COVERING MEETINGS

& SPEECHES

Covering Meetings
A story is inadequate if it offers nothing but
basic facts from an event or about an
event.
Do not just offer basic facts such as when
the event took place, who spoke, the name
of the speech or presentation, where the
event took place, why the event was
presented, and how the event was
assembled. Most of these details can be
included, but as part of a themed story.

Covering Meetings
Theres no need to write long stories on
boring meetings. File information on
breaking news and then follow up with
focused news features on individual
aspects of the meetings.
Dont feel compelled to files stories if
nothing occurs at a faculty senate or tree
commission meeting. Nobody wants to
read that.
Can brief events if very little takes place.

Covering Meetings
Find a way to make the meeting part of
a larger story. The meeting supplies part
of the story, not all of it.
For example, if an author comes to town
you can focus on aspects of this
persons writing instead of just writing
what he said.

Covering Meetings
If someone wants money to build
something, go to the location and see
how that construction would affect the
neighborhood. Interview locals. Dont
rely on a bunch of people in a meeting
to tell you what is going on.

Covering Meetings
You are not there to sell an event. Leave
that to the PR people. Dont run stories
for the sources.

Covering Meetings
Nobody wants to read stories on how
people organized events or ran
meetings.

Before the event

Do some reporting before covering a speech.
That way, you can cover the event on deadline.
Check clippings in the office and call some potential
sources about the subject materials.
Look for research on this topic by checking sites and
publications online and/or by calling experts in the
community. You could call somebody at a local art
gallery concerning the styles typically offered by
Spanish artists. A specific question like this can
yield great insights and respect from the person
interviewed.

Before the event

Find out what people would like to know about
this event. Ask friends and classmates what
they would like to know about mosquitoes. Or
about Spanish artists.

Before the event

Arrive early so you can speak to the presenter.
If he is busy, ask if you can spend 10 to 15
minutes asking questions afterward. Introduce
yourself as a reporter for the Daily Eastern
News.

During the event

Get a copy of all handouts.
Take notes about anything the speaker says
these can be used as direct and indirect quotes.
Count people attending.
Measure audience reaction on specific points.
Record questions by individuals. Make sure you
get their names before they leave.

During the event

Listen for things that are NEW, IMPORTANT,
UNUSUAL.
Listen for the issues that illustrate the struggles
and drama faced by those involved with
complaints.
Listen for themes that you can use as a LEAD
for your story.
Dont settle for a one-liner or metaphor to
characterize the speech.

During the event

Find one person to write about at a meeting.
Make the event part of the story on someone
who is interesting. The organizer of a sausage
festival that hates sausages for example.
Listen for stories that you can use as well to
illustrate some points.
Record the specific
details. Was it a small turtle or an eight-inch
box turtle? Where on the coast did he go? Cite
the specific town or beach.

During the event

Speak with audience members who posed
questions.
Ask follow-up questions regarding comments
made during the presentation.

After the event

Tell stories. In other words, SHOW, dont
just tell. Dont describe boring details
about how the meeting.
There is no need to narratively and
sequentially explain what happened at a
boring meeting. Just cite the highlights.
Find the interesting story behind the
meeting by making connections and some
additional reporting.

After the event

Call other experts in the field other artists,
entomologists, marine biologists, political
leaders. Ask them to respond to the ideas
presented by this speaker. You can write
this as straightforward news or as a feature
where you experiment with the lead by
offering narrative or some other technique.
This works especially well for precedes
when you have more time.

After the event

You are the eyes and ears of your
readers who cannot attend meetings.
Write about whats most relevant and
interesting from these meetings.
Give readers only newsworthy material.

Speech leads
With a call to charity from author Stephen
King, approximately 625 Vassar students
became Vassar graduates on Sunday.
Calling himself ''America's Boogeyman,''
King presented a political yet humorous
commentary on today's world, concluding
with a call to those present to match his
donation of $20,000 to Dutchess Outreach,
a charitable organization located in
Poughkeepsie.
''I want you to consider making your life
one long gift to others,'' King said.

Lead contd
King, whose two sons attended Vassar, is
perhaps best known for his suspense novels
and the blockbuster movies adapted from
them including ''Carrie,'' "The Shining" and
''Misery.' (brief background)
Many in the audience were inspired to make
donations, which totaled more than $2,000
by the end of the ceremony. The Vassar
administration expected further donations.

