Full Schedule

8:30 AM - 11:45 AM CT

Help Desk & App Support

Location: Salon D (Lower Level)

8:30 AM - 11:45 AM CT

Registation

Location: Salon D (Lower Level)

8:45 AM - 9:15 AM CT

Featured Session: In Conversation: Mayor of Chicago Brandon Johnson and WBEZ’s Sasha-Ann Simons

Location: Grand Ballroom (2nd Level)

Moderator: Sasha-Ann Simons – WBEZ Chicago

Speaker: Brandon Johnson

Adaptive Leadership

9:15 AM - 10:00 AM CT

Featured Presentation: Defending the First Amendment: The Future of Press Freedom

Location: Grand Ballroom (2nd Level)

Moderator: Sasha-Ann Simons – WBEZ Chicago

Speaker: Karen Attiah – Resistance Studies Series

Speaker: Versha Sharma (she/her/hers) – Self-employed

Speaker: Gunita Singh – Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press

Speaker: Nick Valencia

Adaptive Leadership

10:15 AM - 1:00 PM CT

Interactive Holistic Safety Training Workshop: Part 2 (RSVP)

Location: Salon C5-6 (Lower Level)

Speaker: Tat Bellamy-Walker (they/them/theirs) – International Women’s Media Foundation

Speaker: Jeff Belzil (he/him/his) – International Women Media Foundation

Speaker: Luisa Ortiz Pérez (she/her/hers) – Vita-Activa.Org

Adaptive Leadership

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10:30 AM - 11:30 AM CT

Projecting Stability When Everything Is Changing: A Session for CEOs on Funding, Leadership and Getting Shit Done

Location: Boulevard BC (2nd Level)

Speaker: S. Mitra Kalita (she/her/hers) – URL Media | Epicenter-NYC

Adaptive Leadership

10:30 AM - 11:30 AM CT

Beyond the Follower Count: Funding Your Independent Platform Through Journalism Philanthropy

Location: Salon C1-2 (Lower Level)

Speaker: Nick Swyter – The New York Times

Entrepreneurship and Creator Journalism

10:30 AM - 11:30 AM CT

AI and Criminalization

Location: Salon A2 (Lower Level)

Moderator: Hannah Riley Fernandez (she/her/hers) – The Center for Just Journalism

Speaker: Jamiles Lartey – The Marshall Project

Speaker: Ed Vogel – Truthout

Reporting and Editing

10:30 AM - 11:30 AM CT

Are Immigrants Not Engaging With Your News? Try Listening to Them First

Location: Salon A5 (Lower Level)

Presenter: María Arce (she/her/hers) – Documented

Presenter: Nicolás Ríos – Documented NY

Audience Engagement

10:30 AM - 11:30 AM CT

Reimagining News for Next Generation Audiences: A Flash Workshop

Location: Salon A1 (Lower Level)

Speaker: Ashirwaad Badami (he/him/his) – Knight Lab

Speaker: Joe Germuska (he/him/his) – Knight Lab

Audience Engagement

10:30 AM - 11:30 AM CT

Audience Engagement Professionals Meetup

Location: Salon D (Lower Level)

Audience Engagement

10:30 AM - 11:30 AM CT

Midwestern Journalists Meetup

Location: Salon C Alley (Lower Level)

10:30 AM - 11:30 AM CT

ONA26 Unconference - Session 1: CapCut for Community Storytelling: Workflows, Captions & Sounds That Actually Work

Location: Salon A3 (Lower Level)

10:30 AM - 11:30 AM CT

ONA26 Unconference - Session 2: Braver Angels Debate Pt. 2: Should We Do More to Reach Red Audiences?

Location: Salon A4 (Lower Level)

Speaker: Sam Rechek – Braver Angels

10:30 AM - 11:30 AM CT

ONA26 Unconference - Session 3: Newsroom Gripes and How To Fix Them

Location: Salon C3-4 (Lower Level)

Speaker: Shelby Blackley (she/her/hers) – WTF is SEO?

Speaker: Jessie Willms (she/her/hers) – WTF is SEO?

10:30 AM - 11:30 AM CT

ONA26 Unconference - Session 4: Cut the Algorithm: Why Your Newsroom Should Run Its Own Social Server

Location: Salon C7-8 (Lower Level)

10:30 AM - 12:30 PM CT

ONA26 Office Hours: One-on-Ones With Mentor/Coaches

Location: Grand Tradition (Lobby Level)

12:00 PM - 1:00 PM CT

Understanding Audiences and Algorithms in 2026: An Overview in the Age of AI

Location: Salon A1 (Lower Level)

Speaker: Clara Soteras (she/her/hers) – Clara Soteras

Audience Engagement

12:00 PM - 1:00 PM CT

Outside the Bubble and Beyond the Ideological Binary: Strategies and Best Practices for Building Trust

Location: Salon A2 (Lower Level)

Speaker: Mónica Guzmán (she/her/hers) – Reclaim Curiosity

Speaker: Joy Mayer (she/her/hers) – Trusting News

Reporting and EditingAudience Engagement

12:00 PM - 1:00 PM CT

Stop Starting From Scratch: Shared Data for Local Criminal Justice Reporting

Location: Salon A5 (Lower Level)

Speaker: Ghazala Irshad (she/her/hers) – The Marshall Project

Speaker: Ava Sasani – The Trace

Adaptive Leadership

12:00 PM - 1:00 PM CT

Broadcasters Meetup

Location: Salon D (Lower Level)

12:00 PM - 1:00 PM CT

Creator Journalists Meetup

Location: Salon C Alley (Lower Level)

Entrepreneurship and Creator Journalism

12:00 PM - 1:00 PM CT

Stepping Down to Allow Others to Step Up

Location: Boulevard BC (2nd Level)

Moderator: Sara Lomax (she/her/hers) – URL Media | WURD Radio

Speaker: Candice Fortman (she/her/hers) – Blue Engine Collaborative

Speaker: Garry Pierre-Pierre (he/him/his) – URL Media

Speaker: Charles Sennott (he/him/his) – GroundTruth

Adaptive Leadership

12:00 PM - 1:00 PM CT

ONA26 Unconference - Session 5: Maintaining High Standards When Your Newsroom Is Strapped: Conversations To Learn How Different Newsrooms Are Using AI To Save Time Without Sacrificing Quality

Location: Salon A3 (Lower Level)

12:00 PM - 1:00 PM CT

ONA26 Unconference - Session 6: Still Here, Still Leading: Why Asking for Help Matters in Journalism

Location: Salon A4 (Lower Level)

Speaker: Luisa Ortiz Pérez (she/her/hers) – Vita-Activa.Org

12:00 PM - 1:00 PM CT

ONA26 Unconference - Session 7: What Can A Publisher Do To Truly Be Different Than Competitors & Retain Audience?

Location: Salon C3-4 (Lower Level)

12:00 PM - 1:00 PM CT

ONA26 Unconference - Session 8: The City Hall Reporter's AI Toolkit: Sharing What Actually Works

Location: Salon C7-8 (Lower Level)