The Complete Assigning Editor (II) (W421B-09)

Ever heard the saying, "Some days you run the desk, and some days the desk runs you?" Fact is, being an assigning editor has never been more difficult: tougher expectations from above, tougher expectations from below. Get great stories, prepare them for the Web and the paper, and publish them all day long. Coach new skills. Plan for big events, react nimbly to news. Motivate the staff, both the eager and the reluctant. And do it all with limited--if not diminished--resources. This seminar will teach you the editing and leadership skills to help you and your staff survive--and do even better work--in this very difficult environment.

Join Poynter Editing Fellow and Pulitzer Prize winner Jacqui Banaszynski, Poynter's Jill Geisler and Butch Ward. You'll learn:

• Skills for more effectively editing stories for print and online
• Ways to find and develop better ideas
• Tools for diagnosing the chronic challenges in a reporter's writing
• Strategies for motivating your staff in times of change
• Help for giving effective feedback and holding difficult conversations
• Aids for making better ethical decisions under pressure
• Ways to identify your community's untold stories