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Faith-based Communications:
Connecting Locally, Reaching Globally
2015 Religion Communicators Convention
April 9-11 • The Westin Alexandria Hotel
2015 RCC National Convention • Alexandria • April 9-11
Join colleagues in Washington, D.C., this April for unparalleled access to national reporters and newsmakers.
With a combination of excellent skill-building workshops, exciting speakers, and exhilarating tours, the RCC
Convention 2015 is a must-attend event.
The convention’s theme will explore communicating locally in communities that are diverse in many ways—
while finding stories that will speak on a global scale. Keynote speakers will explore religious diversity, media
trends, and the role of faith in our communities. Workshops will offer practical tools you can put into action
immediately.
April is cherry blossom time, and you’ll be in the middle of the action during one of the most beautiful seasons
in Washington, D.C.
KAREN BLEIER/AFP/Getty Images
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SCHEDULE
(subject to change)
Wednesday, April 8
3:30 pm Break
7:00 pm Movie Night: An American Mosque
3:45 pm Workshops
Inside Religion Reporting
Adelle Banks
Research and Evaluation on a Dime
Doug Cannon
12:00 pm Bus to Newseum
Getting Your Social Media Content Seen
Beth Becker
1:00 pm Program begins
5:00 pm Free Evening
Thursday, April 9
9:00 am Registration opens
1:30 pm Keynote: Religious Literacy/Trends
Stephen Prothero, Charles Haynes
Saturday, April 11
3:30 pm Newseum tour time
8:00 am Breakfast Networking Time (on your own)
5:00 pm Buses depart Newseum
5:30 pm Reception/Mixer with reporters
El Hibri Foundation
9:00 am Keynote: The Role of Religion in
International Affairs
Shaun Casey
7:00 pm Evening on your own
10:15 am Coffee Break
10:45 am Workshops
Friday, April 10
8:00 am Business Meeting – breakfast
9:15 am Keynote (watch for announcement of a special guest!)
10:15 am Workshops
Strategic Communications
Daria Steigman
Making Social Media Work for You
Beth Becker
Design for Effective
Communications
Doug Puller/Stephen Padre
Media Training
Jonathan Aiken
Using Photography and Video to Amp Up Your Communications
Mike Dubose/Jan Snider
Design for Effective Communications
Doug Puller/Stephen Padre
12:30 pm Lunch/Presentation: Faithful Responses
to Local/Global Needs
Karin Achtelsetter
2:30 pm Workshops
Workshops to be announced
4:15 pm Bonus Workshop:
Rescuing the Voices of Our Past
Mike Hickcox
11:30 am DeRose-Hinkhouse Awards
Luncheon
2:00 pm Media Panel
Moderator: Adelle Banks, RNS
Wajahat Ali, Al Jazeera America
Michelle Boorstein, Washington Post
Eric Marrapodi, CNN
5:00 pm Networking
6:00 pm Wilbur Awards
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2015 RCC National Convention • Alexandria • April 9-11
FEATURED SPEAKERS
Stephen Prothero
A professor in the Department of Religion at Boston University, Prothero is the author of
numerous books, most recently “The American Bible: How Our Words Unite, Divide, and
Define a Nation,” “God is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions That Run the World—and
Why Their Differences Matter” and the New York Times bestseller “Religious Literacy:
What Americans Need to Know.” He has commented on religion on dozens of National
Public Radio programs and on national television. He was the chief editorial consultant
for the six-hour WGBH/PBS television series “God in America” (2010). A regular contributor to the Wall Street Journal and USA Today, he has also written for the New York Times, Slate, Salon, the
Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and the Boston Globe. In 2010, he spoke about religious literacy at the
White House. During 2012-13, he was a fellow at the Smithsonian’s Museum of American History. Prothero received his bachelor’s degree from Yale in American Studies and his Ph.D. in the Study of Religion from Harvard.
