MONDAY — Jan. 2

8 a.m. Continental Breakfast (Combined groups) - First Amendment Forum

8:30 a.m. Welcome and Introductions (Combined groups) - Forum, Andrew Leckey

9 a.m. “Today’s Business Journalists as Investigators” (Combined groups) - Forum, Diana B. Henriques

10:15-10:30 a.m. Break – Computer Lab Open for all breaks during the week (RM 352)

10:30 a.m. “Understanding Markets”  - RM 314, Jimmy Gentry

NOON Lunch and book signing with Diana B. Henriques (Combined groups) - Forum

1:30 p.m. “Understanding Markets” (continued) - RM 314, Gentry

3:15-3:30 p.m. Break

3:30 p.m. “Understanding Markets” (conclusion) and “Sources” - RM 314, Gentry

5-5:20 p.m. Group photos (Combined groups) - Forum

5:20 p.m. Dinner – Southwestern buffet (Combined groups) - Forum

TUESDAY—Jan. 3

8 a.m. Continental breakfast (Combined groups)- Forum

8:30 a.m. “Financial Statements I” - RM 314, Gentry

10:15-10:30 a.m. Break

10:30 a.m. “Financial Statements I” (continued) and “Securities and Exchange Commission Filings” - RM 314, Gentry

NOON Awards Luncheon with Jim Steele (Combined groups) - Forum, “Reynolds Center’s 2011 Barlett & Steele Awards for Investigative Business Journalism” Panel Discussion and Presentation of Awards

1:30 p.m. “Financial Statements II: Tools for Analysis” - RM 314, Gentry

3:00-3:15 p.m. Break

3:15 p.m. “Financial Statements II: Tools for Analysis” (continued)  - RM 314, Gentry

5 p.m. Adjourn

EVENING FREE

WEDNESDAY —Jan. 4

8 a.m. Continental breakfast (Combined groups) - Forum

8:30 a.m. “Decoding Financial Statements” - RM 314, Gary Trennepohl

10:15-10:30 a.m. Break

10:30 a.m. “Decoding Financial Statements” (continued) - RM 314, Trennepohl

NOON Garden Lunch Buffet with Robin J. Phillips (Combined groups) - Forum “Getting LinkedIn: Exploring LinkedIn, a social/career tool that is filled with useful data for business journalists”

1:30 p.m. “Decoding Financial Statements” (continued) - RM 314, Trennepohl

3-3:15 p.m. Break

3:15 p.m. “Investing in a Time of Uncertainty” - RM 314, Trennepohl

5-5:30 p.m. Cronkite Building Tour (Combined groups) - Outside RM 302 (Leadership Suite) in front of elevators,  Associate Dean Kristin Gilger

5:30 p.m. Dinner – BBQ picnic buffet  - Forum

THURSDAY —Jan. 5

8 a.m. Continental breakfast (Combined groups) - RM 444

8:30 a.m. “Financial Markets in 2012: Where are the Stories?” - RM 314, Trennepohl

9:45-10 a.m. Break

10 a.m. “Financial Markets in 2012: Where are the Stories?” (continued)  - RM 314, Trennepohl

11:30 a.m. Certificate Presentation (Combined groups) - RM 444

NOON Box Lunch/Adjourn (Combined groups) - RM 444

OPTIONAL: Cracking Private Companies Workshop

Where: Pulliam Room, 10th floor, Republic Media building, 200 E. Van Buren St., Phoenix (next to the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown Hotel)

Instructor: Jodi Schneider, team leader for Congress for Bloomberg News

AGENDA: Cracking Private Companies

12:45-1 p.m. Registration

1-1:10 p.m. Welcome and introductions

1:10-1:30 p.m. How are private companies structured and how they’re different from public companies

1:30-2:30 p.m. What’s public about private companies

2:30-3 p.m. Case study/small-group discussion: Where would you find the info?

3-3:15 p.m. Break

3:15-4:15 p.m. Re-imagining the private-company profile

4:15-4:45 p.m. Case study/small-group discussion: Some examples (multimedia) of good biz profiles – pick out what makes them good and present to the group

4:45-5 p.m. Class discussion: Five takeaways you can use starting tomorrow to cover private companies better

Jan. 2-5, 2012, Phoenix, Ariz.

