SPEECHES AND MEETINGS

1
SPEECHES AND MEETINGS
2
Common Coverage Scenarios

• Speeches and meetings are two common sources for
  everyday news stories and coverage.
• Newspapers often publish two stories about major
  speeches and meetings an advance story before
  the speech or meeting and a follow story, which
  reports on the speech or meeting itself.

3
Advance Stories

• Advance stories or advancers alert readers,
  listeners or viewers to upcoming events they may
  want to attend, support, oppose, or at least pay
  attention to because they may affect them.
• Most advance stories are published the same day a
  speech or meeting is announced, or shortly
  thereafter.
• As a reminder to their audiences, news
  organizations may publish a second advance story
  a day or two before the speech or meeting occurs.

4
Advancers

• Advance stories are usually fairly brief,
  emphasizing the basic facts of what will
  happen, when and where it will happen, and who
  will be involved.
• The leads for these stories should stress what is
  important or unusual, not just the fact that
  someone has scheduled a speech or meeting.

5
Follow Stories

• Follow Stories or Covering a Speech or
  Meetingcovering these effectively requires
  perfecting some basic reporting skills advance
  preparation, sound news judgment, accuracy, an
  ear for interesting quotations and an eye for
  compelling details.
• Follow stories are published or broadcast after
  speeches or meetings, reporting on those events
  in detail. Therefore, they are much longer than
  advance stories. They are also harder to
  write.

6
Tips on covering speeches/meetings

• Arrive early and find a seat that will allow you
  to hear and see as much as possible
• Introduce yourself, either before or after, to
  the speakers and participants, if you have not
  met them before
• Take detailed notesto help you recall and
  understand what was said or done
• Bring a tape or digital recorder to ensure
  accuracy
• As you listen to a speech or meeting, try to
  think of groups or individuals who might have
  different points of view or who might be affected
  by actions taken. And then try to speak to these
  individuals or groups later so you provide
  readers or viewers with as complete a news story
  as possible (and as balanced as possible)

7
Writing Meeting and Speech Articles

• It is important to identify a central point.
  What is most newsworthy about the speech or
  meeting you are covering?
• There may be multiple newsworthy points to come
  out, so the reporter needs to organize the story
  so the most important topic is mention and
  covered first, in the lead. Or have a compound
  lead mentioning two or three important topics.
• Also, you can summarize the major topic, then
  after a brief transition, use bullet points to
  hit on the other key things that came out of the
  speech or meeting.

8
Leads, as always very important

• Writing effective leads avoid leads that are so
  broad or general that they contain no news. See
  examples on page 316.
• After the lead, organize the story in inverted
  pyramid fashion, not according to the order in
  which statements were made or topics considered.

9
More Tips

• Vary the location of the attribution in direct
  and indirect quotes, so that the story does not
  become monotonous.
• Provide transitions from one topic to another
• Avoid generalities and eliminate or explain
  jargon or technical terms.

10
And finally

• Check controversial or questionable facts or
  assertions and give any person who has been
  attacked in the speech or meeting an opportunity
  to respond.
• Include color in speech or meeting stories by
  providing direct quotations and descriptions of
  speakers, participants, settings and audience
  responses.
• See also tips for covering speeches and meetings
  on page 322