The 2013 IRE Conference begins in just a few days.  Below are a few bits of information to help you prepare for this great conference!

For the latest up-to-date information about panels, speakers and special events at the conference, please visit our conference website at
http://ire.org/conferences/ire-2013/

Hotel Information
The conference is taking place at the San Antonio Marriott Rivercenter, 101 Bowie Street, San Antonio, TX, 78205.

Registration
Conference registration opens Wednesday at 3 p.m. and will re-open Thursday morning at 7:30 a.m. Registration remains open Friday and Saturday on the 3rd floor of ...

Does your investigation contain complex legal questions? Unsure of how to proceed? During the Media Lawyers brown bag, between noon and 1 p.m. on Friday, June 21, bring your lunch and your questions for a personal discussion with some prominent media law experts that will be presenting throughout the 2013 IRE Conference. We'll provide drinks and dessert. This session features the following attorneys:

• Steve Chung is an attorney for NBCUniversal where serves as the lead lawyer for the NBC Owned Television Stations group and the TODAY Show and supervises the legal production work for syndicated talk shows. Steve ...

Later this month, Alex Stuckey will receive an IRE award for her story “Drug Under the Rug,” an investigation into the Athens County Ohio law enforcement agencies' failure to report property that was seized and forfeited after drug busts.  Her four month investigation of the missing reports occurred while she was a student reporter for The Post at Ohio University.  Her investigation eventually revealed that 69 percent of 670 agencies in Ohio had broken the law by failing to report police property seizures.  Stuckey is being honored, according to judges’ comments, for showing “remarkable determination by a single student journalist ...

The conference offers an opportunity for in-depth, one-on-one coaching on investigative reporting. These private sessions allow attendees to seek advice on challenging stories or follow-up ideas. 

You must have registered for the conference and have signed up for a mentor by June 5.

IRE pairs those who signed up with a mentor, and contact information is provided to both mentors and those who want to be mentored. Mentors and mentees can then agree on a time and place to meet at the conference.

These sessions are not for job seekers; they are designed for teaching and sharing information. Mentees should ...

• Surveillance - Learning from the pros
  What can private investigators teach investigative reporters about legal, ethical and effective surveillance techniques? What are the similarities and differences in surveillance by a private investigator and an investigative reporter? Bring ...

Two days are left to get the early registration rate and to register for mentoring at the 2013 IRE Conference in San Antonio. Both deadlines are 7 p.m. CT on June 5.

At IRE 2013 you'll find panels devoted to transparency, government secrecy and ongoing issues regarding leaks and whistleblowers at the federal level. You'll find tips for investigating on a beat -- any beat. You can become a better writer, turn your reporting into a book and get published. You'll find a focus on border issues and criminal justice investigations. You'll find the latest in ...

No matter your beat, there's a session at the 2013 IRE Conference that can help you investigate it. The conference has sessions on how to launch investigations while working on any beat, such as every day data and building sources on the beat, as well as several panels with investigation ideas for specific beats. Check out a sample of what beats the conference can help you with:

Business

• Business investigations (Sponsored by Bloomberg)
• Cracking corporate corruption at Wal-Mart (Sponsored by Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism)
• In the name of charity: Investigating nonprofits
• The global financial trail ...

The conference offers an opportunity for in-depth, one-on-one coaching on investigative reporting. These private sessions allow attendees to seek advice on challenging stories or follow-up ideas. 

You must have registered for the conference and have signed up for a mentor by June 5.

IRE pairs those who signed up with a mentor, and contact information is provided to both mentors and those who want to be mentored. Mentors and mentees can then agree on a time and place to meet at the conference.

These sessions are not for job seekers; they are designed for teaching and sharing information. Mentees should ...

I've heard a few NICARians lament that the IRE Conference isn't for them, that there isn't much that would excite a data journalist. In actuality there are many sessions I think you'd find interesting at the conference in San Antonio from June 20-23. We've also got hands-on classes in Tableau (a full day), Excel, Access (SQL and the grid), ArcGIS, Fusion Tables, Open Refine and more.

• Demos on sensor and drone journalism from Matt Waite
• An Introduction to Tabula: A PDF ...

The 2013 IRE Conference in San Antonio features several panels on criminal justice reporting, including the following sponsored by Criminal Justice Journalists:

• Criminal justice and guns
  Featuring Gerardo Reyes of Univision, Raquel Rutledge of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and moderator Ted Gest of Criminal Justice Journalists
• Criminal justice and prisons
  Featuring Scott Henson of the Grits for Breakfast Blog, Kirk Mitchell of The Denver Post, Jessica Pupovac of NPR, Mike Ward of the Austin American-Statesman and moderator Ted Gest of Criminal Justice Journalists.
• Criminal justice and immigration
  Featuring Alicia Caldwell of The Associated Press, Susan Carroll of the Houston Chronicle ...