The Virginia Professional Communicators Annual Conference will honor the best in communications Thursday, April 14, and Friday, April 15, in Winchester.

Register in March for the discounted hotel rate at the George Washington Hotel, which VPC has secured for members and where Friday’s events will take place. Thursday night will feature the keynote address and awards banquet, a newly adopted format for VPC’s annual conference.

 

Where: George Washington Hotel and Piccadilly Public House Winchester, Virginia

 

• Attend the 2016 Annual VPC Conference in historic Winchester.
• Help promote the event by inviting fellow professionals and communications students.
• Hear from stars who’ve stood up to power and won in the name of truth.
• See who takes home the coveted VPC annual awards and who qualifies for nationals.
• Don’t miss some of the best speakers and professional development opportunities ever offered by VPC.
• Register now and save!
• Questions about online registration? Contact Gail Kent or 757-876-5420. Questions about the conference? Contact Conference Chair Natalie Wills.

First day and evening, Thursday, April 14

 

Arrive early Thursday for pre-conference options.

Option One: Writing Critique by Keynoter Janine Latus

Have your writing critiqued by one of the industry’s best writers, bestselling author Janine Latus. One VPC member describes a session she once had with Latus as “some of the best money I’ve ever spent.”

Latus will do one-on-one sessions to evaluate and provide helpful feedback on your writing projects. Separate cost for this session alone is $75 per person. Take advantage of this fantastic opportunity for professional development. Want to participate? Sign up and pay online, then send a scene of up to 10 pages from your fiction or creative nonfiction writing to Janine at janine@janinelatus.com by April 1. She will return extensive notations to you. Sessions are 20 minutes. VPC will contact you with your scheduled review time.

Option Two: Tour the Patsy Cline House, 2 p.m.

Learn more about one of America’s most beloved country music legends and her humble childhood. Cost: $6 per person (discounted). Pre-registration required. Tour is 45 minutes. Meet at the Winchester-Frederick County Visitor Center at 2 p.m. and carpool to the historic house.

Thursday evening 6-9:30 p.m.

VPC Conference begins at Piccadilly Public House (located next to the George Washington Hotel)

6 p.m. Conference registration, appetizers, cash bar, silent auction, book signing. Sponsor: Virginia Press Women Foundation

7 p.m. Opening Banquet

Welcome: VPC President Gail Kent

7:30 p.m.: Keynote Speaker Introduction, Gail Kent

“Using Your Communication Skills to Change the World”

Janine Latus, International Bestselling Author and Activist

Janine Latus is the author of the international bestseller, “If I Am Missing or Dead: A Sister’s Story of Love, Murder and Liberation,” which made the bestseller lists in New York, London and Toronto and has been translated into six languages, including Mandarin. She travels around the world speaking at awareness events, fundraisers, universities and U.S. military bases about the spectrum of relationship abuse. Last year she slept in a shipping container in Djibouti and then in a five-star hotel full of sheiks and princes in Bahrain. She founded and leads a writing retreat called Write At The Beach on the Outer Banks of North Carolina and serves on the board of directors of the American Society of Journalists and Authors. Her writing has appeared in “O,” “Parents,” “Fitness,” “More,” “Family Circle” magazines and the inflight magazines of major airlines. She is working on a second memoir.

8:30 p.m.: VPC awards presentation

Pam Jewell, Contest Chair; Ilsa Loeser, Contest Co-Chair

Learn who wins in all categories and who will qualify for nationals.

Adjourn for evening

Conference Schedule, Friday, April 15

 

Where: The George Washington Hotel Grand Ballroom

 

8-8:30 a.m. Registration and Continental Breakfast

8:30 a.m. Welcome, Gail Kent, VPC President

8:45 a.m. “Freedom of Information Act and a More Open Virginia”

Marisa Porto, publisher and editor-in-chief; and Dave Ress, reporter; Daily Press Media Group, Newport News, VA

Porto and Ress will discuss the challenges the Daily Press encountered when reporting on the work of public officials, including closed meetings and knee-jerk denials of records requests. They will address the Daily Press lawsuit seeking a database of circuit court case status reports and explain why both the record and the principle involved are so important. Ress will speak on ways he has worked with governments to obtain records and access to meetings and address both the right-to-know and local government concerns.

