IRE conference coming to Miami

The 2008 IRE Conference will be held in Miami from June 5-8, 2008 at the InterContinental.
This great training opportunity will offer more than 100 in-depth sessions. Top investigative reporters will share tips and the insights you need to produce groundbreaking stories that make a difference on any beat. For more information about specific panel topics and expected speakers, please visit our website at http://www.ire.org/training/miami08/

Hotel Information

There are still rooms available at the InterContinental Miami in our discounted room block. In the past our room block has sold out prior to the cut-off date so please make your reservation soon. To get the discounted rate of $175 plus tax, make your hotel reservation by the cut-off date of May 9. There are two ways to make your hotel reservation: You may call the hotel directly at 1-866-577-3753 and ask for a room in the 2008 IRE Conference room block or you may visit the InterContinental’s Web site and enter our group code: 2008 IRE Conference.

Registration

Don’t forget to register for the conference prior to May 19 to receive the reduced registration fee of $175. Your registration fee includes the IRE Awards Luncheon which will be held on Saturday, June 7. The optional CAR day will be held on Thursday, June 5 for a fee of $50. In this optional day, you will be able to attend panel sessions on topics covering areas including Web scraping, mapping, using statistics to dig deeper, campaign finance, tracking the subprime story and best search tips for the Internet.
New Training Opportunity: Web Frameworks Advanced Boot Camp You’ve heard all the hype around web frameworks like Ruby on Rails and Django. Now see why. In this advanced mini-boot camp, we’ll take you from the basics to a fully functioning data-driven application in Django, the web framework that drives award-winning projects like The Washington Post’s congressional votes databases, EveryBlock and PolitiFact. Editors and producers know this work is hot. You know it’s the next step for your CAR skills. Now learn how in these hands-on sequential classes.
These classes will be offered on Thursday, June 5 and you must be registered for the optional CAR day to attend. Prior to registering for this session, please make sure you meet the following prerequisites before signing up:
· Fluent in SQL
· Skill in SQL Server, MySQL or another database program beyond Access · Familiar with relational concepts Preregistration is required to attend this advanced mini-boot camp (Limited to 15 participants). http://www.ire.org/training/miami08/frameworks.html>

Blues Bash

Make history with your IRE colleagues and the ghost of Al Capone on Thursday, June 5th – at the 10th ANNIVERSARY BLUES BASH! The place is historic Tobacco Road – the coolest venue in town. For music, we have three sizzling acts – Albert Castiglia, JP Soars & the Redhots and the Gypsy Blue Acoustic Review. Don’t miss what is destined to be the best of a long line of legendary parties and sold-out shows. While you still can, buy your tickets at a pre-registration bargain price of $20. For details, visit the conference website at <http://www.ire.org/training/miami08/>

If you have questions about the conference, please contact Stephanie Sinn, Conference Coordinator, at stephanie@ire.org <mailto:stephanie@ire.org> or 573-882-8969. For questions about registration, please contact Amy Johnston at amy@ire.org <mailto:amy@ire.org> or 573-884-1444.