Women, Action & The Media: Register Now for WAM!

Time is running out for early registration for the annual Women, Action & the Media (WAM!) conference in Cambridge, Mass., March 27-29.

This is not your ordinary conference. WAM! has an inspiring goal: “to bring together everyone who has a stake in achieving gender justice in media, in order to share facts and ideas, develop skills, build collaborations, bridge differences and create action plans.”

It does so by presenting more than 40 sessions and workshops and by facilitating collaboration between sessions — there are parties, film screenings, lunch caucuses, quiet spaces and more. A new addition this year is the Genius Bar, where experts will be available to answer questions, one-on-one.

WAM! is sponsored by the Center for New Words and MIT’s Program in Women’s Studies. Registration is $145 ($45 for students and $80 for seniors) if you register on or before Feb. 13 (yep, that’s tomorrow). After that, fees increase to $165/$55/$95. To reserve your spot, call CNW at 617.876.5310 or register online.

This year’s keynotes include a panel of women journalists reporting from the global frontlines and Cynthia Lopez, vice president for American Documentary | P.O.V.

Sarah Haskins, a Second City alum and writer and performer for the Current TV show “infoMania,” will perform on Saturday night. Her “Target Women” segment skewers media aimed at women and, let’s just say it: Sarah rocks.

I’ve been an enthusiastic WAM! supporter since the first go-around, back in 2004. This year I’m running a half-day workshop, “Creating, Designing and Promoting Your Own Blog.” Yes, participants will do all that and more, including learning how to incorporate social media tools (like del.icio.us and Twitter).

Kiki Zeldes, Our Bodies Ourselves editor and webmaster extraordinaire, is also presenting. She’s on the panel titled “New Administration, New World Order: The Top Five Reproductive and Sexual Health and Rights Stories You’ll Want to Track — And How,” along with a super smart crew: Dana Goldstein, an associate editor at The American Prospect; Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas, deputy director of the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health; and Emily Douglas, an editor at RH Reality Check.

Hope to see you there!