NLGJA 2026 National Convention

Everybody is talking about AI. But who is actually using it well? In this practical session, OpenAI Academy will share AI workflows for journalists, shaped by actual newsroom experience: finding sharper story angles, preparing better interviews, making sense of messy documents, cleaning up data, and improving drafts. You will leave with ways to start using AI today, grounded in how journalists actually work. The goal is simple: spend less time wrestling with tedious tasks, and more time doing the journalism only humans can do.

This roundtable invites journalists to leave their favorite tables and bar stools and join culinary professionals for real talk about what radical, unreasonable and queer hospitality looks like, past and present.  Long before Ray Oldenburg coined the term “third place” in “The Great Good Place,” bars, restaurants and cafes were sites for “regular, voluntary, informal, and happily anticipated gatherings of individuals beyond the realms of home and work.” This roundtable focuses on real examples from queer communities across the Americas. Speakers include not only restauranteurs and writers but also growers, distributors, and others currently involved in radical, unreasonable, and queer hospitality. 

How did the Bay Area Reporter manage to become the longest continuously published LGBTQ+ newspaper in America? Find out in a panel session with the publisher, editors and freelance writers, who reveal how the paper has built foundations from its modest beginnings. With a strong tradition of representation, the nation’s oldest queer newspaper has adapted into the 21st century with innovation while maintaining journalistic integrity.

When the federal government undergoes seismic shifts, critical stories can remain hidden behind a climate of uncertainty. For journalists, the challenge is twofold: breaking through the silence of a shell-shocked federal workforce and ensuring the safety of those who risk their livelihoods to speak. This session offers a deep dive into high-stakes sourcing during the sweeping policy changes of the second Trump administration. This discussion will go beyond basic beat reporting. Attendees will examine techniques for identifying and cultivating internal sources — particularly those who remain inside agencies despite vast layoffs and abrupt policy shifts — and the logistics and ethics of protecting LGBTQ+ sources and other vulnerable whistleblowers who fear retaliation.