This guide was created as the final project for the Poynter-Koch Media and Journalism Fellowship in 2024. It’s meant to help guide reporters, newsrooms and anyone who comes across it to better visualize what they might need to carry out a meeting, community listening session or event.
HOW TO:ENGAGEMENTremember!
remember!
You do not need to check all the boxes in this guide to host a successful and/or productive meeting, gathering, panel or event.
This guide is that, a guide. It’s a general, non-personalized list to help inspire you and visualize what you want/need when you want to engage socially, in community.
Have questions? Want to chat about a specific point in this guide? Feel free to reach out and let me know your thoughts! (Scroll down for contact box, thanks!)
First, let’s take it back to the building blocks: THE 5 W’S
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Who do you want to meet with?
Who do you want to reach?
Who is the “audience” for this engagement opportunity?
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What do you want to talk about?
What do you want to present?
What do you (hopefully) want to hear from your audience?
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When do you want your audietce to stop doing what they’re doing and meet you?
Engagement does require some investment (time, planning, effort) on both sides – the people you are trying to reach and your own.
When are people off work?
When can single, working, stay-at-home parents or caretakers afford to divert their attention from their families to you?
Do young adults in your community prefer to meet sometime on Saturdays or prefer to meet you on a workday evening?
Who LIVES in your community, and WHEN could they meet you?
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Is your community, the “audience” you are trying to reach, familiar with the location?
Are you comfortable, safe, approved and authorized to meet in that location?
If gathering online, how can you best reach your audience? Through live social media videos? A more structured online panel? Or an online poll, for or forum without the livestreaming component?
What type of software do you have access to and/or can you best use with your audience?
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Two angles:
Why are you doing this?
Are you trying to better inform a story? Or plan a future story or series?
Do you just want to touch base and get the feel of the community’s perspective about a topic?
Are you informing them about something additional, that’s not included in your reporting? Like providing a resource guide, or discussing an update about something you’ve reported about?
Why would your audience respond to your engagement efforts?
What do they gain?
What’s in it for them?
What benefit does participation provide individually and for the community?
Why should they bother spending their time – and make an effort – to talk to you?
Now, let’s figure out how your planning might look like…
How/Where you are meeting with your community and audience.
Are you organizing by yourself or with a group? Are colleagues part of your engagement team?
Interview style chats, small, medium or a large gathering, what do you want to host?
What does your newsroom/workplace provide and what do you have access to.
Sec. 1/4
ONLINE v. IN PERSON
What and how? And with what?
What do you want to host?
Panel, presentation, conversation, committee, poll, form, forum, game night, etc..
How would it be better online than in person?
How can you lead/moderate the conversation remotely?
If you want community input, how can they chime in? Will it be open-mic style or comments/questions be submitted via chat or beforehand?
How will you host your conversation?
Will you record and post or live stream?
If you livestream, are you recording it to later post for others who couldn’t make it?
Is your conversation an open invitation to anyone in the community?
If you do record a session, will those videos be posted and shared publicly for all to access?
Do you need/want to set an agenda? Or an outlined schedule to keep on the side for time-keeping?
Online
Four things to consider: location, scheduling and childcare, refreshments, and access.
LOCATION
Somewhere accessible and safe for you and the people you are meeting with.
Amenities: A/C, a screen and projector, tables, chairs, Wi-Fi
Additional supplies: print-out resource sheets, contact cards, pens and additional supplies, a laptop, presentation slides in a USB/file in case there is no Wi-Fi access, phone/laptop charger for you or anyone who might need it while they meet with you, a notebook for notes
Sign-up sheet: print-out sheet, on a notebook or online on a phone/tablet/laptop? What information would you like to collect or need to reach back to attendees? (name, email, phone number, what city/zip code do they live in, is it ok to reach out to them for a future interview or to chat again?)
Product plug: do you have a newsletter they can subscribe to? Where can they find you and/or your newsroom on social media? If they have a tip, how can they contact you or is there a general email address for your newsroom?
SCHEDULING & CHILDCARE
If you want to meet with parents…
If you want to meet with 9-5 workers…
If you want to meet with early morning, late night or overnight shift workers…
When does it work best – in their schedules – to meet with you?
If you host your event/meeting/chat online, would it be okay to record it and then post for them to access?
If they have children, can they tag along? If so, be clear about that, let it be explicitly known.
If children do attend, could you have a little activity for them to keep them entertained? Coloring sheets and crayons maybe?
If parents/workers cannot make it, how can they contact you later?
REFRESHMENTS
If meeting in person and you are hosting, can you provide snacks and water?
What snacks are easy for you to access and transport to the meeting location?
Whole fruit (not chopped, diced or needing to be cut/peeled), individually packaged granola bars and/or other snacks can be the easiest to transport, buy in bulk affordably and be the most sanitary for all involved.
Consider allergies (i.e. buying bars without nuts, or products without dairy).
