Kansas Press Association

Kansas Press Association is a co-sponsor of Online Media Campus, an online training system of the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association and the Iowa Newspaper Foundation.

That co-sponsorship means KPA participants in the online training programs get the member rate of $35 if they sign up before the deadline.

Online Media Campus provides high-quality, low-cost online training to media professionals. More than 20 programs are offered annually on writing and editorial topics, print and online advertising sales, technology, social networking, management issues and much more.

Each program runs approximately 60 minutes and is designed to be interactive. A post-webinar follow up by presenters is included to ensure that all questions are answered.

These cost-effective and time-efficient webinars are designed to offer fresh ideas to improve job skills, without the need for travel and time away from the office.

Click here to register at the Online Media Campus site.

Here is the next scheduled offering:

• Defining Your Role in Newspaper Version 2.0

1 p.m. to 2 p.m. (CDT), Thursday, May 24, 2012

In a newspaper world that’s going digital, it’s time to take your skills as a circulation and marketing executive to the next level. Join Jeffrey Hartley as he discusses how the digital world is affecting circulation and distribution, and how to take advantage of the opportunities out there.
We will cover:
• An update on the digital transformation that is going on across newspapers everywhere (stats, etc…)
• The circulation executive’s role in this transformation
• What CE’s need to do now to start increasing their digital IQ0

The presenter — Jeffrey L. Hartley is corporate vice president of circulation for Morris Communications. He recently assumed this position after 30 years in the newspaper industry, serving as circulation director of The Augusta Chronicle, circulation manager of The Greenville News, sales and marketing manager of the Tallahassee Democrat along with other sales and marketing/operations executive positions at The Jackson Sun, The Times (Gainesville, Ga.) and the Pensacola News Journal. He is the founder of www.digitalfirstnewspapers.com, a popular industry blog with a focus on digital, social and mobile developments happening at newspapers.

Registration deadline: Monday, May 21
(Registrations submitted after this date are subject to a $10 late fee)

Registration fee: $35
Group discounts are available. Visit our website for more information.

• Tricks for Faster Photo Processing

1 p.m. to 2 p.m. (CDT), Thursday, June 21, 2012

Sort, Adjust, Upload, and Get Back to Shooting

Taking pictures is easy; you just click the shutter and before you know it you have 10, 100, 1000 shots. Managing all those images is a different story. In this workshop, Adobe Certified Instructor Russell Viers shares his techniques for sorting through those massive piles of photos. You’ll see how to breeze through images using Bridge and full-screen preview, how to quickly mark the ones you like and open them all for synchronized image adjustment, how to go from Bridge to InDesign and Photoshop for page layout and image optimization and more. When you’re done learning how to process your digital photos faster, you may very well save hours a week …or more. And that’s time you can be out doing the fun part – taking more photos!

The presenter — Russell Viers started his career as a staff writer/photographer in 1981, at the age of 16 for his local daily newspaper. Since then, he has been involved in most facets of the newspaper business, as well as printing and publishing. For the past 11 years, he has shared his vast knowledge of publishing production techniques as speaker, trainer and workflow consultant. As an Adobe Certified Instructor, his expertise is in teaching publishers how to use Adobe and Quark software to create better documents faster.

Registration deadline: Monday, June 18
(Registrations submitted after this date are subject to a $10 late fee)

Registration fee: $35
Group discounts are available. Visit our website for more information.

• Covering the Presidential Election: Why and How

1 p.m. to 2 p.m. (CDT), Friday, June 22, 2012

The general election for president has taken shape, and now it’s time to start planning how to cover it – at both weekly and small daily newspapers.
Why should smaller newspapers cover the presidential race? If dailies rely on AP, the coverage won’t be localized. If weeklies just stick to local news, they will ignore a major topic of discussion among their readers – who, in the dozen or so swing states, can provide the margin of victory or defeat. Covering the race can help you build and maintain a newspaper’s brand as the most authoritative local source of news and information.
What will be covered:
-How to identify federal issues that affect your community and where to get reliable information and candidates’ positions
-How to localize the race with reporting on campaign contributions and political activity
-How to keep misleading ads from controlling the conversation
-How to exercise leadership on your editorial page

The presenter — Al Cross is director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, which helps rural news media define the public agenda in their communities and cover broader issues that have local impact but lack local sources.

Cross helped organize the Institute, which has academic partners at 28 universities in 18 states. He became its director in 2004 after more than 26 years as a reporter at The Courier-Journal, the last 15½ as chief political writer. He still writes a political column twice a month for the Louisville newspaper and is a commentator on KET’s election-night programs. He is the longest-running panelist on KET’s weekly “Comment on Kentucky.”

His awards include a share of the Pulitzer Prize won by The Courier-Journal’s staff in 1989 for coverage of the nation’s deadliest bus and drunk-driving crash.

Registration deadline: Tuesday, June 19
(Registrations submitted after this date are subject to a $10 late fee)

Registration fee: $35
Group discounts are available. Visit our website for more information.