Human Resources Management (Wednesday 9-12:30)
Station managers typically have little experience with "managing" employees and are generally not familiar with best practices in the field.  In some ways, the very concept is anathema to our values.  And yet, effective managers must evaluate, motivate, and engage staff members; deal with problem employees; make decisions about merit-based vs. cost of living pay raises; recruit and select competent employees, manage employee performance, and terminate employees without getting into trouble.

Maxine Fuller will facilitate the morning session, which will include exercises, dialogue and discussion about these issues.  A room will be available for people who wish to continue the discussion by themselves in the afternoon.

Maxine M. Fuller is the President and Founder of McKinley Group, Inc., a professional services firm based in Sandy Springs, Georgia., specializing  in organizational change and development, instructional design and training, and community development.  Ms. Fuller is a graduate of The American University in Washington, D.C., with a M.S. in Personnel and Human Resource Management.  Ms. Fuller is a published author and an expert in diversity management and cultural competence. She is on faculty at the Johns Hopkins University's Institute for Policy Studies in Baltimore, Maryland, and a volunteer trainer for the Georgia Center for Nonprofits.

Managing Program Change  (Wednesday 9-5)
Maximum 20 people

Managing program change may be one of the hardest—and most important—things to do at community radio stations.  The habits and lifestyles of listeners change, the populations of our communities change, and station programming must change if the station is to continue to serve listeners and be a vital community institution.  The challenges to be overcome are significant, but surmountable.  This Intensive will outline the steps and guide you through the process.  At the end of the day you will have a clear outline of how to proceed and answers to questions about your particular situation.

Why do you want to make a change?  What do you want to accomplish?  How do the changes fit with the station’s mission?  What information do you need and how can you get it?  Who are the stakeholders?  How will they be brought into the process?  What is the process?  Who makes the final decisions?  How will the changes be implemented?  How can you prepare for and deal with the aftermath?  What lessons can be learned from other community radio stations’ experiences?

Although there will be some discussion about theories of change, this will be a very practical intensive designed to give you the information, structure and support you need to begin or continue a process of programming change at your station. Our trainers bring a wealth of personal experience in change management at community radio stations and other organizations. 

Arthur Cohen is president of the Public Radio Program Directors Association.  He developed PRPD’s online PD Handbook and Beyond the Basics training workshop.  Arthur began his radio career in 1978 as General Manager of community radio station KVMR in Nevada City, CA and later KRBD in Ketchikan, Alaska.

Dan Richmond is Program Director at community station KFAI in Minneapolis where he works with a large and diverse group of volunteers.  Dan recently led KFAI through a significant program change and lived to tell the tale.

Mark Sachs is an organization consultant and executive coach.  He has presented workshops and led intensives for many years at NFCB Conferences, always with positive results. 

If I Had a Hammer:  A Guide to Building a Community Radio Station (Wednesday 9-5)
Congratulations to all the new NCE applicants! Many of you will receive your Construction Permit from the FCC within the next year and you are probably feeling overwhelmed and wondering what you need to know to get started. We’ve designed this one-day intensive for you. Topics include managing the construction process, developing business models, budgets, staffing, policies and procedures and much more. This will be an interactive intensive with lots of time for you to dialogue and discuss the issues with Public Radio Capital, broadcast engineers, attorneys, and with other seasoned community radio veterans.

Over 100 practitioners, peers and “outside experts” will share their knowledge, success stories, mistakes and lessons learned, experience and wisdom through a multitude of workshops and discussions addressing the diverse concerns of Community Radio stations:

• stations newly on the air and stations that have been around
• managers and program directors with lots of experience and those who are new to the job
• stations with large staffs and small
• stations in cities, towns and reservations
• stations licensed to educational institutions and community groups
  
  
Workshops will cover:
• FCC compliance and other legal and regulatory issues
• Financial management and budgeting
• New and tested ideas in development and fundraising
• Best practices in managing change
• Holistic planning for innovation and development of digital media
• Practical tips on improving air sound, training volunteers, successful websites
• Disaster preparedness
• Plus: digital music libraries, building news, online community

And much much more…

» Click here for the conference schedule

Individual appointments
You can schedule an appointment with
Carol Rhine to talk about your membership program
Radio Research Consortium to talk about your audience data
PTFP to talk about your PTFP grant
Sean Simplicio from CPB to talk about your Community Service Grant

Stay tuned for more.

Licensed to Georgia State University, WRAS is the largest completely student-run station in the country.  WRAS strives to bring new music to their listeners, ranging from bands or musicians who may be well known on the college music circuit to relative unknowns to complete unknowns. WRAS often plays never-before-released music, as well as giving greater exposure to local bands. WRAS strives to bring listeners a diverse music of genres, from college rock to electronic to hip-hop to world music and beyond.

NFCB will present the Bader Award to an individual or organization that has made an extraordinary contribution to Community Radio.  NFCB will present the Volunteer of the Year Award to an individual who has gone above and beyond in providing service to the station.

Meeting for conference newcomers workshop presenters on Wednesday.  Opening reception on Wednesday.  Breakfast and lunch on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.  Evening events in the works.  NFCB Membership meeting on Saturday.

» Click Here for Registration Fees and Deadlines

» Click here to register online
» Click here to download the hard copy mail-in registration form

In order to receive the Member rate, your dues payments to NFCB must be current.

Questions about your membership status or your dues?  Call Kai Aiyetoro at (510) 451-8200 or kai@nfcb.org.   All other questions concerning registration should be directed to Hamilton Associates at (519) 662-2550 or petellh@gmail.com.

The Conference Hotel is the Sheraton Atlanta, 165 Courtland Street, Atlanta, GA 30303.  The toll free registration number is 1-800-833-8624.  You can also register online here.

Be sure to say you are with the NFCB Conference.  All rooms (single/double/triple/quad) are $139 plus tax (currently 15%). The rates are good through February 25th, but we urge you to make your reservations before then—as soon as you know you’re coming.  Once our room block has sold out, there is no guarantee that more rooms will be available at the Sheraton, or that they will be available at the $139 rate.

NFCB has set up a secure blog so you can find a roommate at the Sheraton and share expenses.  We’ll send you the login information once you are registered. 

NFCB has received a grant from the McCormick Tribune Foundation to conduct a two day seminar for 18 high school students in radio journalism and the First Amendment (click here for more information).  Young producers and adult leaders who are not attending the journalism seminar are welcome to register for and attend the Community Radio Conference. The CRC is not primarily a conference for producers, but there are some production workshops and we plan to add more in anticipation of youth attendance. Youth and adult leaders must register for the CRC at regular Conference rates. To find out if your group is a member of NFCB, contact Kai@nfcb.org (510 451-8200 ext. 303).

Check the NFCB website for regular additions and updates: www.nfcb.org.