MONDAY — Jan. 2

8 a.m. Continental Breakfast (Combined groups) - First Amendment Forum

8:30 a.m. Welcome and Introductions (Combined groups) - Forum, Andrew Leckey

9 a.m. “Today’s Business Journalists as Investigators” (Combined groups) - Forum, Diana B. Henriques

10:15-10:30 a.m. Break – Computer Lab Open for all breaks during the week (RM 352)

10:30 a.m. “Deciding What to Teach” - RM 355, Chris Roush

NOON Lunch and book signing with Diana B. Henriques (Combined groups) - Forum

1:30 p.m. “Organizing Your Class” - RM 355, Roush

2:30 p.m. Case Study: “Syllabus Writing” - RM 355, Roush

3:15-3:30 p.m. Break

3:30 p.m. “Resources and Keeping Students Interested” - RM 355, Roush

5-5:20 p.m. Group photos (Combined groups) - Forum

5:20 p.m. Dinner – Southwestern buffet (Combined groups) - Forum

TUESDAY—Jan. 3

8 a.m. Continental breakfast (Combined groups) - Forum

8:30 a.m. “Mission Possible: Assignments that Build Skills” - RM 355, Pam Luecke

9:45 a.m. “Preparing Students for Business Journalism’s Future” - RM 355, Randy Smith

10:45-11:00 a.m. Break

11 a.m. “Reflections on a Rookie Year” - RM 355, Alan Deutschman

NOON Awards Luncheon with Jim Steele (Combined groups) - Forum, “Reynolds Center’s 2011 Barlett & Steele Awards for Investigative Business Journalism”
Panel Discussion and Presentation of Awards

(Reynolds Chairs will meet at 1:30 in the Reynolds Conference RM #306F.)

1:30 p.m. “Teaching the Effective Use of Data in Business Coverage” - RM 352, Steve Doig

3:00-3:15 p.m. Break

3:15 p.m. “Injecting Multimedia into Your Business Journalism Class” - RM 355, Mark Tatge

5 p.m. Adjourn

EVENING FREE

WEDNESDAY —Jan. 4

8 a.m. Continental breakfast (Combined groups) - Forum

8:30 a.m. “Financial Statements I” -RM 355, Jimmy Gentry

10:45-11:00 a.m. Break

11:00 a.m. “Financial Statements I” (continued) and “Securities and Exchange Commission Filings” - RM 355, Gentry

NOON Garden Lunch Buffet with Robin J. Phillips (Combined groups) - Forum, “Getting LinkedIn: Exploring LinkedIn, a social/career tool that is filled with
useful data for business journalists”

1:30 p.m. “Financial Statements II” – RM 355, Gentry

3-3:15 p.m. Break

3:15 p.m. “Financial Statements II” (continued) and “Tools for Analysis: Common Size” - RM 355, Gentry

5-5:30 p.m. Cronkite Building Tour (Combined groups) - Outside RM 302 (Leadership Suite) in front of elevators,  Associate Dean Kristin Gilger

5:30 p.m. Dinner conversation on marketing your business journalism program  - Forum, Leckey

THURSDAY—Jan. 5

8 a.m. Continental breakfast (Combined groups) - RM 444

8:30 a.m. “What Editors Expect”  - RM 444, Panel: Linda Austin, Ilana Lowery, Kathy Tulumello and Jodi Schneider

9:45-10 a.m. Break

10 a.m. “Preparing for the Job Market” - RM 444, Jodi Schneider

11:30 a.m. Certificate Presentation (Combined groups) - RM 444

NOON Box Lunch/Adjourn (Combined groups), RM 444

OPTIONAL: Cracking Private Companies Workshop

Where: Pulliam Room, 10th floor, Republic Media building, 200 E. Van Buren St., Phoenix (next to the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown Hotel)

Instructor: Jodi Schneider, team leader for Congress for Bloomberg News

AGENDA: Cracking Private Companies

12:45-1 p.m. Registration

1-1:10 p.m. Welcome and introductions

1:10-1:30 p.m. How are private companies structured and how they’re different from public companies

1:30-2:30 p.m. What’s public about private companies

2:30-3 p.m. Case study/small-group discussion: Where would you find the info?

