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Conferences

NASH72: Natural Selection was a huge success, to check out the website click here.

Plans are already underway for NASH73 in Montreal. Stay tuned for more info!

Each year, CUP organizes a five-night national conference in January, affectionately referred to as NASH. Each region also has access to a subsidy that can be used to fund regional-specific events and conferences.

The Muse editorial staff receive a critique of their newspaper's design (Photo by Jason Chiu / Fulcrum)

Conferences give student journalists the opportunity to meet with their peers, share skills, and participate in workshops and seminars hosted by professionals in the field. The national conference is also the cooperative's annual general meeting, where members determine CUP's direction and elect national staff.

Regional Conferences and Events

Each region within CUP has access to a regional subsidy that can be used toward region-sepecific conferences and events. This past fall's regionals are were:

- ORPUCbeq March 5-7, 2010. Hosted by the Link in Montreal
- PNCUP March 12-14, 2010, Hosted by the Sheaf in Saskatoon
- WRCUP March 19-21, 2010, Hosted by the Capilano Courier in Vancouver
- ORCUP (mini-conference) March 20, 2010, Hosted by the Strand in Toronto
- ARCUP March 26-28, 2010. Hosted by the Dalhousie Gazette in Halifax

The National Conference

CUP's 72nd "Nash," was held January 14-18, 2010 in Edmonton, hosted by the Gateway. Speakers included Jan Wong, Adrienne Arsenault, Jesse Thorn, Andrew Potter and Ron Johnson. Next year's conference will be held in Montreal and hosted by the McGill Daily

CUP has a travel pool designed to ensure that at least one representative can come to the national conference from all member papers. Each member who pays into the pool receives reimbursement for one delegate's travel. But with the line-up of seminars, job opportunities, CUP's Annual General Meeting, and incredible speakers, you'll want to send more than one staff member to this year's Nash.

Past speakers

Jian Ghomeshi and Dave Foley take questions from the crowd following an interview/keynote session at the CUP 69 National Conference (Photo by Jason Chiu / Fulcrum)

Speakers at past conferences have included:

  • Susan Ormiston (correspondant, CBC's the National)
  • Jonathan Goldstein (radio producer and host, CBC's Wiretap)
  • Andrew Coyne (national editor, Maclean's)
  • Jack Layton (federal leader, New Democratic Party)
  • Juliet O'Neill (reporter, Ottawa Citizen)
  • Ian Hanomansing (news anchor, CBC Vancouver)
  • Lewis Lapham (editor, Harper's Magazine),
  • Wendy Mesley, CBC television news anchor and reporter.
  • Heather Mallick, currently a columnist the New York Times and winner of two National Newspaper awards in Canada.
  • Steve Russell, a photographer for the Toronto Star, three times named the Eastern Canadian News Photographer's Association Photographer of the Year.
  • Michael Hollett, founder and co-owner of Now Magazine, Toronto's longest-running free alternative newsweekly.
  • Ron Johnson, newspaper design guru, editor of The Best in Newspaper Design, journalism professor at Kansas State University. He's an annual highlight of CUP national conferences.

Whether it's research, business, layout, photography, feature writing, or advice on how to land a great internship or job, the Canadian University Press national conference has what you want - and famous journalists to tell you about it.

And more speakers are added to this list every year!

Fundraising for the National Conference

Very few CUP members have maximized their fundraising capabilities. We at national office hope that with this guide you will be well on the way to raising some of the much-needed funds for attending CUP’s national student media conference.

CUP newspapers that try have traditionally have excellent luck with fundraising-the problem is, few give it a shot. It's easy: you prepare a letter (see CUP's document depot), circulate it to potential sponsors, and wait for the cheques to start rolling in.

The key is to pitch it like this: your delegates will be representing both your newspaper and your university. The funding will not only improve the quality of the newspaper, but it will also help to improve the reputation of the university, and will give students a better chance at becoming successful alumni. In the case of media outlets, helping to fund your participation at Nash will support the student journalists that will one day become their colleagues.

Most departments (English, Journalism, History, etc), administrators (president, vice-presidents), alumni organizations and local media outlets have money put aside for donations, especially for students attending national events. It's just a matter of asking for it.

It's done like this: put your letter on your paper's letterhead (easy to make up in InDesign or Quark), dress up a little, and deliver letters to the departments from which you're seeking funding. Usually you will end up dealing with receptionists—explain your fundraising efforts, and ask that they put the letters across their bosses desks in the next couple of days. It's a good idea to suggest a deadline—say you're hoping to hear back within the week.

If the decision-maker is in, even better—you can pitch the conference to them directly. If you don't hear back, stop by a couple of days letter. If you're lucky, the receptionist will have an approval form waiting for you. Donations might be $50, or might be $500— either way, they all add up.

