Yesterday, I got to attend the New Media Women Entrepreneurs Summit in Washington, DC, where a group of 13 hyperlocal editors gave me some great ideas for recruiting and training citizen journalists, partnering with other media organizations and non-profits, and monetizing in innovative ways. In this post, I'll discuss what I learned about recruiting help on the ground.

Finding Help: One of the biggest challenges all of the hyperlocals agreed on was finding help on the ground to report all the news, take all the pictures for slideshows, and create a community of voices and perspectives--especially when those helpers are volunteers.

Some of the tips they found useful, which I can't wait to try, were:

* Tapping into the journalism job market: There are a lot of out-of-work journos right now, and by using sites like journalismjobs.com, mediabistro.com, etc., editors might be able to find freelancers with solid skills who are looking to keep their portfolios fresh & learn new media. Offer to help them learn new media in exchange for stories; don't be afraid to barter, beg, and cajole.

* Assigning Specific Jobs: If one of your commenters seems really informed on a specific issue, ask him or her to write a story on it. If you get an email from a PTA mom about a bake sale, ask her to write the bake sale story, and then continue to cover PTA events as often as she can. Use people's personal interests as a gateway into getting them to contribute regularly. Be relentless in recruiting potential contributors.

* Finding Local Experts: One hyperlocal editor explained that when her town was divided over planning and zoning proposals, she asked a local architect to create 3D maps of what the city would look like under the different proposals. By tapping into professional experts in the area, she was able to offer new perspectives, flesh out the issues in innovative ways, and cultivate a new crop of valuable contributors.

* Utilizing Academia: Ask students and faculty at nearby colleges and high schools to partner with you for specific projects. Ask a class to create a series of articles on an important subject; ask marketing students to brainstorm a business plan for hyperlocals; ask faculty to write about education issues. Student interns can only be supplemental to core contributors (because of, you know, summer and whatnot), but can help produce regular content.

* Reinforcing the Idea: Every time someone calls asking for a reporter to cover an event, reinforce the idea that they are the reporters and need to write the story themselves if they want it on the site. Many editors said this took more than a year to convey to the public, but once people got it, the editors were overwhelmed with story & picture submissions. When moms see pictures of other kids' soccer teams on the site, they'll start snapping & sending, too.

* Show, Don't Tell: When you have a group of regular contributors, offer monthly or weekly writer's workshops where you can tell them what you'd like to see more of or help them improve. Writers can workshop their stories with you, other writers, and other professional journalists, or have seminars where they can learn specific skills like filing an OPRA request, interviewing subjects,  or writing features. We could implement this at InJersey easily by recruiting our print journalists to help train our citizen journalists.

* Reward & Reinforce: We can't pay citizen journalists, at least not in that currency known as "money." But we can reward them with unique thank-you gifts: long reporter's notebooks that can't be purchased at Staples, with an InJersey sticker attached to the front; InJersey business cards (even without a specific name) that can help citizen journalists gain access or credibility; writers events, parties, and get-togethers; and offering to pay for contributors to attend workshops to improve their skills if they will continue to write for you after.

* Constant Contact: email, text, and call your contributors every week. Once a week, send out a group email with possible story topics, asking if anyone wants to report those stories or has other ideas. If a breaking story happens, text your contacts to see if they have information, are nearby, or can get to the story. Every time a new user signs up to the site, send them a personal email thanking them and encouraging them to contribute.

Implementing the Strategies:

Since I left the conference yesterday, I've emailed almost all of my heavy-commenters and PR pitch-people, asking them to become official contributors. I've organized a group email list with all potential contributors, and today I'll start my weekly emails asking for stories.

Later today, I'll head out to local schools to meet with journalism teachers to try and explain and enlist. We're having our first Blogging and Citizen Journalism seminar on Thursday, and I'll try to drum up interest with their students.

In the next week, I'll try and organize a writers meet-up, where new contributors can meet me, learn how to use the site, and ask any questions or air any concerns. Then, we'll try to do this once a month to keep people involved and invested.

In the next post, I'll discuss partnering with media & non-profit organizations, and later, monetizing in innovative ways.