3-3:15 p.m. Break

3:15-4:15 p.m. Re-imagining the private-company profile

4:15-4:45 p.m. Case study/small-group discussion: Some examples (multimedia) of good biz profiles – pick out what makes them good and present to the group

4:45-5 p.m. Class discussion: Five takeaways you can use starting tomorrow to cover private companies better

Jim Steele and Don Barlett talk about investigative business journalism during the 2011 SABEW Conference.

Don Barlett and Jim Steele were honored on Friday night with SABEW’s Distinguished Achievement Award. In their four decades as a team, Barlett and Steele have won multiple journalism prizes, including two Pulitzers.

On Saturday the investigative reporting duo spent the lunch hour with business journalists for a question and answer session.

Below are a few highlights from that conversation or you can check out Jeremy Caplan’s live notes from the chat.

• On pitching a story to an editor: “Our basic advice is that you have to do an awful lot of this work before pitching. There is a lot of advanced work that needs to be done to get something ready…Once they see that something really has promise and that work has already been done, they might be more receptive.” – Steele
• On spotting the next big story: “Whatever you hear coming out of Washington, whatever you hear the talking heads mimicking, that’s not it… You name the subject and they are wrong. Why? Because people have a vested interest.” – Barlett
• On story focus: “Don’t allow corporations or  government or politicians to frame the story. They will frame the story in way that frames their interest, not the public’s interest…Everything is in context. A story written without context is a waste of the reader’s time.” – Barlett
• On the team’s writing process: “Eventually when we get everything done we put it together in a draft and then kick that back and forth… We go through many drafts. We wold like to write as many drafts as possible. The more time you spend on anything, the better it’s going to be.” – Steele

Google's Sean Carlson shares his search tips with journalists at the 2011 SABEW Conference.

Google’s Sean Carlson had a simple question to kick off his session at the 2011 SABEW conference:  Has anyone here used google before?

Of course we all have, daily, sometimes hourly. And the laughing that erupted from the audience of journalists packed into a classroom to hear Carlson’s Google tips for journalists proved again that Internet searching is at the backbone of our reporting.

This was the second presentation of Carlson’s session, “Google Tips For Journalists,” at the SABEW conference. He shared solid advice for focusing your searching and for tracking data.

Check out this recap from LaKeisha James, who is part of a team from Souther Methodist University covering the conference.

Terry Maxon of the Dallas Morning News moderates a conversation between American Airlines CEO Gerard Arpey and Southwest CEO Gary Kelly on the future of U.S. Airlines at the 2011 SABEW Conference.

Terry Maxon, a reporter for the Dallas Morning News, moderated the discussion between American Airlines CEO Gerard Arpey and Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly, which focused on the future of U.S. airlines.

Both Arpey and Kelly described the challenges of navigating their companies through the 2008 oil crisis and later the financial crisis.

And although Southwest Airlines recorded solid profit in 2010, Kelly said the latest fuel crisis is one of the greatest current challenges facing the airline industry.

Arpey agreed.

“If the economy stays on track, that bodes well for the future. The bad news is that we are now faced with another fuel crisis,” Arpey said. “That is the current major issue confronting the industry. We are all very worried about what’s happening in the oil markets.”

Beyond rising fuel costs, journalists were eager to hear Kelly’s insights on the recent Southwest Airlines scare. On April 1 one of Southwest’s Boeing 737 aircraft experienced a fuselage tear that forced an emergency landing.

The airline halted flights to inspect 79 other aircraft in the fleet before returning all but five to the air.

“We are first and foremost concerned about the safety of flight to take care of our customers and our own employees. From that prospective we are very pleased that there were no serious injuries,”  Kelly said. “It is not expected. It is not what we want for our customers.”

Kelly would not comment on the costs associated with the fallout from the 737 scare, including current and possible future maintence improvements. He said Southwest Airlines is responsible for the work to keep the aircrafts airworthy, but executives are still waiting for the results of the FAA investigation into the incident.

“As Boeing has said, that particular part of the aircraft there was a failure there that was unanticipated and we need to understand why,” Kelly said. “It was our decision to ground the fleet. Our decision to do inspections.

