50 tips for running an effective news meeting

Created on Monday, 12 September 2011

Published on Monday, 12 September 2011

Written by David Brewer

  

Have you ever attended a dull news meeting where people are slouched on chairs, lacking ideas and unresponsive when called on?

Sure, we all have. Well, never again.

Here are 50 tips for running a stimulating news meeting that should help guarantee a steady stream of original stories.

You will need to have a clear idea of the outcome you want, but you will also need to encourage participation from every member of staff.

There should be no hiding places, no scapegoats and no favourites.

There needs to be a sense that every news meeting will unearth several news story idea in the category of "had it not been for you the world would never have known."

Your staff need to know that it's not worth turning up if they don't have original ideas to contribute.

So, here are some tips for running an effective news meeting.  Please add any of your own tips and suggestions in the comments box at the end of the article)

Tell staff not to bother turning up for the news meeting if they don't have original ideas

50 tips for a successful news meeting

1: Attention

Meet standing up or sitting on hard seats, not slouching on sofas.

2: Punctuality

Be punctual and start on time, even if all have not arrived.

3: Urgency

Create a sense of urgency and set a time limit for the meeting.

4: Pace

Keep things moving and avoid silences by injecting your own ideas.

5: Vision

Have a clear outline of what you think the news day should look like before you start the meeting.

6: Preparation

Encourage staff to read in (their own site/publication and the competition) before the meeting. They should not be catching up with what has already happened during the news meeting.

7: Alert

All attending should be totally across what you and your competition are covering and should have already thought through the next steps in the story AND come up with some original angles to explore.

8: Expectations

Ensure staff realise that they are expected to find news, not be given it on a plate. If you run a new meeting like a soup kitchen, where staff will be spoon-fed and given hand outs (news releases to rewrite) at the end, you will reduce expectations.

9: Distractions

Ban texting or phone calls (unless they are to do with an ongoing news story) during the meeting. Those attending should give it their full attention.

10: Discipline

Discourage private conversations during the meeting; if someone has something to say ensure they address the whole group.

11: Competition

You need to instill a sense of competitiveness in the meeting. People should be fighting to get their ideas accepted.

12: Clarity

Speak loud and clear, don’t drone. You need to make sure you are understood and that those contributing are, too.

13: Humour

Use humour where possible without trivialising the seriousness of the task in hand. Journalism should be fun as well as deadly serious.

14: Enjoyable

Make sure the meetings are enjoyable; they set the tone for the day. The meeting should motivate staff.

15: Participation

Generate an atmosphere of participation rather than one where people want to hide. This is best achieved by asking people how the news should develop rather than reading out a long, boring list of events that everyone is already covering.

16: Recap

At the end of the meeting be sure to recap on the top ongoing stories and how they are to be developed. It's easy for a busy meeting to become confusing. When it ends staff need to know what is expected.

17: Planning

Be across the day's prospects and planning diary and have copies printed out for all staff. However make it clear that forward planning is about setting out an editorial differential and not about making sure that stage-managed events are covered.

18: Review

Spend five minutes asking what could have gone better on the last shift. Don't dwell on issues, but make sure that mistakes are corrected and your output continues to improve.

19: Congratulations

Mention where your news team beat the opposition the previous day, try to pinpoint why and celebrate success. A bit of punching the air does no harm.

20: Praise

Make sure you praise what was done well, not just the correspondent but the camera crew, the photographers, the producers and the editors. Blowing your team's trumpet for them is a great motivator.

21: Recognition

Show you understand the difficulties of newsgathering and what your team went through to produce the previous output. Most editors will have worked in the field; it's important your staff know you appreciate the issues they face in doing their jobs.

22: Teamwork

Create a sense that it is a team effort and everyone needs each other. Where there has been noticeable collaboration, say so and help others realise that, by working together, the quality of output will improve.

23: Responsibility

Encourage shared responsibility for all output. You are as strong as the weakest member of the team and everyone needs to support one another.

