Join fellow colleagues for a night out at Tempe’s Big Bang Dueling Piano Bar at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, March 12. It’s a great opportunity to laugh and catch-up with fellow journalists. Big Bang is located at 5th and Mill which is a Tempe hot spot within walking distance of many restaurants and shopping.

A ticket gets you free admission to the show in a private IRE reserved section and buys your first two drinks (wine, beer, soda or water). Advance tickets for this event are now on sale for $20. Limited quantities of tickets are available so buy yours early so you don’t miss this great event. Advance tickets will be available until Monday, March 1. Any remaining tickets will be available for sale at the conference sales desk.

You may purchase tickets when you register for the conference. If you've already registered for the conference contact Amy Johnson by e-mail or at (573) 884-1444.

Get ready for the 2010 Census with a special half-day workshop devoted to the big national count. Session leaders and Census experts Paul Overberg of USA Today and Steve Doig of Arizona State University get you up to speed on everything you'll need to know, from covering the Census gathering process to working with the data when it's released. Learn how the American Community Survey is coming to play a crucial role in understanding the demographics of your town, and get enough story ideas to last the next 10 years.

The workshop begins at 1 p.m. Thursday, March 11, and the sessions are free to everyone attending the conference.

Here's a breakdown of the sessions:

Covering the Taking of the Census, or Watching the Sausage Get Made. to understand the data you'll get next year, it's best to understand how it's gathered and edited. But it's also a watchdog's job. How to keep daily track of response rates for each neighborhood (and how they are different from participation rates and mail return rates). How to audit the Census Bureau's media plan in your area and its plan for each neighborhood to boost response.

Nuts and Bolts. Gain a better understanding of the 2010 Census data itself: its form layout and question list (and what's not asked) The data editing routines, geographical hierarchy, file formats, table structures, product plan and schedule — and how they shape stories. How to start your coverage plan and build what you need to get it done.

The Rise of the American Community Survey. Explore the crucial and still-changing role of the ACS now that the long census form is gone. How it's better — and worse — than the long form. How to use census and ACS data for what they do best — and not confuse readers. How to use new tools, from IPUMS to ESRI's Business Analyst Online, to drill deeper into local demographics.

Writing up the 2010 Census. What stories can and should be explored: reapportionment and redistricting, segregation and diversity, growth and sprawl, cohesion and displacement.

The presentation of the 2009 Philip Meyer Journalism Awards will take place at the 2010 CAR Conference in Phoenix. The awards recognize the best uses of social research methods in journalism and are named in honor of Philip Meyer, author of "Precision Journalism" and retired Knight Chair in Journalism at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Don't forget to enter your best work by Oct. 31, 2009.

By Matt Wynn, The Arizona Republic

Come early or stay later on Sunday and see how your favorite team is coming together for the season at one of the nearby stadiums in the Cactus League.

Every March, 15 teams roll into Arizona and Cactus League turns Phoenix into a baseball theme park. Skies are blue, the weather is perfect, tickets are cheap and beer is cheaper. The stadiums are small and intimate, and run the gamut from small-town folksy, like the Oakland A's Phoenix Municipal Park, to sprawling two-team training facilities, like the Peoria sports complex shared by the San Diego Padres and Seattle Mariners. With lawn seats available in most parks, you can almost always sit close enough to hear first base banter or feel the dist from a close hit-and-run.

The games on their own are memorable. But couple that experience with the hundreds of thousands of fans who flock to the Valley for a dose of baseball, and you start to see what Cactus League is really all about. After the games, the fans spill out on the city. Every bar gets a temporary team identity. Every restaurant becomes a tiny version of sports talk radio. Fans prognosticate, analyze, predict and maybe even bet almost everywhere you go. (Note to Josh from Milwaukee: you owe me a beer).

Cactus League is the game as it should be.