Hands-On Classes

Build your skills

Take advantage of a full schedule of computer-assisted reporting classes designed for all skill levels, whether you're just getting familiar with spreadsheets, need to beef up your database basics, or need tips to write your own Web scripts. You'll learn by sitting down at a computer and working with these tools in sessions led by IRE's experienced training staff and CAR practitioners. The lineup for Indy is now online.

Regular hands-on classes are open on a first come, first served basis and the price is included in your conference registration. Only courses in the CAR Mini-Boot Camp and the Web Frameworks Boot Camp are restricted to participants who signed up before the conference.

The Web Frameworks Boot Camp is currently full.

Learn about hands-on training sponsored by Caspio in conjunction with the 2009 CAR Conference. The Caspio sessions are free, but pre-registration is required.

CAR Mini-Boot Camp

In this track for CAR beginners, special morning panels will be coordinated with hands-on classes in the afternoon. The combination will give participants a mini-boot camp experience with plenty of opportunity to apply what they learn to reporting and writing news stories.

Participants are pre-registered for a series of classes, modeled on the IRE and NICAR 5-day CAR Boot Camp curriculum. This will offer 10 hours of hands-on instruction in Internet, spreadsheets and database management.

There is no extra charge to reserve a seat in the Mini-Boot Camp but, due to its limited availability, please sign up only if you will attend all sessions. There are 36 seats available. Pre-registrations are accepted on a first-come, first-served basis. (Similar beginner-level classes—open to all conference attendees —are offered at various times on the main hands-on schedule.)

Sign up when you register for the conference. After you submit your request, IRE will verify your conference registration and check availability. You will receive a confirmation note about your registration status. If you have questions about Mini-Boot Camp registration or confirming your sign-up, please contact .

Web Frameworks Advanced Boot Camp

The Web Frameworks track is full, as of Feb. 16.

You've heard all the hype around web frameworks like Ruby on Rails and Django. Now see why. In this new advanced boot camp, we'll take you from the basics to a fully functioning data-driven application in Django, the web framework that drives award-winning projects like EveryBlock, PolitiFact, and The Washington Post's congressional votes databases. Editors and producers know this work is hot. You know it’s the next step for your CAR skills. Now learn how in these hands-on sequential classes.

Because it’s an advanced sequence, please plan to attend all of the mini-boot camp classes. And please make sure you meet the following prerequisites before signing up:

Fluent in SQL
Skilled in SQL Server, MySQL or another database program beyond Access
Familiar with relational concepts

Please note that the track is designed to build skills sequentially so you must attend all sessions. Only 18 seats are available. Pre-registrations are accepted on a first-come, first-served basis. (IRE may request more information about your experience with the required skill set.)

After you submit your request, IRE will verify your conference registration and check availability. You will receive a confirmation note about your registration status. If you have questions about the Web Frameworks training or the prerequisite skills, please contact Jeremy Milarsky, .