What makes a speech or meeting story interesting? How can a writer prepare?

Blog 8: What makes a speech or meeting story interesting? How can a writer prepare?

A speech or meeting story is interesting because to the people in the community, and to the subject, this story is the most important item in the newspaper, radio, or television report of the day. All speech and meeting stories require careful reporting and writing. Covering speech and meeting stories have a lot of technical questions and thoughts. You may want to use a video camera, recorder, or digital camera to help cover the story. You must think visuals, sound, and light.

To prepare for speech and meeting stories you must review previous stories on the subject and to check online for any important information pertaining to the subject and topic. A backgrounder on the speaker is very important to do and will make writing the story that much easier. Some speeches won’t require as much background research as others, as long as you are well informed on the speaker and subject. What’s important with this type of story is to be as well prepared as you can. Sometimes you won’t have enough time to do background information before the speech so you may have to wait until after the speech to do that. You must be able to identify the speaker correctly. Middle initials are important. Messing up the name or address or any other information on the speaker will harm your reputation and credibility. Preparing for a news conference story is similar to a speech story on the basis that you must know the speaker and his/her background and why the news conference is happening. In preparing for meeting stories you must know who the people are that are holding the meeting and why they are there for the meeting. You may have to contact some of the key people to find out why they are meeting. You then must study the issues before arriving to be knowledgeable on the matter before you listen to what the people have to say in the meeting.