Tonight marks the first official presidential campaign debate between President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney. It’s taking place in Denver (at 9 p.m. Eastern, or 6 p.m. Pacific), but since you likely haven’t snagged a seat, your options for viewing are plentiful this election year. You may not have determined who you’re voting for let alone figured out how you’re watching the debates. Here are five options for where to watch tonight’s Q&A and interact with others watching.
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On October 18, Mediabistro brings you Social Media Marketing Boot Camp, an interactive online event and workshop. The event includes keynote speakers, practical how-to sessions, and strategic assignments to provide a dynamic training on social media. By the end of eight weeks, you will create an integrated strategic plan using various social media platforms to build an engaged audience and convert traffic into sales.

Early bird rates are available today. Save $100 when you sign up before they end tomorrow, September 20.

Our speakers include:

Michael Bepko, Global Online Community Manager, Whole Foods

Brian Carter, Author, LinkedIn For Business

Keidra Chaney, Digital Content Strategist, The Web Farm

Lauren Cucinotta, Branding + Editorial Manager, TEDx

Jennifer Dubrow, Global Social Business Transformation Leader, Inside Sales, IBM

Frank Eliason, Senior Vice President of Social Media, Citibank

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It’s back-to-school season, and because Mediabistro’s core is education, the site has a timely contest this week that just involves telling the Twittersphere about a favorite teacher. Why’s that worthy of a post here? Well, teachers rock, but so does the contest– one tweet and you get $50 credit towards a course class useful for your digital storytelling.

So you win. Automatically. And can learn more stuff.

Also, if your tweet is the best, you get an entirely free course. In-person or online.

Anyone with a Twitter account who participates with a 140 character or less story about a teacher gets a $50 credit toward any Mediabistro course (they’ll DM you the promo code, which means you need to follow @Mediabistro, too). The top five best tweets get $100 credit toward any Mediabistro course. And again, the winner gets a free Mediabistro course. Read more

TechRaking, the conference series dedicated to “collaboration among journalists, innovators and community members at the intersection of journalism and technology” is back for round two, this time focusing on gaming platforms as a way of engaging participatory news gathering.

You may remember when we covered the first TechRaking conference at Google’s headquarters in Mountain View back in April. That conference focused on investigate reporting, bringing together technologists and muckrakers. The second installment, to be held in September just before the start of the Online News Association conference in San Francisco, will focus on social gaming’s role in public information.

And the conference itself will be gamified, too. Participants will be divided into teams and develop pitches for game ideas that connect palyers in “radically new ways.” The winning team will receive incubation money to jump-start its idea with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a sponsor of the conference.

The event will be held at IGN headquarters; registration is limited.

It’s that time of year again! Seven days remain to enter for the Online News Association’s 2012 OJAs, the “premiere awards” for online journalism. The deadline for entry is June 21.

This year, there are changes to the awards categories, expectations, partnerships and metrics in order to keep up with a rapidly-changing industry. Via ONA:

“Since its inception in 2000, the OJAs have recognized major media, international and independent sites and individuals producing innovative work in multimedia storytelling,” said Joshua Hatch, OJA chair. “Over that time, we’ve witnessed incredible innovation in the tools and techniques journalists have used to tell their stories. Not only are journalists publishing content on the web, but they’re making interactive applications, mobile apps, tools and more. We need to make sure the awards reflect that innovation.”

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