Rebecca TaylorSiena College

Pitch Perfect

BEA IGNITE

Pitch Perfect

Rebecca Taylor, J.D.

Siena College

BEA, Spring 2015

Call for Stories

• Have each student bring 3 story ideas to class

• If anyone else has the same story, they won’t receive

credit – so have a back up

What makes a story?

• Think timeliness

• The difference between a story and a topic

• Events, Press Conferences, Trends, Advances, Profiles,

Look-Backs, Kickers

Prominence Proximity Impact

Conflict Relevance

News Values

Let’s Pitch …

• Develop a single-sentence synopisis

• Clarity

• Comprehensive understanding of story

• Confidence

• Prepare for rejection

Expect questions …

• Audio / Visual elements

• Who will you interview?

• What video can you get?

• Live Shots

• Where can reporter go live?

• Distinguish from competition

• How will story/coverage be better than competition

Selling Points

• Team Coverage?

• Exclusive elements

• Interview

• Live locale

• Video / pics

4/11/2015

8

Just for freelancers …

• Pitch your story to multiple outlets

• Know your publication / outlet

• Get permission

Team Assignment

• Student ND conducts story meeting

• Students pitch one story at a time

• ND and others candidly evaluate story

• ND selects top 1/3 of stories for possible coverage

• Team ranks stories in order of importance

• They pit their potential rundown against other team

Selecting Winners

• Students and prof identify top ½ of stories among those

selected between 2 teams