Would you like to pitch a session at the Dataharvest conference – but hesitate, because you don’t really know what happens to it? Here is what constitutes a good pitch, and how we decide what to put on the program.
First of all, Dataharvest is all about sharing – of experiences, methods, successes and failures. Do you know software, that others can benefit from? Have you used innovative methods in your investigations? Did you make a mistake that others could avoid? Tell us about it!
Other keywords for a good pitch are: European – crossborder – collaboration – data – digital. Think about the format – is your idea fit for a presentation, a workshop, a panel debate or maybe a networking session?
You send your pitch by using this form. Keep it short – but do remember to include enough background for outsiders to understand your idea. Deadline for pitches is February 1!
So what happens next?
We are already far into planning the program, but have a constant eye on new ideas coming in. We will be in touch with you as soon as we can – maybe to say ‘yes and thank you’ to your idea as it is, maybe to discuss how to combine it with a similar idea from another country. And of course there are ideas we must decline – maybe because they are not within the conference scope, maybe because there simply is a limit to the number of sessions at the conference.
We plan the conference program track by track. For each we collect all the ideas that we have gathered and received. That may be a list of 30 ideas, but we may only have 12 time slots for the track. Then the discussion begins on how to balance sessions on concrete stories with session on collaboration methods, experiences from East and West, big projects with smaller etcetera. We also have an eye on speakers to make sure that a multitude of countries are represented, that we have a reasonable gender balance etc.
Who makes the selection? Many good people help us, so do the investigative networks in Europe. Data journalism trainers from many different countries have planned 3 full tracks of data skills. But the final responsibility is on the shoulders of Brigitte Alfter and Trine Smistrup – complaints should go to us!
Do I get invited if my pitch is accepted? Dataharvest is a low-budget conference, so we will ask if your newsroom will pay for your travel and hotel. We can waive the conference fee, and we do have a small travel budget for speakers that need it. But register, if you want to be sure to participate – there are only 500 conference tickets!