Event: 21st Annual Asian American Journalists Convention

When: August 4 to 7, 2010.

Where: Renaissance Hotel, 1755 North Highland Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90028

The annual Asian American Journalists Association returns to Los Angeles for the first time in 17 years August 4-7, 2010 at the Renaissance Hotel near the world-famous Hollywood & Highland entertainment complex. Our world-class program features panels and workshops to strengthen your skills in this dynamic field. Learn new technologies and techniques for investigative journalism, developing stories for multi-media platforms, covering ethnic communities and foreign coverage.

Some conference highlights:

Job recruiters from The Associated Press, CNN, The Detroit News, Eli Lilly and Company, Gannett Co., Inc, Gilead, Marketwire, The McClatchy Company, NBC News, The New York Times, NY Daily News, Social Imprints, USA TODAY, The Washington Post and more TBA.

Laura Ling, a correspondent for Current TV, who was detained in North Korea for 140 days and brought back to the U.S. by Bill Clinton. She has since become an advocate for imprisoned journalists around the world and trafficked women.

Ben Fong-Torres, a former senior editor and writer with Rolling Stone magazine, who was portrayed in Almost Famous, the 2000 film by Cameron Crowe. The Renaissance Media Man blazed trails both print and broadcast media during the revolutionary, counter-cultural civil rights-embattled 1960s.

AAJA’s founders and other Asian American media pioneers.

Free dinner cruise of the beautiful Long Beach Harbor, home of the historic Queen Mary. Transportation to and from the harbor included.

-Opening night reception

-Silent auction

-Gala banquet

-Networking mixers

-Field trips to Disneyland, The Price Is Right TV show, Huntington Gardens

Register online or download the convention registration book which includes travel information, convention highlights, national awards forms, and more.

Save 25% with early-bird registration. Pay only $225 (professional members) $100 (student members) if you sign up by April 16. Registration costs $300 (professional members) $150 (student members) thereafter. On-site registration costs $375 (professional members) $200 (student members). First 100 registrants to book their hotel by May 1 gets free wi-fi access in their rooms.

We’re looking to put on the best convention – combining both a look at our roots (LA is the birthplace for AAJA), vision for the future and to also have a little fun in the process.

So if you would like to get involved in this exciting event, please send an email to convention co-chair Darleene Powells: darleene @ gmail.com.

The preliminary convention committees set up include:

• Programming
• Fundraising
• Opening Reception
• Media Access Workshop
• Volunteers
• Silent Auction
• Scholarship Luncheon
• Social Events
• Publicity
• Marketing
• Hospitality

In your email, please indicate what area you would like to get involved in.

AAJA LA 2010 from WorldWise Productions on Vimeo.

Boston’s convention promises dozens of workshops on navigating the digital landscape and surviving the brave new world of smaller newsrooms. AAJA-LA’s own Leezel Tanglao will be leading the workshop “Creating A Website: A Quick Guide.” There will also be several media institutes, on topics like audio storytelling and the basics of online video.

But it won’t be all work! Current AAJA members registered for the convention and staying at the convention hotel, the Seaport Hotel, will be able to buy Red Sox tickets during the convention.

And speaking of the convention hotel, the Seaport Hotel is offering AAJA members their hotel rooms at the unbelievable rate of $159/night, based on availability.

Hurry and register now!

Welcome back, AAJA! A dozen years have passed since Boston last played host to our national convention, but it might as well have been a lifetime ago. The city, journalism, and AAJA have evolved so much since then.

You will arrive in America’s most historic city which, like the media industry, is in the midst of reinventing itself. Boston today is a city in which minorities are the majority – and Asian Americans are the fastest-growing racial group. It is a city that now boasts its first Asian American city councilor in a state that last cycle elected its first African American governor. Women helm two of our (and the world’s) most renowned universities: Harvard and MIT.

AAJA and the media industry right now face astounding new challenges. At AAJA’s Boston 2009 convention, we will embrace these challenges.

Reflecting an industry that is dramatically evolving right before our eyes, this will be an AAJA convention unlike any you’ve seen before.

This is a convention that will face, head-on, the uncertainties of today’s media landscape. It will give AAJA members the networking opportunities and the tools you need to succeed in a modern newsroom — or to reinvent your career outside of one.

If there was ever a convention you can’t afford to miss, it’s Boston ’09.

Still, some things never change. Beantown, as ever, is a picturesque metropolis teeming with historical landmarks, stunning public parks, world renowned museums, a grand river dotted with sailboats and perfect skylines, a bustling Atlantic harbor, acclaimed restaurants, and a hopping nightlife that is especially vibrant in summer. It is a city that is crazy about sports, politics, science, medicine, education, and technology — and our convention will give you a chance to see why.

Our annual gathering of journalists will be packed with hands-on multimedia training, practical skills you can use right now to redefine your career, and opportunities for in-depth explorations of the topics and issues that matter most to you today.

And, as always, AAJA’s annual convention will be the place to expand your network of colleagues, friends, and “family,” and remind us all who we are, why we got into this business, and how we can make it better.

See you in Boston!

Register online, reserve your hotel room and check out the convention schedule.

Early pre-registration rates on or before June 19, 2009 are $225 for current AAJA members, $350 for non-members, $100 for student members and $165 for student non-members.

And, word just came in that AAJA’s nightly guest room rate at the Seaport Hotel is now only $159/night — but only until July 9! (This is a  room rate for a downtown Boston hotel during peak summer tourist season.)

All Seaport guest rooms are newly renovated and feature top-of-the-line amenities, including:
- FREE WIRELESS Internet access in all sleeping rooms
- Bose Wave Radios compatible with most mp3 players & iPods
- Complimentary admission to award-winning health club
- A property-wide no tipping policy

The Seaport Hotel is in a terrific waterfront location, a short taxi or Silver Line T ride from Logan International Airport, and a very short taxi ride or walk from Boston’s Amtrak and Red Line T stop, South Station.

The Seaport offers easy access to Boston’s Chinatown, the famous North End, Fanueil Hall/Quincy Market, Newbury Street/Copley Square, Beacon Hill, the Public Garden, (the real) Filene’s Basement, and, of course, Fenway Park!

Call 800.262.0680 to make your reservation before rooms sell out!

(Room reservations already made under the AAJA room block will automatically reset to the new nightly room rate.)

The deadline to register early for the Boston AAJA National Convention is April 17th. After April 17th, the registration rates go up. We hope you plan to join us in Beantown!

If you would like to take advantage of the networking, valuable workshops, access to national media recruiters and fun that the Boston convention will offer – but you are experiencing serious financial difficulty (layoffs,
furloughs, cut in hours, etc..), please apply for a $500 stipend that the Los Angeles AAJA chapter is offering.

Please email a cover letter explaining your financial difficulty, why you want to/need to go to the convention, along with a resume and samples of your work.

If you’re a TV or radio journalist, let us know if you can post your sample on YouTube or provide a link we can access. If not, we can email you a physical address you can send the sample to.

The deadline for the stipend application is April 17th.

EMAIL: darleene@gmail.com

Thank you,
AAJA Los Angeles