Shaun Casey
Casey is special representative to the Secretary of State for Faith-Based and Community
Initiatives. He is currently on leave of absence from Wesley Theological Seminary in
Washington, D.C., where he is professor of Christian ethics and director of the National
Capital Semester for Seminarians. Casey served as senior advisor for religious affairs
for the 2008 Obama campaign and was national evangelical coordinator in the 2008
presidential campaign. His research interests include ethics and international affairs,
the public implications of religious belief and the intersection of religion and politics.
He has written on the ethics of the war in Iraq as well the role of religion in American presidential politics. His
book, “The Making of a Catholic President: Kennedy vs. Nixon 1960,” was published by Oxford University
Press in 2009. He holds master’s and doctorate degrees from Harvard Divinity School and a master’s of public
administration from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He earned a bachelor’s degree
from Abilene Christian University. He is a member of the American Academy of Religion and served as chair of
its Committee on the Public Understanding of Religion.
Charles Haynes
Director of the Religious Freedom Center of the Newseum Institute and a senior scholar
at the First Amendment Center, Haynes has been the principal organizer and drafter
of consensus guidelines on religious liberty in schools, endorsed by a broad range of
religious and educational organizations. In 2000, three of these guides were distributed
by the U.S. Department of Education to every public school in the nation. Haynes is the
author or co-author of six books, including “First Freedoms: A Documentary History
of First Amendment Rights in America” and “Religion in American Public Life.” His
column, Inside the First Amendment, appears in newspapers nationwide. He is a founding board member of the
Character Education Partnership and serves on the steering committee of the Campaign for the Civic Mission of
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Schools and the American Bar Association Advisory Commission on Public Education. He chairs the Committee
on Religious Liberty of the National Council of Churches. Haynes holds a master’s degree from Harvard Divinity
School and a doctorate from Emory University.
Karin Achtelstetter
Achtelstetter is general secretary of the World Association for Christian Communications (WACC) based in Toronto. Formerly she was director and editor-in-chief of the
Lutheran World Federation and former coordinator of the public information team and
media relations officer of the World Council of Churches, both based in Geneva. She holds a
master’s degree in theology and bachelor’s degree from the Friedrich-Alexander University,
Erlangen, Germany, as well as a Master of Arts in Women’s Studies from the University of
Kent at Canterbury, England. She also has a diploma in International leadership from the
Craighead Institute, Glasgow, and The Grubb Institute, London. She was ordained to the ministry of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in Bavaria in January 2010 and has served as an occasional lecturer in the Department for Practical
Theology of Friedrich-Alexander University. In November 2011, she was conferred Doctor of Divinity (Honoris Causa)
by the Academy of Ecumenical Indian Theology and Church Administration in Chennai, India.
NATIONAL MEDIA PANEL
Adelle M. Banks, Religion News Service
Banks joined the Religion News Service staff in 1995. She is now its production editor
and national reporter. She previously was the religion reporter at the Orlando Sentinel and
a reporter at The Providence Journal and newspapers in the upstate New York communities of Syracuse and Binghamton. She spearheaded an RNS multimedia project on the
50th anniversary of the March on Washington that in 2014 won a Wilbur Award from the
Religion Communicators Council, won a first-place award from Associated Church Press,
and was recognized by the Religion Newswriters Association. Banks was a third-place
winner in the RNA’s Religion Reporter of the Year contest in 2011 and 1998. She also has earned other awards
from ACP, including first-place honors for news stories, convention coverage and in-depth coverage. She is a
graduate of Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Mass.
Michelle Boorstein, Washington Post
Boorstein’s path to her dream job as religion reporter began as a youth, trying to make
sense of a kosher Jewish home that had three sets of dishes: meat, milk and Chinese
food. Her career included a decade of globetrotting with The Associated Press, covering
everything from domestic terrorism in the Arizona desert to debates on male circumcision
to Ugandan royalty and how strapped doctors in Afghanistan decide who lives and who
dies. Since January 2006 she’s been the Washington Post’s religion reporter, where she
reports on the busy marketplace of American religion. She has a master’s degree in Near
Eastern Studies, a husband, a son and just two sets of dishes. The Religion Newswriters Association awarded her
its “Religion Reporter of the Year” award for religion writing in large news organizations in 2011 and 2013.
