An intensive workshop, geared toward on-air and off-air convention attendees, is taught by NBCU “professors,” and is designed for individuals at all levels of their careers to improve their writing skills. At the core of every good journalist is the desire to grow, develop, change and renew: It is in the fiber of our being to improve our craft and to advance our stories. As the media landscape alters with each successive year, so too do we reach new heights, growing beyond our limits. This year’s NBCUniversity will be all about the process of change, renewal and ultimate revitalization as journalists. Each individual journalist will leave with a new writing tools to bring back to their newsroom, and a renewed sense of why we got into this profession in the first place. Pre-Registration is required. The workshop will be presented in two sessions: 10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. & 2:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Presenter: Joe Fryer, Jesse Rodriguez, Brooke Sopelsa
Sponsored by:
JOE FRYER is a correspondent for NBC News based in Los Angeles. He joined the network in 2013 and reports for “NBC Nightly News,” “Today Show” and MSNBC. Since joining the network, Fryer has covered some of the country’s biggest stories, including mass shootings in Las Vegas and Orlando, Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, the fatal mudslide in Washington state, deadly wildfires in California’s wine country and O.J. Simpson’s parole hearing. He has also interviewed some of the world’s biggest celebrities, including Jennifer Lopez, Celine Dion, Julia Roberts, Ringo Starr, Jack Black, Olivia Newton-John, Jay Leno, Susan Sarandon, Michelle Pfeiffer, Dick Van Dyke, Blake Shelton, Adam Levine, Charlize Theron and Simon Cowell. Fryer earned his first National Emmy nomination in 2015 for Breaking News in a Newscast. Before joining NBC, Fryer spent three years as a special projects reporter at KING 5 News in Seattle, where he covered some of the Northwest’s most important stories, including Amanda Knox’s verdict and the historic vote approving same-sex marriage. Fryer also traveled to Colorado to examine that state’s well-regulated medical marijuana industry. Fryer came to the Northwest from Minnesota, his home state. He spent six years at KARE-TV, the NBC affiliate in Minneapolis, and was the first reporter from his station on the scene of the 35W Bridge collapse in 2007. Fryer also flew to Phoenix to cover the death of Minnesota Twins legend Kirby Puckett and took a couple trips to Washington, D.C., so he could produce an award-winning documentary on a Minnesota soldier who lost his legs in Iraq. Perhaps Fryer’s most memorable story was the tale of Nicklas Nelson, a brave 9-year-old boy who was born with webbed legs. Nick asked doctors to amputate his legs so he could learn to walk with prosthetics. Before moving to Minnesota, Fryer worked at WTVF-TV in Nashville; WBAY-TV in Green Bay, Wisconsin and WKYT-TV in Lexington, Kentucky. He’s a proud graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. In all, Fryer has received four national Edward R. Murrow Awards, including the prestigious Writing Murrow in 2006. His awards shelf also includes 11 Regional Murrows, 19 Regional Emmys (with 61 nominations), two National Headliner Awards and one Sigma Delta Chi Award. His reporting and writing have been recognized by the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA), National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association, The Associated Press and Association of Health Care Journalists. Fryer is a proud member of the NPPA and serves on the faculty of the NPPA’s Advanced Storytelling Workshop in San Marcos, Texas.
BROOKE SOPELSA is the editorial manager of NBC Out, the LGBTQ digital destination launched by NBC News in June 2016. Under Sopelsa’s leadership, NBCOut.com seeks to both enlighten and entertain by showcasing enterprise reporting, original video and other unique content about and of interest to the LGBTQ community. Prior to her return to the NBC family, Brooke was a producer at the Huffington Post, where she developed and produced live news and lifestyle segments. During her time at HuffPost, she created content ranging from business news segments to celebrity interviews — and was awarded a 2015 RTDNA Kaleidoscope Award for her LGBTQ coverage. Before joining HuffPost, Sopelsa spent six years at NBC — first as a writer/producer for CNBC.com and then as a producer for MSNBC.com, where she earned a GLAAD Media Award nomination for her multimedia report on the contemporary voguing scene. In addition to digital media, Sopelsa has worked in both documentary film production and television news. She co-produced, shot and edited the documentary “Queer Streets,” a film about LGBTQ homeless youth, which aired on MTV’s LOGO channel from 2008-11. Sopelsa started her career in journalism as a production assistant and shortly thereafter an on-air reporter at Time Warner Cable Channel 10 News in Bergen County, New Jersey. Sopelsa holds a bachelor’s. in economics from Bucknell University, a master’s in journalism from Columbia University and a master’s in business administration from New York University’s Stern School of Business.