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Participation at SRCCON 2020

SRCCON 2020 is a hands-on conference, where everyone who attends actively participates throughout the event. Our call for participation form is now open. If you’d like to be part of SRCCON 2020, this is how to let us know.

Not just attendees, but participants

At SRCCON 2020, everyone participates in some way. Our hands-on sessions rely on participants who are ready to share their experiences and perspectives. Facilitators create space for in-depth conversations, design exercises, demos, and workshops, and participants bring questions and take ideas back to their newsrooms. In addition to sessions, folks help make SRCCON 2020 an inclusive, welcoming place by leading group activities, volunteering, and even just saying hi to new friends and collaborators over breaks and activities.

We’ll have a few questions for you about what you’d like to bring to SRCCON 2020 and how we can support one another. We look forward to seeing what ideas folks have and how we can make them possible during our three days together. This is going to be our first time doing SRCCON online only, and we’re excited about the chance to connect in new ways. As one prior attendee put it, SRCCON this year “will be a special opportunity to take some of the brightest minds in journalism, data, and community-building to tackle everything that has come to a head in the past couple of months with positivity, frankness, and creativity.”

Making the schedule together

Having SRCCON online this year means that we’ll be able to make the event accessible across time zones and differing circumstances. Here’s how we’re currently thinking about the schedule:

Wednesday, July 15

Thursday, July 16

Friday, July 17

Each block will include time for a talk with Q&A, a 75-minute session, and a social break. In addition, each day we’ll add an extra hour to one block for hobby discussions, social meetups, or catching up over morning/evening beverages, depending on the time zone. Not everyone will be able to attend every time session, and that’s ok!

In addition to live sessions, we’ll also have pre-recorded and asynchronous talks and sessions as well as a chat space we’ll keep open throughout the event. We sketched this schedule based on the time zones of people attending so far, and will be reviewing forms going forward to see if it’d be helpful to adjust access for other time zones. There’s a space in the form to tell us what time zone you’ll be attending from, and about other interests so we can match up small groups for discussion and start planning a bunch of fun activities, too!

Inviting participants and allocating tickets

We keep SRCCON events intentionally small, and this online event will be no different. We’re planning for about 300 participants. Even though a physical venue isn’t constraining the size of the crowd this year, the collaborative, interactive nature of SRCCON just doesn’t scale in the same way a talks-only conference can. The relatively small size of SRCCON 2020 means we need to be intentional about equitably distributing tickets and ensuring that there are a mix of perspectives and skills at SRCCON 2020. Our call for participation form will help us understand who would like to take part and what you want to get out of it. With those responses, we’ll work to create a schedule and audience that reflects the dynamic interests and needs of this community.

The priority deadline for session proposals and scholarship applications was June 24, and we’ll keep the form open for attendees as long as we can. We review the call for participation forms on a rolling basis, and within a few business days we will let applicants know whether they will be invited to attend. If invited, you will have the chance to purchase a ticket starting at $125 plus fees.

Details about ticket prices

Last year we began experimenting with a tiered ticket-pricing system. Accessibility remains a core value for us, and this is our attempt to balance the actual costs of our events with keeping prices as manageable for attendees as possible. We adjusted our pricing structure a bit in response to going virtual this year.

Here are the tiers for tickets to SRCCON 2020 (plus Eventbrite ticketing fees):

In addition, this year we are also offering a free scholarship ticket as one of the tiers. We have a limited number of free tickets set aside for people who otherwise would not be able to attend, with priority for Black journalists, Indigenous journalists, and journalists of color.

Here’s the most important thing to know about these ticket prices: We want you to choose the one that makes sure you can be at SRCCON 2020. We don’t review who pays what, and we won’t follow up with any questions. If you work for an organization where budgets have already been set or there’s not support available to you, choose a lower price and join us. By the same token, if you budgeted for travel costs you no longer have to spend and are able to purchase a ticket at a higher tier, please do. In addition, if you would like to pay for someone else’s ticket, email us and we have a process to make it happen.

We based these tiers on community feedback encouraging us to find ways to share event costs. Ticket funds are a huge part of what makes it possible to organize an event with scholarship tickets, stipends, live transcription, and the support of a skilled event team in preparing sessions and constructing a schedule that lets attendees focus on learning and talking together.

If you have any questions at all about ticket pricing, please reach out.

Welcome, first-timers

We think SRCCON events are best when there’s a mix of new folks and veterans. And we want new folks to feel able to participate in whatever ways interest you. There’s a spot on the form to ask for more information if you’re interested in attending but not quite sure how you want to participate. In reviewing forms, we’ll aim to have a healthy mix of newcomers and returning SRCCON participants. So SRCCON alums, you can put your name in without worrying that you’re taking a new attendee’s spot.

Accessibility and access

Accessibility will take shape in this online format in a few different ways:

If you have other access needs, please let us know. We’re doing our best to accommodate as many accessibility needs as we can and will keep attendees updated about adjustments to the program, details about platforms, and how to access all aspects of the event.