Pro tip: In the past, we've heard that some professors have offered extra credit to students who attend AccessFest! Give your professor a subtle (or not so subtle) nudge by forwarding this email.

New this year: AccessFest24 will have a virtual networking session for students and professional journalists on Thursday, Oct. 17 from 11 a.m. — 12 p.m. ET. Similar to our in-person conferences, this is a chance to meet and mingle with friends and colleagues in a fun, informal setting!

Whether you're just starting out in journalism or you've already done some training with IRE before, AccessFest24 has a broad range of classes for all experience levels. See the full schedule here, and check out some session highlights below.

The year of harmful policies in higher education

Thursday, Oct. 17, 4 – 5 p.m. ET

As more states draft laws that outlaw DEI, curb the rights of trans and LGBTQ students, block student protests, and curb lectures and curriculum in college classrooms, what are the best ways for reporters to dig past the usual "he said, she said, they said" breaking news? Journalists offer advice on digging deeper into these stories. 

Super awesome tools demo: Fostering inclusive journalism and capturing dimensions of data 

Friday, Oct. 18, 12:30 – 1:30 p.m. ET

Whether you're interested in incorporating data into your journalism, documenting source diversity, or looking for the best ways to represent people equitably — we can help you work towards inclusivity! Join this session to learn how the tools and methods you use can foster more informed, inclusive and equitable journalism.

Scraping TikTok and Instagram videos for investigative reporting

Friday, Oct. 18, 4 – 5 p.m. ET

This was one of the most popular sessions at the 2024 NICAR Conference! Caitlin Gilbert of The Washington Post returns to teach tools to batch download TikTok videos or Instagram reels for a specific topic or list of users, extract metadata, transcribe audio, and more.

Career talk: How students can set themselves up to enter the industry

Saturday Oct. 19, 11 a.m. – 12 p.m. ET

IRE Board members Alejandra Cancino (Injustice Watch), Ana Ley and Brian Rosenthal (The New York Times), and Paroma Soni (Politico) will lead this roundtable.

Unsung documents

Thursday, Oct. 17, 4 – 5 p.m. ET

This session is an IRE classic! Veteran investigative reporters share obscure but powerful documents that anyone can use to turbocharge a project or bulk-up daily beat coverage. They also provide practical guidelines for unearthing, scrutinizing, managing and cross-referencing routine documents to unleash their full investigative power.

Filing a better FOIA request

Friday, Oct. 18, 4 – 5 p.m. ET

What can help identify the records you should ask for in the first place? And how can you make it more likely that you’ll receive a useful response? We will look at strategies for formulating public records requests.

Have a friend or classmate who may be interested in attending AccessFest? Share this email with them!

Journalists, educators and students from around the world are welcome. IRE membership is required to attend the conference. See the criteria for membership and join us today. The student membership rate is $25/year.

IRE members receive access to thousands of reporting tipsheets, free training webinars throughout the year, a wide-ranging community of support and much more. See the list of member benefits here.

#AccessFest24 | October 17-19, 2024 | Virtual By Design

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