Editorial

“EDITORIAL BRIEFINGS”

If the opportunity to meet with a publication’s editorial department avails itself to you, you must be prepared to take advantage of the situation.

Prior to meeting with a publication’s editorial staff, you should help to prepare them for the topics you wish to discuss by sending them materials in advance of the meeting. These materials will help them to better understand your area of expertise and the relevance that your information has on current news stories or industry performance. This preparation prior to your meeting is very important because of the fact that many topics are multi-faceted and therefore become very difficult to cover in a manageable time period.

An important aspect of your meeting is to keep your presentation of materials and insights as short as possible. It is very easy to lose effectiveness if you talk too long while presenting your topics or if you fail to give the reporter or editor time to ask questions.

Depending on the knowledge of the reporters or editors, the topics to be affected can either be listed or discussed. At this point, ask what the editors want to know, what they expect, or what will be helpful to them. They will appreciate your willingness to communicate.

Some important items to remember when participating in an editorial meeting are:

Take a low-key approach.
Be conservative.
Give the reporter time to settle in.
Initially, approach your subject on a non-technical level.
Identify the editor’s specific area of interest and expand upon that particular topic.

The order of progression in a meeting of this type is also very important. First of all, state why you are there. Next, try to establish a dialogue and make sure that you listen carefully to those with whom you are meeting when they contribute to the discussion. Remember the common issue that we have stressed in this series of articles is communication and establishing relationships.

Some definite items to avoid:

Don’t point your finger or speak in a loud voice. This can be perceived as very over-bearing.
Don’t interrupt others while they are speaking or take part in a side conversation.
Don’t dominate the entire presentation. Be aware that others are there to be heard and their questions/issues should also be aired.
Don’t answer too quickly. This leaves the impression that you are giving a canned, or staged, presentation. After a question, first give yourself time to think and see if your initial impression of the question’s intent was correct. If you answer too quickly, you may not even address their particular question. Just waiting a second or two before answering helps to avoid the appearance of a canned impression.
Don’t use the phrase “You’ve got to understand…” This phrase sounds very overbearing and can give the wrong impression.
Don’t tape editorial meetings.
Don’t be late for editorial meetings.

Remember, newspaper and periodical journalists are very busy people who are constantly moving from one story topic to another in a short period of time. Your goal should be to present yourself in a succinct and organized manner. The more prepared and organized you are when dealing with journalists will help you get your information in print.

Next issue, we will focus on working with the television media.

"Working with Television"