Faith Based Communications: Connecting Locally, Reaching Globally • 5
2015 RCC National Convention • Alexandria • April 9-11
Eric Marrapodi, CNN
Marrapoli is the founding co-editor and now senior Washington producer and
contributing editor to CNN’s “Belief Blog.” As an award-winning journalist based
in Washington, D.C., he covers everything from natural disasters to politics to
religion. The site has won many awards for digital journalism, including a 2013
RCC Wilbur Award and a Webby, an Online Journalism Award, and multiple awards
from the Religion Newswriters Association, including site of the year in 2012. He
regularly appears on CNN to report on religion. Marrapodi has an undergraduate
degree in broadcast journalism from Quinnipiac University and a master’s degree in religious studies from
Georgetown University.
Wajahat Ali, Al Jazeera America
Ali is co-host and digital producer of Al Jazeera America’s “The Stream,” a daily
news show that extends the conversation to social media and beyond. Ali is the
author of “The Domestic Crusaders,” the first major play about Muslim Americans,
post-9/11, which was performed off-Broadway and at the Kennedy Center. Currently,
with Dave Eggers, Ali is writing a television show about a Muslim American cop
in the Bay Area. He was the lead author and researcher of “Fear Inc., Roots of the
Islamophobia Network in America,” the seminal report from the Center for American
Progress. In 2012, Ali worked with the U.S. Department of State to design and implement the “Generation
Change” leadership program to empower young social entrepreneurs. He initiated chapters in eight countries, including Pakistan and Singapore. He was the honored as a “Generation Change Leader” by Secretary
of State Clinton and as an “Emerging Muslim American Artist” by the Muslim Public Affairs Council. He
has given many presentations, from Google to Princeton to The Abu Dhabi Book Festival. His writing has
appeared in the Washington Post, the Guardian and Salon.
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ABOUT THE WORKSHOPS
The convention will offer a wide range of workshops from improving your media relations to engaging more
effectively in social media. See the RCC website for full descriptions of workshops and presenters. Here is a
sampling of topics:
Inside Religion Reporting
Following the Media Panel, Adelle Banks will provide an in-depth view of religion reporting.
Making Social Media Work for You
With more than 20 years of communication and marketing experience, Beth Becker
works with Congressional campaigns, nonprofits and unions to help them harness
the power of social media and digital engagement. Becker brought 20-plus years of
communication and marketing background when she joined Indigo Strategies as a
partner and the lead digital strategist. In addition to her work with clients, Becker also
provides training about digital strategy for the New Organizing Institute and for clients
and conferences like the Pennsylvania Progressive Summit and Netroots Nation. As
a contributing blogger at epolitics.com and avid activist, she shares her knowledge to
Beth Becker
help the progressive movement. She is also on staff at Progressive Congress where she
works with staffers on digital strategy and manages Progressive Congress News.
Strategic Communications
Daria Steigman
Daria Steigman, founder of Steigman Communications, LLC, is an entrepreneur, business
owner, and writer. She is the author of a blog that focuses on the business of running a
business, entrepreneurship, marketing communications, social business, social media,
strategic thinking, and what she calls Independent Thinking. She’s been a contributor
to Workshifting.com and to Overdrive, the blog of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization. She
holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Chicago, and masters’ degrees in
industrial and labor relations (MILR) from Cornell University and liberal studies (MALS)
from Georgetown University. She wrote a book of poems as part of her MALS thesis.
Faith Based Communications: Connecting Locally, Reaching Globally • 7
2015 RCC National Convention • Alexandria • April 9-11
Design for Effective Communications
Doug Puller, Design Manager, and Stephen Padre, Managing Editor, with Bread for the World will offer practical tips and insights
into producing clear and consistent design for your organization.
