The Morning Meeting

Doug Drew talks about the Morning Meeting in today's Shoptalk newsletter:


One of the most important parts of a successful newscast occurs hours before the show. Maybe as much as 8 hours before the show! It's the morning meeting. A good morning meeting usually leads to interesting, content rich newscasts later in the day.

What to bring to the morning meeting

Each station organizes and formats it's morning meeting differently, but there is one thing all have in common: EVERYONE who attends should bring AT LEAST one story idea with them. Two is better, three is the best. You get the idea! And these should not be "pie in the sky" ideas. These should be stories you could turn today, for tonight's newscasts. Realistic stories that can be produced with the staff you have that day.

This is NOT a meeting where you sit and listen and write down lists of stories that will be covered that day as announced by the assignment editor. The BEST morning meetings are brainstorming sessions. You can't have a brainstorming session unless each person in the meeting shares ideas.

And don't clam up in disgust if no one in the room likes your idea. News people are hard to please and are often quick to shut down others' ideas. I don't know why that is, but it's true. Even if they don't have their own ideas, many news people are quick to criticize others. News people are naturally skeptical. So, don't give up easily if you get shot down, and if you aren't successful that's why you need a few other ideas. Also, don't expect to be able to do your idea THAT DAY. It may be a great story, but if it doesn't fit the mix of what's needed that day, maybe it's a story for another day.

Come in a good mood

The morning meeting should be fun. In fact, the best meetings start off with a general discussion of the hot topics. If it's a Monday morning, talk about what movies you saw over the weekend and ask others what they saw. If there was a big sporting event or concert over the weekend, talk about that event and if there are any follow ups. These kinds of topics get everyone "talking,'" and often lead to great ideas. If there was a concert, and you saw ticket scalpers standing outside, maybe there's a story about scalpers.

If you come to the meeting grumpy or unhappy, it brings others down. Come in with ideas that you are passionate about and sell them.

Participate

Another key to a successful morning meeting is if everyone is open and willing to discuss the ideas at hand. A quiet room does not produce good ideas. Don't be afraid to speak up. Share your thoughts. The news management will appreciate this. Even if you are just an intern. Pipe up! You are part of the demographic that station is trying to reach. Your ideas are important! Your ideas represent a portion of the audience that the news department is trying to reach.

So, what's expected?

It's pretty simple. If you ask most news directors what they'd like out of the people in the morning meeting they'd probably say:

People in a good mood
People who bring in story ideas
People who participate in the discussion
That's it. That's all it takes. If you currently attend the morning meetings, ask yourself if you can answer YES to all of those. And for people who don't normally come into the meeting because they are intimidated or just don't think it's important for them to be there, realize that those three things are all that's needed. If you can do those three things, news management would love to have you attend and the newscasts that day will be better because you were there!

Doug Drew is a morning news specialist who does reporter and producer seminars for 602 Communications. If you have an idea, suggestion or question, you can send them to Doug at ddrew@602communications, or send them along to me at Tom@TVSPY.COM.