Less than a month until ONA12!
The clock is winding down for the Online News Association Conference and Awards, Sept. 20-22, and we’re gearing up for San Francisco, adding a world-class Stanford d.school Workshop and details on related parties.

Gaming technology and news meet at TechRaking II
Are you a journalist, gamer, developer or designer interested in making news games more awesome? ONA is partnering with the Center for Investigative Reporting, IGN, and Public Radio International to bring you TechRaking II, the second conference in the TechRaking Series to explore the intersection of gaming technology and news. Join us for a full-day design sprint Wednesday, Sept. 19, in San Francisco. We’ll spend the morning exploring best practices in gaming the news and build together in the afternoon. For more information, check out CIR.org. For registration information, contact Kristin Crawford at kcrawford@cironline.org. This will be ONA’s first day of activities leading up to ONA12, followed by a full day of Thursday Workshops and Opening Night Reception, and the ONA12 general sessions Friday and Saturday.

Just added: Intro to Design Workshop
“Human-Centered Design” isn’t just about making good web pages, it’s a way of conceptualizing stories, projects and even your workspace. Toss in concepts of “show don’t tell,” “rapid prototyping” and “radical collaboration” and you’ve got Silicon Valley-style innovation jumpstarting your editorial and production process. This workshop will be led by staff of Stanford’s world-renowned Hasso M. Plattner Institute of Design — commonly called the d.school — and journalists who have trained there and will be a crash course in ideas and real-world experiences you can take back to energize your team. Join us Sept. 20 for this full-day workshop. Cost is $75 for ONA members and $100 for non-members.

Looking for a different training experience? Sit in on a master course from legal rock stars in our Law School for Digital Journalists, get an Intro to Mobile, or learn the basics of programming in one of our many Thursday workshops.

Let’s party
The number of side parties springing up around the conference grows every year. Here’s a list so far — many more are in the works.

• ONA SF, the Center for Investigative Reporting and MediaShift are hosting a party after TechRaking II on Wednesday, Sept. 19 at Gallery 16. It’s open to all with RSVP.
• #Socjourn and #wjchat host a meetup on Friday, Sept. 21.

If you’re organizing an off-hours affiliated party, meet-up or event in SF around ONA12, let us know on Twitter using the hashtag #ONA12 or email us at ona12@journalists.org and we’ll help get the word out. We’ll be listing all finalized events on journalists.org.

Just a few spots left at ONA12
If you still haven’t registered yet, there are just a few spots open, so don’t delay. Register now.