#NPRLife's coming to Chicago starting Friday, November 11 for three days of audio goodness with hundreds of radio producers, journalists, documentarians and students as part of the 2016 Third Coast Conference.
Find more details about what NPR is up to below.
NPR at Third Coast
During all three days of the conference, Third Coast attendees can stop by NPR's Story Lab table to meet the people behind NPR's expanded Story Lab and discover new training resources — and, of course, grab some NPR swag.
In collaboration with AIR, the NPR Training team is organizing brief one-on-one sessions with over 100 conference attendees. NPR Training will take questions on a range of topics, including editing, storytelling, production, technical issues, digital/social media, and project management. Attendees will meet with a member of NPR Training or a special guest from NPR and the two will work on the question together. For those unable to snag a session, NPR Training has additional audio storytelling resources and tips at training.npr.org.
Saturday
9:00 AM
Mudslide: The Election of 2016
Featuring NPR's Sam Sanders and Latino USA's Maria Hinojosa
With the ink on the ballots still wet, Third Coast examines a year's worth of stories from the campaign trail. What stories were so well crafted they rose above the din? What can we learn from the unique set of challenges and issues of 2016? Bob Garfield (On the Media) moderates with panelists including Zoe Chace (This American Life) Maria Hinojosa (Latino USA), Sam Sanders (NPR).
11:00 AM
Bitchin' Pitchin': The Art of the Pitch
Featuring NPR's N'Jeri Eaton
A bonafide Third Coast tradition, this session pulls back the curtain on one of the most difficult and important skills every producer needs to master: how to pitch a story. AIR's Pitch Panel puts producers directly in front of editors, selling their stories with a little help from hosts, WNYC's Emily Botein and Katie Bishop. Six to 12 producers will be chosen to pitch a project in front of a live audience.
4:00 PM
Compose Yourself: A Producer's Guide to Working with Musicians
Featuring NPR's Michael May & Nick DePrey
It's becoming more common for podcast producers to work with composers to create an original soundtrack. At this session, producer Michael May and composer/producer Nick DePrey share their techniques for bringing a piece to life with music and sound design. Learn how to conceptualize your perfect score and communicate it to a composer. And don't miss their live demonstration where they'll score a piece of tape volunteered by a Third Coast participant (see the NPR Story Lab table to submit your tape.)
Sunday
1:45 PM
Bitchin' Pitchin': The Art of the Pitch
Featuring NPR's N'Jeri Eaton
A bonafide Third Coast tradition, this session pulls back the curtain on one of the most difficult and important skills every producer needs to master: how to pitch a story. AIR's Pitch Panel puts producers directly in front of editors, selling their stories with a little help from hosts, WNYC's Emily Botein and Katie Bishop. Six to 12 producers will be chosen to pitch a project in front of a live audience.
3:30 PM
These are a few of Audie Cornish and Sean Cole's Favorite Things
Featuring NPR's Audie Cornish
Audie Cornish and Sean Cole came up in radio together — smoking on the front steps of WBUR in Boston, puzzling over stories. Now Audie is a co-host of NPR's All Things Considered and Sean is a producer at This American Life . But they still talk all the time about different ways of making radio, and how the divide between "newsy news" and "fun storytelling" might just be in our heads. They'll bring that conversation on stage and play samples of their favorite things for each other, and for you.
Want to meet up outside of the conference? Follow @NPRExtra on Twitter for details on a special, public meet up for lovers of audio and NPR programming.
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.