There are letters for university departments and off-campus groups in the CUP document depot, and they can be modified to suit your target. Remember to address your letter properly (do not, ever, write "To whom it may concern") and be sure its error-free. Attach the one-page CUP/Nash 68 fact sheet, also available in the document depot.

If you would like an additional letter of support and of information from the CUP president, just send them an email with the request.

If you have any further questions about fundraising, please contact the CUP president at 416-962-2287 x 229 or president@cup.ca

Sources of funding at your university

  • Student council
  • Administration (president, all vice-presidents)
  • Alumni association
  • Library
  • All faculties
  • Related departments (Fine Arts, History, English, etc)
  • Student affairs / Student Services
  • Other on-campus groups (research centres, etc)

Sources of funding off-campus

  • Local media (newspapers, television, radio)
  • Rotary clubs
  • Companies sympathetic to students
  • Your paper's alumni
  • City hall

Travel Pool

CUP has a travel pool designed to ensure that at least one representative can come to the national conference from all member papers. Each member who pays into the pool receives reimbursement for one delegate's travel. But with the line-up of seminars, job opportunities, CUP's Annual General Meeting, and incredible speakers, you'll want to send more than one staff member to this year's Nash.

As a member of CUP you are automatically invoiced for the cost of the travel pool each year. The cost of the pool may vary, depending on the location of the national conference and travel costs associated with it.

To find out the cost of this years travel pool, send an email to the CUP president at president@cup.ca

Travel Pool FAQ

  1. What is travel pool?

    Travel pool is designed to ensure that at least one representative can come to the national conference from all member papers. All members are asked to pay into travel pool when they are invoiced at the beginning of the school year. Each member who pays into the pool receives reimbursement for one delegate's travel.

  2. What is a 'travel pool delegate?'

    This is the one person from your paper you trust to vote on behalf of your paper. This person will have their attendance at the entire conference guaranteed, so that they can attend both opening and closing plenary and act as the voice of your newspaper in all decisions made by the membership.

  3. Do we have to pay in to travel pool?

    If you are a medium or large-sized paper then you must contribute to the travel pool. However, small papers (with budgets under $30,000), French members, and the national conference host paper may opt out of travel pool if they wish.

  4. Is travel booked for us, or do we book it?

    Travel will be booked for you by the CUP President. In some circumstances, the President may decide to reimburse you instead.

  5. Are we part of travel pool?

    If you paid your membership fees and didn't opt out of travel pool (option available only to small member papers) then you've already paid for one delegate and their travel to the national conference!

  6. What days will my travel pool delegate be traveling?

    Your delegate will be traveling to arrive at the national conference before opening plenary on the first day and to leave the national conference the morning after final plenary. This will ensure they are in attendance at all important meetings.

  7. Can my travel pool delegates travel on different days than Thursday and Tuesday?

    You sure can (as long as the travel pool delegate is in attendance at plenary). Just let the president know when you send them the details for your travel pool delegate. Please be specific if you want to stay later or leave earlier.

  8. My travel pool delegate wants to travel with the rest of the staff, is that possible?

    Yes. We can do this one of three ways: you can wait for the CUP national office to book flights and then book the rest of your staff on the same flight (don't worry, CUP looks for the most inexpensive options), or you can book the flight and send CUP an invoice for the amount and your newspaper will be reimbursed or you can book the flights of your other delegates and then send CUP the itinerary you want your travel pool delegate to be booked on.

  9. Will my travel pool delegate still get to stay with our staff?

    Of course! All delegates will be rooming with members of their own newspapers. CUP staff creates the rooming list, so we will do our best to be as accommodating as possible. If you arrive at the conference and there are problems with the rooming, do yourself a favor and don't freak out - we can fix it easily enough.

How to bid to host a CUP conference

Any paper that is a member of CUP can put forth a bid to host either a regional or national conference. The beauty of our flexible organization is that not only can everyone participate, but if you stick around long enough you may very well see all of our beautiful nation.

REGIONALS

To bid to host a regional conference you must submit a proposal and budget to the President at least 2 months prior to the event.

Your proposal should include:

  • Who are you (your paper, your school)
  • Who you can get to come speak, a few examples of seminars and/or workshops
  • Sleeping accommodations (hotel options, residence options, hostels, etc)
  • Social event possibilities

NASH

  • To bid to host the next National Conference, you must put your bid into plenary at the CUP National Conference one year before it.

Your bid should include:

  • Who you are (your paper, your school)
  • What city you’re in
  • Possible keynote speakers from your area, examples of seminars and/or workshops
  • Potential hotels
  • Social event possibilities

Your bid to host the National Conference should be put together with photos and text in a powerpoint file so that everyone at Nash can see how snazzy you are and that you really mean it.

View the winning bid for CUP70