Included will be ways to effectively work with designers to get the
best product.
Doug Puller is a highly creative professional with over 15 years’
experience in art direction and graphic design in both web and
Doug Puller
Stephen Padre
print. He has been the Design Manager at Bread for the World for
the past four years, where he has worked on all types of projects
from regular newsletters to large banners, from logos to CD covers. He has won numerous DeRose-Hinkhouse awards for his design work. He also served as the Art Director at The Daily Record newspaper in
Baltimore for 8 years.
For most of his career, Stephen Padre has worked as a communicator for church-related organizations,
including several years at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in Chicago and stints at ecumenical
organizations overseas and in the United States. He has been the Managing Editor at Bread for the World
since October 2013. He has extensive experience managing print, web and video projects and working
with designers.
Research and Evaluation on a Dime
Douglas F. Cannon, Ph.D., APR+M, Fellow PRSA Assistant professor of communication, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, worked as a United Methodist
communicator for nearly 25 years and was RCC president for three years (2008-10
and 2012-13). He now teaches public relations at Virginia Tech and researches how
faith groups practice public relations. In addition to work in religion communication,
he’s been a daily newspaper reporter, weekly newspaper publisher, TV newsmagazine
producer and Army public affairs officer.
Douglas F. Cannon
Media Training/Effective Media Placement
Jonanthan Aiken
A veteran of 40 years in the news and video fields, Jonathan Aiken is head of ActualityMedia. Prior to launching AcualityMedia, Aiken spent nine years with the American
National Red Cross national headquarters in Washington, D.C., where he developed an
intensive media-training program that has been used by more than 1,500 staff, volunteers and management. Aiken also created a video services unit, sending video teams
into disaster operations. His team won a Telly Award in 2012 for a story about “Holiday
Mail for Heroes,” an annual effort to distribute holiday greetings to U.S. servicemen
and women. Aiken has also worked for CNN in both Washington and Atlanta.
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Using Photography and Video to Amp Up Your Communications
Mike DuBose has spent most of his 30-plus years as a photojournalist carefully avoiding work by making pictures of other people
working. He has been the staff photographer for United Methodist
News Service since 1995. Assignments have taken him to some
three-dozen countries and most of the 50 states. Prior to joining the
news service, he spent 10 years as a daily newspaper photographer
in Nashville and Knoxville.
Mike DuBose
Jan Snider
Jan Snider is an award-winning multi-media producer for United
Methodist Communications, where she is Special Projects Producer.
She began her career as a news reporter and, later, anchor at a local television station in Georgia. She has also
been an anchor and feature reporter in entertainment news.
Rescuing the Voices of Our Past
Mike Hickcox is director of communications at the Society of St. Andrew, an interfaith
food gleaning organization headquartered in Virginia. He has served the United Methodist Church as a pastor, and in communications at the seminary, annual conference
and general agency levels. He has been news director and anchor at radio stations in
Connecticut and New Hampshire, and has taught in the Communication Department at
the University of New Hampshire. He is a past national RCC president.
Mike Hickcox
Faith Based Communications: Connecting Locally, Reaching Globally • 9
2015 RCC National Convention • Alexandria • April 9-11
ABOUT THE LOCATION
The Westin Alexandria
400 Courthouse Square
Alexandria, VA 22314
703-253-8600
Reservations: 866-837-4210
Reserve your room by March 18, 2015
...to receive the special RCC rate of $139 per room
(14.5% tax and $1 will be added for a total cost of
$160 per room for single or double). Contact the
Westin Alexandria at 866-837-4210 and mention the
RCC to receive the group rate. You can also click on
the link on our convention website to book online
directly for the block of RCC rooms.
Our venue, the Westin Alexandria, is conveniently located two Metro stops from Reagan National Airport
(DCA) and a few more to downtown DC.
