Session Producer Details

The NETA Conference is dedicated to providing public media professionals with meaningful and relevant connections to the people and ideas that are at the heart of our mission to educate, engage, and entertain. It’s a time to get energized with new ideas, deeper insights, and connections.  

For the hybrid conference, we will leverage video conferencing and other digital channels to create a learning experience for both virtual and in-person attendees that will serve up the same great connections and learning you’ve come to expect from the NETA Conference. Breakout sessions are one of the highlights of the conference. 

Attendees at past conferences shared how breakout sessions impacted them: 

“One of the few times I left with tangible takeaways rather than ‘interesting ideas’.” 

“I met people from stations my size who provided a lot of good feedback and the sessions focused on diversity and accessibility were especially eye-opening.” 

“I brought back several things to share, lots of food for thought, inspiration, and new connections to resources for my station and community.” 

“[My favorite part of the conference were the] Breakout sessions where we could see hands on practical applications of themes!” 

NETA invites our members and public media organizations to submit breakout session proposals for consideration.  

While proposals on all relevant areas to public media are welcome, we are seeking to offer sessions produced by NETA members and partners and that focus on one or a combination of the following areas:  

• Content (programming, production) 

• Education (early learning, K-12, youth media, lifelong learning) 

• Community Engagement (future of engagement and events, partnerships, inter-disciplinary collaborations) 

• Marketing & Communications (event promotion, OTT promotion, public relations, internal and external communications) 

• Station Culture & Management (strategic planning, diversity, equity, inclusion, leadership, HR, finance, legal, development) 

Session proposals should be innovative and forward thinking, share new opportunities, demonstrate how impact is measured, engage unserved and underserved audiences, and show how diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging and accessibility are being addressed within the topics presented.  

Live Breakout Session

All sessions are scheduled to be hybrid and 60 or 90 minutes long. Every speaker must be in-person. We will not be accepting virtual presenters and speakers at this year's conference.

As you develop your session ideas, think about how you can incorporate attendee participation and active engagement – for both the in-person audience and virtual attendees.

Public Media Learns (PML)

Do you have a great idea that you want to share during or between conferences? Want to incorporate group conversation beyond the conference? Have you ever thought, "I want to teach/share this with others?" Including Public Media Learns is a great way to do more with your session. NETA will assist with creating a course that will be hosted on the PML platform. Take a look at our other courses on PML to inspire ideas.

Not sure what Public Media Learns is? PML is our online learning professional development platform for all public media system employees.

There will be space for up to 25 breakout sessions scheduled (Eastern Time) on September 12 and 13. Subject to change.

All sessions will be archived for later viewing for NETA Members and conference attendees no later than October 3, 2023 on Public Media Learns.  

Session proposals will be selected through a review process that includes systemwide online voting, review by the NETA Peer Learning Communities Executive Committees, NETA Board, and NETA staff.  

Primary Producer

NETA requests that one primary producer is identified for each session. The primary producer is the main point of contact for NETA and responsible for organizing session content, speakers, and other logistics. The primary producer is responsible for meeting all conference deadlines to ensure their session is included in the conference. If the proposal includes a PML course, the primary producer will continue to be the main point of contact through the duration of the course.  

Registration

All accepted primary producers are responsible for registering and attending the in-person conference. The primary producer of the session is responsible for coordinating these details with each of the session speakers. Additional speakers are responsible for their in-person registration. 

Sharing Resources

The primary producers will be responsible for uploading session resources (deck, documents, etc.) based on the breakout session timelines. These resources will be shared with conference attendees and NETA membership following the conference. If your proposal is selected, you will be provided with instructions on uploading your presentation materials. 

Monday, May 22 - Breakout session RFP form open

Wednesday, May 31 - Breakout session Q&A. Register here

Friday, June 16 - Deadline to submit a session proposal 

Monday, June 26 - Session voting open

Friday, July 7 - Session voting closed

Monday, July 10 - Conference registration opens (NETA Members)

Week of July 17 - Review with NETA Leadership and Conference Curriculum Committee 

Monday, July 24 - Notification sent to all session submitters (producers have until Friday, July 28 to confirm acceptance) 

Monday, July 24 - Conference registration opens (non-NETA Members) 

Monday, July 31 - Announce line-up of sessions 

Week of August 7 - Strategy meetings with session producers

Wednesday, August 16 - Deadline for all speakers to be registered for in-person conference

Friday, September 1 - Deadline for final session details in conference platform

Wednesday, September 6 - Deadline for all final presentations to NETA

September 12 & 13 - Breakout Sessions at conference

Monday, September 25 - Deadline to upload final deck/materials for Public Media Learns