The Online News Association released an impressive lineup, which reflects about 70 percent of the full program planned for its annual conference in Denver, September 15-17.

The information is just in time for early bird registration, which ends June 2. The entire conference program will be finalized by the first week of July leaving you nearly three weeks to take advantage of the second Getting Closer discount which will be available until July 21. Keep in mind you can save when you register early.

In a separate announcement, ONA said it was extending the deadline for entries to 2016 Online Journalism Awards to June 10.

Meanwhile, you can become familiar with the content of the programming and the speakers to be featured at the annual ONA gathering that attracts the best from digital media.  

Based on feedback from last year’s conference in Los Angeles, ONA has tweaked the Denver program to:

• Expand and diversify offerings for broadcast journalists, particularly those working on TV news. “Demand for web video and audio is increasing exponentially, and broadcast journalists have told us they are looking to share ideas and best practices for workflows, tools and live streaming, all of which will be included at ONA16,” according to program materials.
• Provide more discussions around augmented, virtual and 360 realities. The high-level conversations include topics such as when to VR for storytelling, and the ethical questions emerging about the new formats. Also planned our technical conversation about tools and techniques.
• Return with a second year of the highly successful Table Talks about challenges faced by journalists working in digital media.  “We’ve received a lot of constructive ideas for improving and refining the process, and we’ve taken those to heart. We’re hoping these will continue to be a highlight of our conference,” ONA said.