“While events are rare, I won’t be satisfied until there are no events.”

After a lengthly conversation about Southwest Airlines’ emergency landing, both Kelly and Arpey talked about future innovations in the works for both airlines.

Kelly said Southwest Airlines is making a major investment to equip planes with WiFi capability. Arpey is keeping a close watch on the progression of Boeing’s next aircraft, the 787.

“That airplane will be a remarkable step in terms of technological advancement,” Arpey said. “We have a lot of confidence that Boeing is going to make a great airplane because they have a great track record of doing that.”

Rich Holden, the executive director of the Dow Jones News Fund, shares tips for avoiding errors in stories with numbers.

Before Rich Holden became the executive director of the Dow Jones News Fund, he spent 20 years editing copy at The Wall Street Journal and The Asian Wall Street Journal. So when it comes to mistakes with numbers in stories, he has pretty much seen them all.

In the session, “Afraid of Math? Take a Number,” Holden took about 25 editors through his top tips aimed at ensuring numerical errors stay out of stories.

The session was part of the American Copy Editors Society’s annual conference held this week at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication in Phoenix.

“The biggest source of mistakes in newspapers in numbers,” Holden said in the tip packet’s introduction. “Whether it’s confusing millions with billions, calculating percentage of change incorrectly or confusing percent with percentage point, numbers have been baffling reporters and editors for years.”

Holden’s session took journalists through 40 examples of mistakes made at top newspapers and then detailed how editors could avoid letting them slip into print.

Below are a few of the tips Holden shared:

Help readers understand the real meaning behind numbers in a story. When you are using numbers in a story, Holden said to make sure readers can visualize their exact scope. If your story reads “the land shrunk to 2.5 million acres,” find a way to give the number context. The wording could be reworked to “2.5 million acres, which is roughly the size of X.”

“Why would you as an editor allow numbers to go into a paper that are absolutely meaningless to 99 percent of your audience?” Holden said. “Don’t let them (journalists) get by with numbers that really don’t make sense whatsoever.”

Make sure your cursor touches every word to avoid major errors. Holden shared an example from a story that listed a building’s worth at $110, instead of $110 million. “This example made it through eight sets of eyes at a newspaper,” he said. “Your cursor should touch every word of the copy. If that had happened here, this mistake probably wouldn’t have happened.”

Editors learn tips to avoid math errors in stories at the 2011 ACES conference in Phoenix.

When using the terms such as “all-time record,” give readers context. In a story Holden edited years ago, he listed a benchmark as an all-time record for a company. Only problem – the company was just six quarters old. “The national editor took me aside and said, ‘This isn’t wrong, but it would have been helpful to have a sentence in there that said this company has only been around for a year and a half,’” Holden said.

Watch the verbs and adjectives you are using to describe a number. Don’t write that share prices ”edged up” if they have actually skyrocketed. Make sure the words you choose accurately describe the numbers that follow.

Remember the difference between percent and percentage points. “Everyone gets it wrong, but you won’t anymore,” Holden said. “When you are comparing percent A with percent B, the difference is described in percentage points, not percent.”

Remember what came first. “As soon as you say something is the second largest, you immediately tell me what is the largest,” Holden said. “Any time you talk about the second largest, second tallest, second coldest, you gotta tell me what the largest is.

Need more math help? Check out our 20-minute online tutorial:  “Essential Math for Business Journalists.”

From following federal money earmarked green tricking into local communities to the emerging carbon market, reporters and editors spent the day learning ways to improve their coverage of everything green.

Jeff Goodell, a contributing editor for Rolling Stone, shares stories from his environmental reporting assignments during a workshop at the Los Angeles Times.

Russ Choma, a reporter at American University’s Investigative Reporting Workshop who focuses on climate, energy issues and stimulus spending, showed the group how to track the trail of money earmarked for green that’s coming out of Washington.

He told journalists to look deeper into the Advanced Energy Manufacturing 48c Tax Credit, often awarded to companies that build wind and solar factories. So far, at least 185 projects were awarded the credit in 38 states totaling $2.3 billion.

Choma also reminded participants to keep up with background checks on companies receiving federal grant money for renewable energy projects. The large sums of money attract people with checkered pasts and no experience, he said. | See Choma’s presentation below.

