Turning Strangers into Sources

Join Sunlight Research Center and Jim Mintz, Sunlight’s co-founder, for a practical workshop on one of journalism’s most essential — and under-taught — skills: turning complete strangers into sources who inform and elevate your reporting. Before the interview, before the fact-checking, before the story even begins — there’s the approach.​

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• The cold contact: Whether it's a knock on the door, a phone call, or a message out of the blue, you often have just one minute — or one paragraph — to make the case for why someone should talk to you. Learn field-tested techniques for making first contacts that build trust, establish credibility, and avoid immediate rejection.

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• From contact to connection: Learn how to develop sources from scratch — people who were strangers yesterday and may become key contributors to your story tomorrow. Explore methods for relationship building, following up and navigating resistance.

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