7:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. Convention registration at Peabody Hotel

12:00 noon - 4:30 p.m. NCEW University (mini-editorial workshops)

Moderator: Rick Horowitz, syndicated columnist and Dean of NCEW University. This is Rick's fifth year with NCEW-U and his third time as Dean.

5:00 p.m. Honorary Duck MasterWalk

6:30 - 9:00 p.m. Welcome reception at the Peabody Hotel

Speaker: Mike Huckabee, former governor of Arkansas and 2008 presidential candidate

Music: Cathy Cooper Quartet (jazz)

9:00 p.m. - midnight Hospitality Suite w/cash bar

7:00 - 8:00 a.m. First-time Attendees' breakfast

7:30 - 9:00 a.m. Continental breakfast

8:00 - 8:45 a.m. OPENING SESSION:WELCOME TO ARKANSAS,

Overview of convention theme: The Next South, The Next America

8:45 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Board bus for optional spouse/guest tour to Garvan Woodland Gardens and Hot Springs. We will be having a BBQ Lunch catered at the Gardens. Next, we'll arrive at Oaklawn Park to learn about the history of horse racing and gambling in Hot Springs. Finally, we'll arrive in downtown Hot Springs and tour historic Central Avenue. Group can shop or tour the Fordyce Bath House and Museum. There are historic Bath Houses, Arlington Hotel, sites of former (in)famous gambling halls like Owney Madden's Southern Club or you can tour the new Gangster Museum.

9:00 - 10:00 a.m. QUESTIONS TO ASK BEFORE BLOGGING

Speaker: Robert Cox, founder and president of the Media Bloggers Association, the largest association of bloggers and citizen journalists in the world

10:15 a.m. -12:15 p.m. Critique Sessions

12:30 - 2:00 p.m. Members Lunch

Speaker: Charles Fishman, editor-at-large of Fast Company and author of The Wal-Mart Effect: How the World's Most Powerful Company Really Works—And How It's Transforming the American Economy

2:15 - 4:30 p.m. Resumption of critique sessions

6:00 - 9:00 p.m. Tour and Dinner at the William J. Clinton Presidential Library

Speaker: William J. Clinton (Invited)

Music: Runaway Planet (bluegrass)

9:00 p.m. - midnight Hospitality Suite w/cash bar

7:30 - 9:00 a.m. Continental breakfast

8:00 - 9:15 a.m. Breakout Sessions (choose one)

9:30 - 10:45 a.m. FUTURE OF BLACK AMERICA

Speaker: Juan Williams, political analyst for NPR and the Fox News Channel

11:00 a.m. - 12:15 p.m. IMMIGRATION: THE NEXT AMERICA

Speaker: Demetrios Papademetriou, president of the Migration Policy Institute

12:30 - 2:00 p.m. Award luncheon - Ida B.Wells Award presentation

Speaker: Walter E. Hussman Jr. publisher Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, CEO of WEHCO Media, Inc., and Editor & Publisher's Publisher of the Year 2008

2:15 - 3:30 p.m. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE LITTLE ROCK CRISIS OF '57

Moderator: David Chappell, Rothbaum Professor ofHistory, University of Oklahoma

Panelists: Betsy Jacoway: Historian and author of a new book on the Little Rock Crisis

Jim Johnson: Justice of Arkansas State Supreme Court, 1958-64; Democratic Gubernatorial candidate, 1966; and leading figure in the crisis itself

Adam Green: Associate Professor of American History, University of Chicago and son of Ernest Green, one of the Little Rock Nine

3:45 - 5:00 p.m. THE NEXT SOUTH

Panelists: John Shelton Reed: Kenan Professor Emeritus of Sociology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Charles Wilson: Professor of History and Southern Studies, University of Mississippi

Odessa Woolfolk: founding president and Chair Emerita, Birmingham Civil Rights Institute

Jim Peacock: Kenan Professor of Anthropology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

5:15 - 6:45 p.m. Board buses and tour Central High Museum (Pending)

7:00 p.m. Return to Peabody Hotel

7:00 - 9:00 p.m. FREE NIGHT (Free to roam about the city)

9:00 p.m. - midnight Hospitality Suite w/cash bar

Music: Dennis Farmer (country)

7:30 - 8:30 a.m. Retired Members' breakfast

7:30 - 9:00 a.m. Continental breakfast

8:00 - 9:30 a.m. NCEW Opinion Pool presentation

SPECIAL REPORT: The Opinion Pool: Building trusted online sites for informed debate Project overview and research results from focus groups

Moderator: Eddie Roth, editorial writer, St. Louis Post- Dispatch

Speaker: Reggie Murphy, who's supervised NCEW focus groups in three cities, is director of research services for Gannett Company, Inc.

9:30 - 9:45 a.m. Break

9:45 - 11:00 a.m. NCEW Opinion Pool presentation, continued

Panel discussion on building sites, workflow and measuring progress

Moderator: Eddie Roth, editorial writer, St. Louis Post- Dispatch

11:15 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Breakout Sessions (choose one)

Naomi Schalit, opinion page editor, Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel

12:45 - 2:15 p.m. Awards luncheon at Peabody Hotel

Presentations of the 2008 Pulliam Award (sponsored by SDX Foundation) and Barry Bingham Award

2:15 - 5:00 p.m. Annual NCEW business meeting and board elections

5:00 p.m. Honorary Duck Master (position auctioned)

6:30 - 10:30 p.m. Closing night reception & banquet

Speaker: Tony Snow, formerWhite House Press Secretary to President GeorgeW. Bush (invited)

Music: The B Flats (a dance-type band)

10:30 p.m. - midnight Hospitality Suite w/cash bar

9:00 - 11:00 a.m. Past Presidents' breakfast