Op-Ed Project to get more women in OpEd pages

January 14th, 2009 by admin | Posted in Announcement |

From: Mara Marks

Karthick,

Happy New Year! I’m wondering if you would mind sending out an announcement to the PREIC list? There’s a seminar in LA on Sunday 1/25, and it’s a great opportunity for female faculty and graduate students to learn how to enrich the public dialogue by bringing their expertise to a wide audience. I believe that discounted rates are extended to students and educators. I’m sure you are often asked to send out announcements about various things, but this really is a good opportunity for the women in our group. Please see below and the attached brochure.

Thanks, Karthick!
Mara

HOW TO WRITE TO CHANGE THE WORLD: The OpEd Project Public Seminar for Women

The op-ed pages of major newspapers and online sites are read by diplomats, businesspeople, scholars, and those in the highest levels of government. They can sway public opinion and change the world. Op-eds also attract the attention of television producers, book agents, and policy makers. A single op-ed can make you part of a national debate. And it’s the one section of the newspaper open to outside contributors - including those without publishing experience.

This seminar will help you hone the ideas and causes that you care about, and will show you how to write about them to make a difference. You’ll learn how to immediately establish credibility, how to craft a powerful argument, how to use news hooks, how address your potential critics, how to preach beyond the choir, how to pitch an idea, and how to frame an issue for maximum effect. We will explore ways to write more broadly, to think bigger, and to make a bigger impact on the world. This seminar is not just about writing op-eds–it’s about empowering you to find your voice and make a difference. For detailed class information, testimonials and to register please visit www.theopedproject.org or contact Liz Davis at liz@theopedproject.org

Here’s what a recent alum is saying about it:

“Its a very hands-on seminar that offers a lot of information on what the media looks for, how to position yourself in relation to a topic. etc. It also covers some general principles of good writing and some specific to a fast-paced media culture. Although I almost never use this word, it was incredibly empowering. It was also somewhat of a bonding experience: this is pretty inevitable when you bring together a group of women who are passionate enough about something that they want to speak to the world about. Our group included, lawyers, academics, consultants, recent college grads, women who work for NGOs , etc and, although we were strangers, we fairly quickly felt ourself a community, largely due to the excellent efforts of the coordinator.”

Here is more on why this is so important:

Our position is that it is not women who need our help – but just the opposite: we think the public, and more specifically public debate, needs women. Public debate is an echo chamber that reproduces the voices and opinions of mostly white, privileged men. 85% of public debate, across many platforms, is men. That means the nation’s conversation is all but excluding half the population. Half of the nation’s brains – women’s brains – are being largely left out. And we are all suffering because of that. What is the cost to society when women’s ideas and thinking – especially the thinking of top women scholars, who have spent years researching, writing, and thinking about the world’s problems – are left out? Our leaders, and our public, are not getting all the best information and ideas we need to be able to make decisions. So our argument to women scholars is: we, the public, need you.

The cost of the January 25th session is $300 when registering at least 10 days before the session. For detailed class information, testimonials and to register please visit www.theopedproject.org or contact Liz Davis at liz@theopedproject.org

Please let me know if you have any questions.
______________________________
Liz Davis
Program Coordinator
The OpEd Project
c: 917.669.0423
liz@theopedproject.org

The OpEd Project - recently featured by the New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, Feministing.com, and Katie Couric on CBS News - is an initiative to expand public debate and foster thought leadership, with an immediate focus on enlarging the pool of women experts who are accessing (and accessible to) the key opinion forums and editors who need them. We target and train women experts at top universities, think tanks, nonprofits, corporations and community organizations across the nation to write for the op-ed pages of major newspapers, online sites and other key forums of public discourse. Seminar participants are entered into a feeder system for op-ed, radio, television and other media. See testimonials, sign up for upcoming public seminars, or contact us to schedule a seminar or keynote with Catherine Orenstein for your organization.

Next Sessions:
Washington, DC: Sunday, January 11, 2009, 10-5pm
Los Angeles: Sunday, January 25, 2009, 10-5pm
San Francisco: Sunday, February 1, 2009, 10-5pm
New York City: Sunday, February 22, 2009, 10-5pm
Cost:
Early Registration (ten or more days prior to class): $300 for general public, $250 for alumni referrals
Regular Registration: $325 for general public, $275 for alumni referrals
*We have a commitment to offer reduced fees to a limited number of participants in need. Please contact us to inquire.*