April 9-10 2010 - ournalists Will 'Rise Up in Cleveland!' to Build Skills, Chart Futures, and Rock and Roll

"Rise Up in Cleveland!" is the title of the 2010 Region 4 Spring Conference presented by the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), April 9-10, in Cleveland, Ohio. SPJ's Cleveland Pro Chapter will host programs for professional development and improving journalism at the Cleveland Marriott Downtown at Key Center and The Plain Dealer.

Journalists, students and educators from Ohio, Michigan, West Virginia and western Pennsylvania, which form Region 4, will gather for the annual spring meeting which is open to all journalists, including those not affiliated with SPJ.

High-profile, accomplished journalists speaking at the conference include Jim Schaefer, part of the Detroit Free Press team whose coverage toppled Kwame Kilpatrick, the former Detroit mayor, and won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for local reporting and Regina Brett, a columnist at The Plain Dealer who twice won first-place National Headliner Awards. The two are among more than two dozen professional journalists, educators and entrepreneurs providing skills training for anyone who plays a journalistic role in any form of media.

"Our theme is 'Rise Up in Cleveland!' to emphasize steps journalists and other communicators can take to chart their own course if they have lost jobs in the media or wish to aim for the stars with their own venture," said Tony Kozlowski, conference chairman and SPJ Cleveland Pro board member. "I'm especially excited about our hands-on training program for students and young professionals at The Plain Dealer April 9, followed by the opening reception, 7 p.m., Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum."

"We'll have a well-rounded program for people with a variety of interests," said Clifford Anthony, president of SPJ Cleveland Pro. "Writers, photographers, editors and broadcasters who work in varied roles will be able to choose from an agenda that includes training in using public records for investigative reporting to using social networking technology." Other programs will cover better writing, data mining and understanding Securities and Exchange Commission filings.

The PD sessions begin at 1:30 p.m. April 9 at The Plain Dealer, 1801 Superior Ave. For others attending the conference, it begins at 7 p.m. April 9 with a reception at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum at North Coast Harbor in downtown Cleveland. Programming begins at 8 a.m. April 10 at the Cleveland Marriott Downtown, 127 Public Square. The conference includes the Region 4 Mark of Excellence Luncheon, where student journalists receive awards for superior work, at noon, April 10.

For more details and registration, go to http://spjclevelandregion4.eventbrite.com/. Earlybird fees (by March 26) for SPJ members are $70 for students and $80 for professionals, and $10 more for non-members. Registration is also available after 3 p.m. Friday, April 9 and beginning at 7 a.m. the day of the conference. Hotel rooms are available at the Marriott at a special conference rate of $89 per night, plus local taxes and fees, for a limited number of reservations made by March 28. The entrance to the hotel is at West Mall Drive and East St. Clair Ave.