Q&A: Bloomberg's Francine Lacqua at the World Economic Forum

Francine Lacqua, host of Bloomberg's "On the Move with Francine Lacqua", is currently on the ground in Davos, Switzerland, at the site of the World Economic Forum, an annual gathering of heads of state, business leaders and economists which opened today.

Bloomberg Television is presenting over ten hours of live daily coverage from the event. We caught up with Lacqua to hear her approach to covering conferences and her top tips for other journalists.

How do you approach a day at a conference - how do you prioritise what to cover?

It's essential to prioritise, and that's why we constantly need to exercise news judgment. Good news judgment is what turns a good journalist into an excellent journalist. I think there are two golden rules when covering a conference:

1. Always keep your eyes peeled, and always be on the look-out for a great story. You never know what you may hear, or where your next story is coming from. It could be a taxi driver talking about something he heard about the conference, or it could be a CEO who says something surprising and unusual. Always be on the look-out!

2. Have a very clear idea in your head on who the three biggest newsmakers are. That's an easy way to prioritise. If President Obama is speaking at a conference at the same time as a CEO from a small company, I'd want to be where President Obama is. He makes for bigger news.

What are the types of stories you expect and most often get out of business related conferences?

If you cover a business related conference it's important to never lose track of what the big economic story of the week/or month is. If it's oil prices sky-rocketing, get some reactions on that from newsmakers. If the big story is on possible Euro countries defaulting, then you want comments on that. If you have someone who is respected in their field, such as an economics Nobel Prize winner, then anything they say on world growth, or oil, or whatever the big story is will likely make news.

As a journalist what platforms do you use to report on from conferences, and what will you be using in Davos?

At Bloomberg we really believe in multimedia. So I have a morning show, then I might do some radio with some of the other anchors, and I always try and tweet about our biggest interviews. You can follow me at @flacqua. For Davos, Bloomberg.com has a special site dedicated to breaking news and coverage of the event.

What would your top tips be for journalists on how to get exclusive angles and how to bring conference reporting to life?

My top tip would be to enjoy what you do. Being a journalist is fun, and you should enjoy speaking to participants and delegates. The more relaxed and researched your questions are, the more you get out of people. It's amazing what people will tell you sometimes. Be curious, ask questions and challenge the pre-conceived ideas that deep down you know aren't right

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