Times version
POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. Most graduation ceremonies
mention the importance of service to others, but the
writer Stephen King turned the ideal into action today at
Vassar College's 137th commencement.
In a speech in which he focused on the 624
graduates' mortality and acknowledged "casting gloom,
even the pall of death, on what should be a joyous and
wonderful day," Mr. King, who was badly injured when
he was struck by a minivan in 1999 while on a walk in
Maine, noted that he had learned, "You can't take it with
you." So as an example to the graduates and in their
name, he said he was donating $20,000 to a charity that
serves the homeless, the hungry and those with H.I.V.

As his audience nodded,Mr. King, whose sons, Joe and Owen,

areboth Vassargraduates,
evokeda characteristically
creepy
pictureof a happy family eating friedchicken and cakein their
backyard as hungrymen, women and children watch silently
frombehind a fence. The backyard, Mr. King said,was
America, n
ad the starvi
ng people werethe restof the world.
He askedthe graduates
and their familiesto remem
ber this
vision as they satdown to celebratoryluncheons, andto
contributeto the samelocal charitythat he wasgiving to,
DutchessOutreach.
The new graduates'
classgift nearly$17,000 from
themselves
and an alumnus for laptop computersin the library
is the largestin Vassar'shistory,andafterMr. King'sremarks,
$20 bills and personal checksfor Dutchess Outreach were
piling up in a cardboardbox.

Stewart lead
Sometimes, the best thing to do is
to get out of the way and to lead a
good speaker speak directly to
your readers in a story.

Twenty years afte

r he received his undergraduate degree from theCollege
of William and Mary, nat
ionally known comedian Jon Stewart returned to
his alma mater withsome serious advice for 2004 graduates.
Today is the day you enterthe real world, and sho
I uld give you a few
pointerson what it is,saidStewart,a member of the Classof 1984and
host a
nd executive producer of ComedyCentralsfake newscast The
Daily Showwith Jon Ste
wart.Itsactually not that different from the
environment here.
The biggestdifference is you will now be paying for things,and the real
world is no
t surrounded by a three-foot brick wall,he joked. And the
real world is not a restoration. If you see people in thereal world making
bricks from straw and
water, hose
t
people aren
t Colonial re-enactors.
They are poor. Help them.
Roughly 13,000 people packed intoWilliam and Mary Hall to see Stewa
rt,
who hasbecome a cultural icon whenit comes topolitical satire and
projecting comical criticism on everyone from membersof the mediato
world leaders.

Stewart did not dis

appoint an enthusias
tic crowd.
I know here
t
weresome parents thatwere concerned about my speech
heretonight, a
nd I want to assure you that youwill not hear any language
that isnot common at, say, a dock workers union meeting, or a Tourretts
convention ora profanity seminar. Restassured,said Ste
wart, who joined
thedistinguished ranksof Thomas Jefferson,James Madison, HarryTruman
andMargaret Thatcher whenhe received an honorary degree.
When Ithink back to the people who have been in this position before
me, from Benjamin Franklin to QueenNoor of Jordan, I cant help but
wonder w
hat has happened to this place. Seriously. It saddensme. As a
person
, I am honored to get it; as an alumnus, I have to say Ibelieve we
can do better,said Stewart, poking fun athimself.But it has always een
b
a dream of mine to receive adoctorate, and to know that today, without
putting in any effort, I will. Itsincredibly gratifying.

However,most ofthe comedians speech focused onthe stars ofSundays

event the 2,033 graduatesof William and Mary.
"Whenyou are in college itsvery clear what you have to do to succeed,
Stewart said. "AndI imagine everyone here knew exactly how manymore
credits they needed to graduate, whereto buckle down.But the
unfortunate, yet truly exciting thing about life is there is no core
curriculum. The enti
re place is an elective."
He added, College is something you complete. Life is something you
experience. So dontworry about your grade, or the results or success.
Love what you do. Get good at it.
In recognition of his remarkable list of accomplishmentsin the
entertainmentworld, Stewartwas awarded an hono
rary doctorate ofarts
from William and Mary President Timothy J. Sullivan, who also introduced
the host
of graduation.