide the type of event you want
to have. Don't hesitate to contact Chris Rigel
(215-884-8177) if you have questions. We want
to do everything possible to help make your
event a success.
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The Society of
Environmental Journalists
P.O. Box 2492 Jenkintown, PA 19046
Telephone: (215) 884-8174 Fax: (215)
884-8175
sej@sej.org
© 1994
Society of Environmental Journalists
The SEJ logo is a registered trademark ®
of the Society of Environmental Journalists.
Neither the logo nor anything else from the
sej.org domain may be reproduced without
written consent of the Society of Environmental
Journalists.
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