Back in my DC days, one of the projects that I helped launch is the Making Your Documentary Matter, a producers conference aimed at helping filmmakers find new strategies for engaging audiences in their issue-oriented films. We scheduled it to fall in the days before the annual RealScreen conference when producers are in DC trying to connect with the big nonfiction broadcast outlets. I playfully called our conference “the Slamdance of RealScreen.” That first year was a sell-out, with folks standing in the back, and each year since has sold out and continues to receive great word-of-mouth from those who attend. It’s just a fact that there are few places to go to find strategies and models for getting people involved. So, there are still some spots, so if you can, get thee to DC for this chock-full-o-good-info conference.

The Center for Social Media is sponsoring the Making Your Media Matter conference on Feb. 7-8 at American University. The conference, for established and aspiring filmmakers, non-profit communications leaders, funders and students, is a place where leading-edge practitioners learn and share cutting-edge practices for creating media that matters. The conference will feature panel discussions on the latest tools and trends in creating and distributing social issue media, including panels on games for social change, intercultural media, and short-shorts and new platforms; demos of cutting edge practices; networking opportunities as well as the chance to hear from our keynote speakers, filmmaker Byron Hurt and outreach expert Sonya Childress.