Tip: Advice for making events a part of your newsroom's engagement strategy

Credit: By Howard Lake on Flickr. Some rights reserved.

For news organisations, events are a valuable way to engage with readers, members or subscribers, as well as establish an additional source of revenue. Newsrooms such as The Bristol Cable and City Bureau in Chicago hold regular meetups with their communities to get members' input on stories, invite them to contribute ideas or teach them reporting skills, and events are usually an important part of many non-profits' engagement strategies.

For this article on Poynter, Kristen Hare spoke with staff members from Gannett's Storytellers Project, Honolulu Civil Beat, Spirited Media and the Texas Tribune, asking them for advice on how to plan and deliver events, as well as how editorial and commercial teams can collaborate to deliver value.

For example Megan Finnerty, founder and director of the Storytellers Project, which combines oral storytelling and journalism in 22 cities, points out that "editorial values should drive all visions and should be able to translate into compelling arguments for sponsors and attendees".

The group also advise going beyond panel discussions to explore essay readings, moderated Q&As, and remembering to send post-event surveys to gauge the impact on the audience.

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