I knew this year’s SABEW conference would be full of exciting experiences, but I didn’t realize that my favorite parts would include not only the learning opportunities, but also getting to meet reporters I admired and making new friends.
Takeaways from panels
This year’s conference had 36 panels and multiple complementary events such as conversations with CBS Managing Editor Charles Forelle and Comcast NBCUniversal Chairman Matt Strauss.
Journalists, lawyers, company spokespeople and content creators served as panelists, and I was surprised by the scope and breadth of the topics. From guidance on covering data center booms to GLP-1s to tariffs, and advice that touched on everything from cultivating vulnerable sources to finding bankruptcy documents, SABEW panelists explained the tricks of the trade in the business beat.
While it’s hard to pick favorites, the most impactful panels for me featured Mike Reilley, the founder of JournalistsToolbox.ai. He shared Google Drive folders that meticulously listed AI and digital tools that serve journalists, and his tip on how to scrape HTML tables from websites to spreadsheets was a new discovery to me. AI panels can quickly become cliched, but the content of his presentation went far beyond general-use LLMs and had journalistic ethics built into it. I’ve really enjoyed getting to know more about data visualization this past semester, so learning even more about it from Reilley was an unexpected treat.
While AI and data were familiar topics for me prior to SABEW, the panels about covering banks and bankruptcies opened my eyes to the possibilities of a beat I really didn’t know much about. Alan Kline from the Washington Business Journal taught me how to navigate the FDIC website to see where banks are lending and where they’re seeing defaults as a way to interpret what’s happening in the economy. He knew banking data inside and out and the Q&A portion ran overtime. Wall Street Journal reporter Becky Yerak and attorney Rachel Jaffe Mauceri talked through the process of finding documents to understand bankruptcies and went through several examples of websites that would have that information. I learned about free claim sites and the presence of private equity firms in selling off assets when a company files for bankruptcy.
New and familiar faces
My formative high school years were defined by pandemic-era virtual meetings, so I found SABEW’s sprawling in-person conference inherently delightful just for the fact that I could chat with everyone without a device involved. Journalists I’ve looked up to for years — Khadeeja Safdar, Hannah Natanson, David Lynch — sat on panels and had the kindness to talk to me afterward. I felt like a kid in a candy store meeting people who, once in my early career shoes, are now enjoying fulfilling professional careers.
Getting to know other journalism students and recent graduates from Southern Methodist University and Northwestern was another highlight. I also ran into journalists I’ve connected with before at other SABEW events, a reassuring reminder that the business journalism community is both excitingly new and familiar.
I’m very grateful to the Reynolds Center for Business Journalism at ASU for making this incredible experience possible for me.
