2011 Spring Conference

• CLICK HERE FOR THE 2011 CONFERENCE SCHEDULE

• Click here for visitor parking information

• Click here for a visitor parking map

• Click here for the shuttle bus schedule between conference and nearby hotels

• Free Reynolds Center Workshop: Mining the Census for Local Business Stories

• Free Reynolds Center Workshop: How to Launch You.com – Build Your Personal Website

IT’S THE BIG D: Big Names, Big Hats await at SABEW spring conference at SMU in Dallas!

Hear SEC chair Mary Schapiro, Obama’s consumer-credit czar Elizabeth Warren and U.S. trade representative Ron Kirk; chairmen of two major U.S. airlines, American and Southwest, and famed business-writing duo Barlett and Steele will all be at SABEW’s 48th annual conference, April 7-9 at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Register above!

Getting to SMU

Taxi service from DFW, the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, the roughly 10 miles to SMU and our conference hotel costs approximately $65. Airport shuttle services, which can involve multiple drop-offs, run about $21 per person.

Driving directions from DFW to SMU’s Collins Center, site of our conference sessions, are available here.

Welcome to Dallas!!???

It’s where once everyone was trying to get oil, not get rid of oil. Where tycoons in finely tailored suits, Stetsons and Tony Lamas ruled the American economy between sips of bourbon and branch water. This is Dallas, friend, where business ambition is as big as Texas – and where SABEW hosts its 48th annual conference April 7-9, on the campus of Southern Methodist University. On Thursday, April 7, hear Google vice president of product management Neal Mohan.

Later that evening, enjoy an opening night reception at SMU’s famed Meadows Museum, where you can thrill to its collections of Spanish art from El Greco to Picasso and meet Duncan Niederauer, proposed CEO of the new exchange giant combining Deutsche Boerse of Germany and the New York Stock Exchange.

Aubrey McClendon, chairman and CEO of Chesapeake Energy

Then — slide into a conference room chair and listen to the chairmen of the board: Aubrey McClendon, the chairman and chief executive officer of Chesapeake Energy – which calls itself “American’s Champion of Natural Gas,” talk energy policy; and the chairmen and CEOs of two major U.S. airlines: American‘s Gerard Arpey, and Southwest‘s Gary Kelly.

SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro

Listen to Mary Schapiro, left, who chairs the U.S. Securitiesand Exchange Commission.

Hear Alfredo Corchado, Mexico bureau chief of the Dallas Morning News, talk border issues.

And Elizabeth Warren, below right, who heads the Obama administration’s consumer-protection agency after she oversaw the TARP federal bailout of Wall Street banks for President George W. Bush.

Elizabeth Warren

Plus, Ron Kirk, former mayor ofDallas and now U.S. trade repre- sentative. And be there for the annual Best in Business Awards Reception at Dallas’ most infamous location – the Sixth Floor Museum at the former Texas School Book Depository. Look out of the same window from which Lee Harvey Oswald was said to have aimed a Mannlicher-Carcano bolt-action rifle at President John F. Kennedy in 1963.

Also in Dallas, we will present SABEW’s highest honor, the Distinguished Achievement Award, to notable business-journalism duo Donald Barlett and James Steele, left, of Vanity Fair magazine. Their 1992 Inquirer series, “America: What Went Wrong?” was named by the New York University School of Journalism as one of the 100 best pieces of journalism of the 20th century.

So start planning now to attend SABEW’s 48th annual conference April 7-9 in Dallas.

Take advantage of two free Reynolds Center workshops

Come early to the SABEW conference for two free Reynolds Center workshops:

Mining the Census for Local Business Stories

The results of the 2010 Census are coming out. Wondering what’s in the Census — and other recently released government data — for business journalists? The answer is a lot of good stories — if you know where to look. Find out how to access those stories by coming early to the SABEW Conference in Dallas for a free, daylong workshop on presented by the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism on “Mining the Census for Local Business Stories.” The workshop, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. April 7 at Southern Methodist University, the site of the SABEW Conference, will conclude in time to attend the opening reception that evening.

Steve Doig

Your instructors will be two stalwarts in the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting (NICAR): Steve Doig, right, Knight Chair in Journalism at Arizona State University’s Cronkite School, and Paul Overberg, database editor for USA Today. The workshop will cover how to access and analyze local business data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey,  Economic Census,  County Business PatternsLongitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics, plus how to track foreign trade,  gross domestic product and household income down to the local level. While the workshop  is free, you need to sign up separately on the Reynolds Center website, BusinessJournalism.org, because space is limited. The same workshop on mining the Census will also be held Jan. 31 in Philadelphia. Click here to register for this free pre-SABEW workshop on April 7 in Dallas. Click here to register for “Mining the Census for Local Business Stories.”

How to Launch You.com – Build Your Personal Website

Everyone keeps telling you to set up a personal website to showcase your work and promote your brand, but you just haven’t gotten around to it yet. No more excuses — attend this hands-on, four-hour workshop on April 8 and emerge with a personal website. The session is free, but you must register for it separately and attend the Society of American Business Editors and Writers (SABEW) Conference to participate. Personal branding expert Dan Schawbel says: “Branding used to a ‘big business’ thing. It was something only large corporations with large budgets had to worry about or even consider. But with the explosion of social media, everything has changed. Today, consumers want to do business with companies they know and with brands and people they recognize. And that’s where personal branding comes in.” And a key element of personal branding is having your own website that displays your work, your blog and your social media accounts. WHAT YOU WILL LEARN:

  • How to create a personal website using WordPress, including the use of the dashboard, themes, plug-ins and widgets
  • What other software exists to create a personal website
  • What are best practices in creating a personal website
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