Complimentary WIFI is in all guest rooms. The RCC
discount rate for overnight parking is $13/night.
For more information on the Westin, visit www.
westinalexandria.com.
Come early, stay late or take in the sights during convention free time. The Westin’s free shuttle circulates
between the hotel, Old Town shops and restaurants,
and King Street Metro Station.
• Old Town Alexandria
• Smithsonian museums
• National monuments, including the new Martin
Luther King, Jr. Memorial
• Tidal Basin cherry blossom trees
• Holocaust Museum
•
•
•
•
Capitol and White House
National Cathedral
National Zoo
Mount Vernon
For more information, see:
Alexandria: www.visitalexandriava.com
Washington, DC: http://washington.org
Wednesday Night Film
When the Islamic Center of Yuba City, California,
was burned to the ground in 1994, it became the
first hate-crime to destroy a mosque in U.S. history.
Sparked by the destruction of the Yuba City mosque,
the documentary An American Mosque witnesses
how a farming community responds to hate through
painful but ultimately positive discussions about the
perception of Islam in America and our responsibility
to defend everyone’s constitutional right to worship.
Presented by the producer, David Washburn.
Thank you to our sponsors*
Advertising sponsors
El Hibri Foundation welcome reception, interfaith roundtable
Bahá’í National Office transportation
Odyssey Networks
coffee break
Bread for the World
Polaris Non-Profit Solutions
United Methodist Committee on Relief
United Methodist Women
*Sponsors continue to be announced; see full list at www.ReligionCommunicators.org/Convention
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REGISTER BY APRIL 1, 2015 • WWW.RELIGIONCOMMUNICATORS.ORG
Name___________________________________________________________________________________
Prefererence for name tag___________________________________________________________________
Title____________________________________________________________________________________
Organization______________________________________________________________________________
Address_________________________________________________________________________________
City_______________________________ State/Province_________________ Zip/Postal Code____________
E-mail___________________________________________________________________________________
Phone ( ______ ) ________________________
Cell Phone ( ______ ) ____________________________
Full Convention April 9-11, 2015........................................................... $395
Spouse/Partner Full Convention April 9-11, 2015.............................. $275
Full Student Student ID required............................................................ $175
Full registration includes all presentations, workshops, provided meals,
transportation, the DeRose-Hinkhouse and Wilbur banquets and awards.
Thursday Only Newseum ticket, program, reception ............................ $125
Friday Only Breakfast, program, DeRose Hinkhouse Awards................. $200
Saturday Only Lunch, program, Wilbur Awards..................................... $200
Additional Guest DeRose-Hinkhouse Awards Banquet.............................$55
Additional Guest Wilbur Awards Banquet.................................................$70
Total Enclosed $___________
I am paying by check
I am paying by credit card
Payment by Mail (make check payable to RCC-DC Chapter)
Mail to:
RCC 2015 c/o USBNC
1320 19th St., NW, Suite 701
Washington DC 20036
MAKE YOUR HOTEL
RESERVATIONS!
Group rate deadline:
March 18, 2015
Westin Alexandria
Reservations: 866-837-4210
Group rate: $139/night plus tax
Refund Policy
If you have paid for your registration and can no longer attend, you
may send someone in your place
at no extra charge. Or, notify us
by March 26, 2015 and receive
a refund of the amount you paid
RCC less a $20 processing fee.
There will be no refunds granted
after March 26, 2015. RCC has
no control over hotel fees; please
contact the hotel to inquire about
its refund policy.
Meals (select one)
Regular
Kosher
Vegetarian
Vegan
Other: _______________________
If you need help with your registration, contact Lucia Tyson at ltyson@usbnc.org or Rachel Wolfe at
rwolfe@usbnc.org or by phone at 202-833-8990.
Faith Based Communications: Connecting Locally, Reaching Globally • 11
Joseph G/PBase
www.religioncommunicators.org
Register by April 1, 2015
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