Covering meeting tips

ASNE Tips on Covering Meetings

Try as it might, no daily newspaper can stay away from covering meetings. If it has to be done, is there a way to do it better? Maybe. Consider passing these ideas, assembled by Dr. Richard D. Hendrickson of Cleveland’s John Carroll University, along to your reporters:

Prepare. Find out as much as you can beforehand. That means reading the clips, getting the agenda and going over it with the officials. It's better to write the story as an advance, telling readers what's up and what might happen.

Take good notes. Number events in your notebook so you won't lose track of any discussion or action.

Clean up questions. If you can't hear something, or don't understand a discussion, mark that spot in your note book and then go up afterwards to quickly flip through it and ask questions.

List and pick. Afterwards, make a short, one-word list (from the numbered items in your notes) of each thing that happened, then circle or rank those that seem to have priority in terms of interest and impact.

Write for readers. Ask yourself, why is this a story for my readers, what's the point of it, then use that information to compose a lead. Try for a future angle, telling readers what is going to happen in the future as a result of the decisions.