24: Respect

Never criticise a member of staff in front of his or her peers. If you have an issue with someone have a word with them later. Respect that there may be factors that you are unaware of and be sure to take time to understand why problems happened.

25: Correction

You have a responsibility to follow up on mistakes for the sake of those who made them and those who were affected by them, but always tackle failures in a separate meeting; they are not always best dealt with in the daily news meeting.

26: Offline

Don’t waste time with conversations that can be dealt with after the meeting. Make it clear what can be discussed in the news meeting and what should be dealt with offline.

27: Follow up

Allow time for brief one-to-one chats after the meeting ends if staff are unclear. Some may feel uncomfortable asking for clarification in public. Set aside 15 mins after the meeting for anyone who needs extra briefing.

28: Improve

Your news team needs to feel that every meeting will be an advancement. Instill a culture of daily improvement and advancement. Ensure everyone learns from every mistake and set action points for improvements.

29: Sensitivity

Very few staff operate to 100% capacity for every minute of every shift. Recognise that and don’t try to be smart, it will reduce the likelihood of fresh ideas.

30: Understanding

Don’t try to belittle people and make them shrink

31: Encouragement

Draw the best out of people and make them great

32: Inclusiveness

Encourage participation, welcome all ideas and don’t mock any. Some great ideas are often poorly presented at first.

33: Awareness

The news meeting isn't a sermon. It's about you drawing on the skills and the knowledge of the team you have hired in order to deliver a compelling news offering. Make sure you bring the quiet ones into the conversation, they may have the most to offer.

34: Ideas

Ensure that everyone realises that the news meeting is about ideas, not about prospects and diary dates. Always start by asking what ideas people have for new angles to existing stories.

35: Exclusives

Ask them what exclusive stories they are working on. As stated earlier, they should all be working on stories that 'had it not been for them, the world would never have known.'  Your job is to help them develop those ideas.

36: Investigations

Ask them what stories they would like to be able to work on. Check our module on 24 tips for journalistic productivity.

37: New angles

You need to come to the meeting with your own idea of what the day's news output could look like. You will have thought through at least one new angle for all the main stories. If it goes quiet, and it shouldn't if you follow the 36 steps above, you may need to stimulate the debate by offering some new angles.

38: Setting priorities

Ensure all understand the agreed priorities for the day and that all work towards realising them.

39: Clarifying roles

Ensure all understand their roles and responsibilities. You may know what you want people to do, but those you expect to perform may not. Clarification immediately after the meeting can save problems later.

40: Multiple perspectives

Don’t allow anyone to hog the conversation. You will have recruited a diverse news team, and you need to reflect that diversity in all output.

41: Inclusiveness

Don’t allow any hiding places. Ensure you picking a room for your news meeting where you can see everyone and everyone can see.

42: Time management

Avoid dwelling on an item too long, people get bored and if your journalists get bored your audience is unlikely to find it interesting either.

43: Decisiveness

Ensure decisions are made and move on. A whiteboard is always good for writing down agreed points.

44: Deliverables

Ensure that everyone knows what they need to deliver and when. Everyone needs to know their part in the production process, particularly the dependencies where their failure could cause difficulties for others.

45: Agreement

End with a sense that all key issues were tackled and resolved, even if some have to be taken offline for further clarification. You need to make clear what will happen in order to remove any uncertainty.

46: Complete

Don’t end a meeting with loads of loose ends. If you do staff will be confused. They need to leave the meeting and go straight to work.

47: Summary

Sum up at the end with a clear outline of how you expect the day ahead to develop.

48: Leadership

Leave the impression that you are in charge, but that everyone is needed and that you are flexible, listening, understanding and able to change direction if news priorities change.

49: Follow up

If necessary, set a time for a quick follow-up progress meeting later in the day.

50: Thank you

End the meeting by thanking everyone for taking part – and mean it.

Your turn

Please feel free to add comments below to add to these or to rubbish them. Open debate is welcome.

 

  

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