ABOUT
SCHEDULE
SPONSORS. EXHIBITOR/SPONSOR INFORMATION
REGISTRATION. ONLINE. PDF fillable form
HOTEL Deadline: Jan. 20
SESSION DESCRIPTIONS

Convention Sponsors as of 2/16/23

Advantage Newspaper Consultants About
APG Create — Mt. Airy Graphics
Daily News Publishing Company About
Middle Tennessee State University About
OnPremise Networks About
Tennessee Press Association Foundation
USA TODAY Network Tennessee
Waller Law About

Our Winter Convention is a great chance to meet with peers and industry experts about the trends and changes in our industry. 

The meeting also is your chance to meet with journalism and communications students and to hear about the direction of the association.

It also is an invaluable opportunity to meet with legislators from your home district and talk to them about issues of utmost importance to newspapers. During the session, legislators are often racing from meeting to meeting. But at the reception at Winter Convention, you get the time to talk at length.

Please plan to join us Feb. 22-23 in Nashville.

Chris Vass, TPA President

HOTEL

Note this new convention location for 2023!

Holiday Inn and Suites Downtown Nashville Convention Center
415 Fourth Avenue South, Nashville, TN 37201

HOTEL DEADLINE: JAN. 20

You will need to contact the hotel by Jan. 20  to make discounted hotel reservations.  You may reach the reservation desk at (877) 666 -3243  or (615) 265-0355.

ONLINE: https://tinyurl.com/TPAWinterHotel2023

ROOM RATE:  $239.00 for single/double occupancy per night, plus tax and parking. Please identify yourself as an attendee of the Tennessee Press Association convention to receive the discounted rate.  Please make your reservations early.  

CHECK IN:  3:00 P.M. CHECK OUT:  11:00 A.M.

SCHEDULE as of 2/16/23

Wednesday, Feb. 22

11:00 a.m. TPA Board of Directors Meeting

Noon Lunch on one’s own

Afternoon Appointments at Legislators’ Offices

2:00 p.m. Meeting room for network for those who do not have legislative appointments

4:30 p.m. Bus to Reception location

5:00 p.m. Reception, all legislators invited (until 7:00 p.m.)

7:00 p.m. Bus returns TPA members to the hotel

7:30 p.m. Dinner on one’s own  

Thursday, Feb. 23

Breakfast on one’s own

8:00 a.m. Exhibitor area open (coffee service in this area)

9:00 a.m. Back on Your Feet, Back on Your Beat

10:00 a.m. Photojournalism via Smartphone

11:00 a.m. Fact over Fiction

Noon            Luncheon, Speaker Amanda Little, Kidizenship

1:00 p.m. Lt. Gov. Randy McNally invited, not confirmed, Speaker Cameron Sexton invited, confirmed

1:45 p.m.      Digital Strategies for Newspapers of All Sizes

2:45 p.m. Adjourn

OPENING RECEPTION WEDNESDAY EVENING

Wednesday from 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. Location: Nashville City Center, 511 Union St., 27th Floor
Members of the Tennessee General Assembly are invited to attend the reception, but we also ask you to extend a personal invitation to your state legislators.  TPA will contact you with location details in time for you to issue personal invitations.

Visits to Legislators’ Offices on Wednesday

The TPA Government Affairs Committee also encourages you to make appointments with your legislators while you are in Nashville.

LUNCHEON THURSDAY

Keynote address by Amanda Little founder of Kidizenship, a non-partisan, non-profit media platform for tweens and teens that reaches beyond the classroom, merging civics education with creative self-expression and community action.

SESSIONS

Back on Your Feet, Back on Your Beat

Join Leon Alligood, associate professor in the School of Journalism and Strategic Media at MTSU, for a session on getting back to the basics after two-plus years of remote work, zoom meetings, email interviews and the like. A return to face-to-face interactions and collaboration with colleagues in the newsroom, in-person interviews and coverage of our communities is essential.  

Digital Strategies for Newspapers of All Sizes

Allison Shirk, director of Digital Content and Engagement Strategy at WEHCO Media, will discuss how to internally cultivate and celebrate digital-first reporters and elevate digital storytelling skills.  

Facts over Fiction

Alison Gerber, Editor of the Chattanooga Times Free Press, Duane Gang, Politics and Investigations Editor of The Tennessean, and Mike Sisco, Executive Editor of The Daily Times, Maryville, lead a discussion on the chronic problem of misinformation and disinformation in the news ecosystem and what newsrooms can do to respond effectively to reader skepticism.

Governor Lee and leaders of the Tennessee General Assembly 

Invited guest speakers are Governor Bill Lee, Lt. Gov. Randy McNally and Speaker of the House Cameron Sexton.  Each has been invited, none are confirmed.

Photojournalism via Smartphone

Photojournalist Mark Humphrey will present this session. Everyone has a smart phone, and everyone uses it to make pictures. But not everyone does it well. Reporters are called upon more and more to make pictures with smart phones and cameras they aren’t all that familiar with. Learn how to make better pictures with whatever you have access to.