Attendees dug into the financials of green companies and focused on intricacies of cash flows with Bloomberg’s Tom Contiliano, who serves as the company’s chief financial officer, and heard from Ann Carlson, a professor of law and facility director of the UCLA Emmett Center on Climate Change and the Environment, about California’s path to an alternative energy future.

The afternoon featured Jeff Goodell, a contributing editor to Rolling Stone and best-selling author, who shared stories from his years embedded in the environmental world – from Appalachian coal to geoengineering.

And Mark Schapiro, a senior correspondent at the Center for Investigative Reporting, helped journalists understand the carbon market and offered a deeper look inside the financial world of emissions trading.

We’ll post video recordings of each of the sessions on BusinessJournalism.org and additional resources, so check back in the coming week to watch the entire day from your desk. Below are additional handouts from the session:

• An article in Slate on geoengineering by Jeff Goodell.
• Jeff Goodell’s coverage on the Gulf oil spill in Rolling Stone.
• For more on the carbon market, check out Mark Schapiro’s story on Carbon Hunters and his piece “Carbon Carousel: European Market a Haven for Tax Fraud.”

A glimpse at Steve Everly's story on his state's push for green jobs for the Kansas City Star.

Steve Everly, a business reporter for The Kansas City Star who has covered the energy beat for 15 years, was a fellow during our “Covering the Green Economy” seminar in June.

One of the sessions he attended – a conversation with veteran reporter Russ Choma on diving into stimulus funds earmarked for renewable energy projects – helped him dig deeper into his state’s struggle to create wind jobs.

His recent story “Goal of many more ‘green’ jobs is elusive” details Kansas’ push to create 10,000 green jobs, a good chunk of which focus on the construction of wind turbines.

From the story:

The state’s big bet on wind power has attracted a few hundred jobs so far. But even that success shows the huge challenge Kansas faces.

To turn a few hundred jobs into thousands, Kansas has to win big manufacturing projects and attract the companies that supply them, too. And that means beating out China and other foreign competitors who rule those markets.

Everly said the skills he learned during the Green Economy fellowship gave him the knowledge and resources to cover the issue for local readers.

“I considered for some time a story about green jobs but wasn’t sure how to approach it,” he said. “That changed with Russ Choma’s session. The Covering the Green Economy workshop and Choma’s presentation were indispensable.”

Russ Choma shares tips for digging into green stimulus funds.

Choma, an investigative reporter at American University’s Investigative Reporting Project,” wrote the series “Blown Away: America’s billions for clean-energy jobs are flying overseas,” and he shared his insights from reporting the story with fellow journalists in June.

Everly’s not the first Green Economy fellow to publish a story after sitting in one of Choma’s session.

Asher Price, an environmental reporter from the Austin American-Statesman, used Choma’s tips to help him write a piece on how stimulus cash helped small business owners secure clean energy projects. (Read more about the reporting behind Price’s story.)

If you want to learn the latest tips from Choma, sign up for our green business training this spring.

The Reynolds Center is hosting a workshop, “Covering the Green Economy: A Western Perspective, “ at the Los Angeles Times on March 4 or you can grab a spot in our upcoming Webinar, “Covering the Green Economy: Follow the Green Money” on April 19.

If you don’t have time to sneak away from the office, learn at your own pace with our self-guided training from the June “Covering the Green Economy” seminar or from our recent Webinar, “Covering the Green Economy: The Future of Energy.”

Herman, who has taught at both Yale and Columbia Journalism School, was a Business Journalism Professors fellow this week during Reynolds Business Journalism Week 2011.

R. Thomas Herman shares the secrets for better business reporting from Reynolds Center on Vimeo.

Now it’s just Alicia Wallace.

The award-winning journalist has the responsibility of covering business for the publication by herself, a job that requires someone who is organized and strategic. To keep on top of her beat, Wallace has developed different methods to guide her daily reporting. If not, she could miss a breaking story or a national trend playing out in her backyard.

Since Wallace is in Phoenix this week studding financials, she offered to share her top tips for plotting out your coverage.

Alicia Wallace shares her tips for organizing the biz beat from Reynolds Center on Vimeo.