Better Meetings Make Better Stories
6 tips on how to make communication team meetings turn out more compelling copy
Nearly two-thirds of internal communicators say meetings take up most of their time, a recent survey found. No wonder that 49% say a lack of time is one of their biggest barriers to success.
William Shawn, the editor of The New Yorker for 35 years, might have shook his head at the survey, by the consulting arm of insurance brokerage Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., released Feb. 25, 2025,
He directed the magazine toward ground-breaking journalism by overseeing reports such as John Hersey’s “Hiroshima,” Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring,” and James Baldwin’s “The Fire Next Time.”
During his tenure, which ended unceremoniously in 1987, he also promoted the careers of writers such as J.D. Salinger, John Updike and the poet Elizabeth Bishop. He died in 1992.
Shawn never held an editorial meeting to determine what the magazine should be covering. The survey and the magazine’s 100th anniversary remind me about his unusual management style.
His distaste for staff meetings was driven by his strong vision for the publication and also by his quirky, deeply shy personality. But it also may have been a recognition that many meetings are a waste of time, as recent research has found.
How do you make your news meetings more efficient? Make your editorial process more effective.
Good meetings are the result of the work done before and after the meeting. That work in turn will produce more compelling stories.
The secret to editing is planning, thinking about stories and talking to writers before any writing begins. We have six tips on how to hold better comms’ team meetings, starting with changes to the editorial process. These tips are helpful to both internal and external communications teams.
1. The news leader. Most of the work before the news meeting should be done by someone who functions as a managing editor, who moves copy through the system, managing the process from story assignment to problem solving, approvals and publication. That person must have authority to green light stories, reporting to someone who serves as an executive editor.
Executive editors have the final say on content before it goes out the door. They have the ear of leaders, who trust them to make the right call.
2. Set editorial guidelines. Many communicators are caught in the order-taker trap because they haven’t defined what makes a newsworthy story for their organization. As a result, they have no principled way to tell an internal client why something isn’t a story.
“Editorial guidelines give you a framework for making these decisions: This is our audience, what they care about and want to learn from us,” we’ve written.
Those guidelines will also cut down on a lot of aimless discussions during meetings.
3. Talk to your writers. The managing editor should start every week with individual conversations about the week ahead: Why are the stories they’re working on newsworthy? What else do they have?
While Shawn didn’t hold editorial meetings, he communicated his vision by talking with writers, editors and assistants individually or two at a time.
“Talking about a story before a word is written saves time and creates better stories,” we wrote last year in, “9 Tips on How to Coach Writers.”
4. Use story memos. Out of that weekly discussion, the writers should prepare a story or pitch memo with a first draft of a headline, first sentence, as well as suggested graphic and photo ideas. Maybe an additional sentence summarizing the story.
“Ask the writer to suggest ways of reporting and writing the story. If your idea turns out to be the writer’s idea, then you’re ahead of the game,” according to Donald Murray, who was a Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial writer and writing coach. If the writer’s idea is better, you’re way ahead.”
The memo takes enough reporting to know you have a story. Identify what must be done and what would be nice to have to make the story stand out.
The memo should also include a short list of stories coming up: Not a complete pitch, but a sentence or two with a note about timing. Special projects should get their own memo.
Here’s when stories should get the traffic light treatment: Green, yellow or red.
5. Prepare the story budget. Only the managing editor should put stories on the story budget. Only stories with solid pitch memos are put on the budget.
A list of thought-out stories focuses the discussion at news meetings: What’s the best way to tell the story? What images or graphics do we need? Is it better suited to social media or a post on the website? How can we make the story better? What’s the best timing?
6. Three, not one. Don’t try to do everything in one meeting. We recommend three news meetings spread out over the month. It may seem counterintuitive, but three meetings can be more efficient than one. Ragan Consulting Group Cofounder Jim Ylisela has outlined in detail how the three meetings work.
Monthly meeting. A big-picture, brainstorming meeting. Review special projects. Look ahead. Plan.
Weekly meeting. Review your story budget for the upcoming week. Are special projects in the mix? Fine-tune stories and make adjustments. Take a moment to ask: What should we be covering?
Daily meeting. A quick meeting to focus on what we are publishing today. Any last-minute changes? What are news media outlets reporting? What are we doing on social media?
Shawn’s experience may seem far removed from the day-to-day work of many comms teams, who are pressed for time and often must push out stories that could be better. But he could sympathize.
In 1979, he told The New York Times, “Falling short of perfection is a process that just never stops.”
Tom Corfman learned about editorial process as a reporter with the Chicago Tribune and an assistant managing editor with Crain’s Chicago Business. He helps organizations set up brand journalism programs at Ragan Consulting Group, where he’s a senior consultant.
Contact our client team to learn more about how we can help you with your communications. Follow RCG on LinkedIn and subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.
