Welcome to the 2025 Online News Association Conference Suggestion Box! This is your opportunity to help shape ONA25 by letting us know what ideas and topics are important to you. Please note that these suggestions are a virtual brainstorming session; a starting point for discussions with ONA's training staff.
For more about tips, session formats and other frequently asked questions, we've created a centralized resource about the Suggestion Box. Here's some additional information to get you started:
Areas of Focus
At ONA25, we’re lifting up three Areas of Focus that we believe will impact every role in journalism in the next few years and convening the conversations required to understand how they will impact each role, organization and community:
- Artificial intelligence: AI technology continues to change everything about the news industry, from production to business models to audience, and ONA25 will offer discussions and case studies to help make sense of the opportunities and challenges brought about by this shift
- Climate: Every journalist is a climate journalist now as climate change impacts all elements of life on earth, and ONA25 will convene conversations on how journalism can deliver disaster preparedness and response information, and help to build more resilient communities
- Resilience: Organizational resilience, relating to operations and revenue, is essential work, but ONA25 will also cover how to build out career pathways in a disrupted industry, and ways to make the communities in which we operate more resilient, stronger and better connected
Areas of Practice
The ONA25 Volunteer Program Committee comprises leading industry practitioners who, along with ONA staff, evaluate every submission made to the ONA25 Suggestion Box. In order to best match Committee members to pitches, submitters are asked to match their pitch to one of the following six areas of practice:
- Leadership + Strategy + Culture
- Technology + Product
- Reporting + Editing
- Revenue + Sustainability
- Audience Development
- Entrepreneurship + Creator Journalism
Session Types
ONA conferences highly value interactivity and most sessions at ONA25 will feature collaborative work. There are also instances when a “lean-back” experience more effectively relays information, however, and finding balance across learning styles is essential to supporting attendees and presenters in this important work:
- Skill-building Workshops – Interactive sessions offering practical skills and insights via collaborative, in-the-room learning (3 facilitators max)
- Best Practices + Case Studies – Information-rich presentations sharing experience-based insights on successes and failure (2 presenters max)
- Panels + Masterclasses – Larger conversations featuring multiple leaders, and expert solo talks and fireside chats, covering complex subjects (1-3 presenters, including any moderator)
The deadline for Suggestion Box submissions is Friday, March 28, at 3:00 AM EDT / 12:00 AM PDT / 07:00 UTC. Please note the late or early time, depending on your timezone. Submissions will be reviewed by our volunteer Program Committee: a group of working professionals who recommend topics they deem essential to ONA staff for final decisions. All submitters will receive notification, whether their topic is selected or not, by July 2025.