Porto oversees the news operations for the Daily Press in Newport News, the Virginia Gazette (twice weekly, Williamsburg) and the Tidewater Review (weekly, West Point). A native Floridian and alumnus of the University of South Carolina, she previously held leadership positions with news organizations in Delaware, Florida and Ohio. Among her passions: watchdog journalism and engaging readers in both digital and print.

A member of the Online News Association, Porto serves on the Board of the Girl Scout Council of the Colonial Coast and the Virginia Press Association as president, a role she assumed in July. She was also recently appointed for a four-year term to the Virginia Freedom of Information Council as a citizen member.

Ress covers state and regional issues for the Daily Press. He’s been a reporter in Virginia since 1990, and was previously a correspondent for Reuters in Montreal, London and Nairobi.

9:45 a.m. Break

10 a.m. “How Virginia is Changing Politically– and How it is Not”

Stephen Farnsworth, Ph.D., director, Center for Leadership and Media Studies, University of Mary Washington, Fredericksburg, VA

Over the past decade, Virginia rapidly has moved from a conservative commonwealth to one of the most contested states in presidential elections. But even as the state’s electorate has become less conservative and more diverse, the changing nature of Virginia’s population seems to have little policy impact in the Virginia Capitol. Gerrymandering, the art of drawing district lines to create safe seats for one party or another, is a key factor in explaining the deepening gridlock in Richmond. Creating safe seats for nearly all members of the state legislature triggers a variety of consequences: limited public debate over policy issues, reduced voter interest and policy actions by lawmakers that do not always reflect the public preferences of Virginians.

 

Stephen J. Farnsworth, Ph.D., is professor of political science and international affairs at the University of Mary Washington, where he directs the university’s Center for Leadership and Media Studies. He is the author or co-author of five books and numerous articles on the mass media, the presidency and U.S. and Virginia politics. Dr. Farnsworth was a Canada-U.S. Fulbright Research Scholar at McGill University in Montreal and chaired the political communication section of the American Political Science Association. He has lectured on the news media, the presidency and elections and has led reporter training seminars all over the world. He worked for 10 years as a daily newspaper journalist before becoming an academic.

10:45 a.m. Break

11 a.m. Member Brainstorming Session

11:15 a.m. “Pitching to the Media: How to Cut through Red Tape”

Michelle Tennant Nicholson, chief creative officer, Wasabi Publicity, Saluda, NC

Every day, media outlets receive countless pitches. If you’re an organizational communicator, what can you do to make a home run? In this informative talk, Michelle Tennant Nicholson shares tips on how to cut through red tape and get your message noticed by major media outlets without losing your message.

ABC TV Network’s “Good Morning America” Producer Mable Chan calls Wasabi Publicity’s Chief Creative Officer Nicholson a “five-star publicist.” Nicholson calls herself a “storyteller to the media.” For 25-plus years, media friends have solicited her help by requesting sources, sound bites and statistics. An award-winning writer, Nicholson enhances campaigns with insight from her master’s degree in human development; BFA from a top 25 drama school, and public relations experience transitioning from the days of using typewriters to today’s Twitter feeds.

12:15 p.m. Luncheon

• Luncheon speaker: 2016 Newsmaker of the Year: Virginia Tech’s Flint, Michigan Water Crisis Research Team
• Introduction of 2016 Scholarship Recipient and Presentation of Agnes Cooke Scholarship by VPW Foundation
• Recognition of Communicator of Achievement
• Annual Membership Meeting
• 2:15 p.m. Adjourn

About the hotel and conference early bird rates:

REGISTER BY APRIL 1!

The conference committee obtained the greatly reduced rate of $98/night for the VPC Annual Conference at the beautiful George Washington Hotel in downtown Winchester. A block of rooms are reserved until April 1 at this rate. After this date, the rooms will be released back into the hotel inventory and may not be available. Also, the early bird conference rates quoted below are available until April 1 and then increase to the regular rates. Deadline for conference registration at regular rates is April 10. Either register online  at vapc.org or by sending your check to VPC treasurer Julie Campbell at 124 Welch Park, Lexington VA 24450. (540) 458-8956 

Don’t forget to include your $6 for the Patsy Cline tour or your $75 for the writing evaluation by Janine Latus if you are choosing those options.