I know media-makers is a weird term, but when I look around, I see media everywhere. Journalists are the easiest to spot, but there’s also bloggers, video artists, crowd-sources, data-mappers, citizen journalists, aggregators, Twitterers, communications officers, project field managers, and more.
And we’re holding a gathering for them all! March 20-22, come join us for WAM! Nairobi. If you or someone you know uses media in your job, and you (or they) are a woman, this meeting is for you. It’s totally, completely free. Because we — and our partners, Women and Action in Media and the Nairobi Goethe Institut — are awesome like that.
Together with writer and fellow Fulbrighter Anna Clark, I’m organizing three evenings of conversation and collaboration (with lots of socializing, to boot!). Program details are on our website, but here are the highlights:
- We kick off Sunday, March 20, with a happy hour in downtown Nairobi
- Monday, March 21, I’m hosting “Getting Women and Girls on the Front Page,” an afternoon drop-in workshop for advocates, activists and others in the non-profit world to learn new strategies for winning the interest of local and international journalists — and helping them focus on the information that matters.
- Monday evening, we kick off our program at the Goethe Institut (Wir danken Ihr!) with “My Africa, Your Africa,” where foreign and African journalists discuss the way they see and represent the continent.
- Also Monday night, we bring crisis crowd-sourcers together with citizen newsgatherers and literary journalists “At the Source: Raising local voices.”
- Tuesday afternoon, we workshop two-minute pitches with our ten worthy presenters for the evening’s interactive panel, “Spot Pitch” (see below for details and this page on our website for application instructions).
- Tuesday evening, March 22, journalists and other makers and users of media gather to discuss glass ceilings, gender gaps and why writing about childhood malnutrition cannot alone make your coverage gender-sensitive in, “Women’s Voices in a Man’s World.”
- Also Tuesday night, “Spot Pitch: Ten advocates and activists sell their best stories — in two minutes or less.”
So you want to come, right?
Of course! All you have to do is RSVP to wamnairobi [at] g mail dot com. We’ve got limited space, so get your RSVP in today! If you want to present at Spot Pitch, there’s a few other things we need. Please see our Spot Pitch explanation page for details.
Times, locations and all that kind of information are on our webpage.
And if you want to help out…
We’re looking for people to live blog or Tweet (whatever your preference) the program, give us a hand with various tasks at the Goethe Institut, or lend a hand in other ways. We appreciate your interest, so let us know if you want to help out!