Conder perishability (when you buy, if you store it before the event, at the event if you are outdoors/without A/C or food cooling methods).
ACCESS
Who can access the location you are meeting at? How easy is it for others to enter the space?
How well-known and findable is the place?
Parking, stairs, ramps, etc. — How easy is it for people to get there/navigate the space?
Language barriers —Are you providing materials in different languages, providing interpretation/translation or other language services if you are meeting with monolingual, bilingual, multilingual or non-English speaking communities?
In Person
Sec. 2/4
INDIVIDUAL v. TEAM
Engagement is work. It can look like an interview, but there doesn’t have to be a deadline or draft in the works for it to happen. It can be as formal, casual, free-flowing or as planned as you’d like.
You can meet one-on-one with someone just because, to touch base, to ask a couple of context or off-the-record questions to get the feel of the community’s sentiment about a topic.
You can also meet with a small group, help moderate a panel, or organize a small gathering. Whatever works best for you and your community.
What can you do within your work schedule to engage with your community?
Are there stories or tasks you can plan ahead so you can make time in your schedule?
Where can you meet (online or in person) that you and your community will feel safe?
Is the meeting location a spot where you can all hear each other well? With little to minimal distractions?
What do YOU need to host the meeting to your liking? What do you need to be comfortable to lead/moderate the conversation?
Organizing Individually
Find your advocates, who know the community and/or has a pull to help your audience attend your event.
Are there people in your newsroom who could benefit and help from contributing to a community engagement session?
Or a local organization already planning something that you could contribute to or join?
COLLEAGUES
What other beats are colleagues reporting on in your newsroom? Is there a story or topic they are reporting on that relates to yours? Could their reporting benefit if they collaborate with you?
Could you and your colleagues get overtime (OT) pay if your engagement session is outside your scheduled working hours? Or could you get a morning or afternoon off if you switch hours?
Can your colleagues help encourage your community and/or audience to attend your engagement session?
Have your colleagues done similar community meetings in the past? What was their experience like, and do they have resources to suggest?
COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS
Is there a local organization or community leader(s) who can help introduce you to them and/or assist with your engagement session?
Is there another local newsroom (or local journalists) who would like to collaborate and host a joint engagement session?
Could you/your newsroom volunteer to moderate panels, or have a session segment, stand or table at an event or gathering already planned by a local organization?
Are there local resource/information fairs where your newsroom could get a stand to meet with community members?
Organizing with a Team
TYPE OF MEETING
Sec. 3/4
What type of meeting style could best work for the amount of community members you’d like to engage with? Here are some examples:
ONE-ON-ONE
An off-the-record, catch-up phone call
One-on-one chats at the library, coffee shop, etc.
Meet someone at a community event
SMALL GATHERING
Community listening session at a small venue, meeting room or library
Newsroom chat sessions between reporters and community members (every other month, quarterly, have 10-15 people sign up, could be at your newsroom if you like or another meeting space)
Online chat or mini-forum
MEDIUM AUDIENCE
In-person panel
Casual or formal town hall-style presentation or listening session
Online panel, presentation or seminar-style chat
With a medium/larger crowd, it can be easier to request community questions in advance or via a chat feature to have a flow in conversation and have information to share as answers to those questions by people presenting or yourself.
LARGE CROWD
Online live-streamed panel
Online form, poll or survey
A more structured, in-person community panel at a larger venue like a college’s theater, events space or auditorium where more community members can attend
TIME & RESOURCES
Sec. 4/4
Like a story, community engagement has a beginning, middle and end: the planning, hosting and outcome.
PLANNING
During your working hours. Remember: engagement is (good) work, and can be fun and useful. The engagement session can be during your working hours or later, just be sure to have your schedule changes approved by your supervisors and you get paid the time you work.
What do you need to host, conduct and materialize your engagement session?
Who do you want to reach out to and meet with?
HOSTING
Online or in person? How big of a crowd do you want to address?
How much earlier do you need to be ready and/or arrive at the venue to set up and be prepared before the scheduled start time?
How long will your engagement session be? How much time do you need and want to allocate for community questions? (A tentative schedule/agenda can help keep time and rhythm as the session continues.)
OUTCOME
What now? What can you do with the information/perspective you’ve gathered? Are there stories that can be turned to articles? Is there a service you can further provide to your community?
If you collected attendees’ contact information, will you reach back to them? Will you thank them for attending and/or follow up for an article?
What were the pros and cons for you, internally when organizing, about this engagement session? What can be done better next time?
Time
Resources
Besides organizing your community engagement session, how will you invite your community?
Can you share your invitation, or advertise your event, in newsletters you/your newsroom have?
Can you ask a local partner or organization to please list your event in their newsletter?
Can you write an article before your engagement session/event, about the topic you’d like to chat about, to then promote and invite readers to your chat?
Can your colleagues help spread the word – and invitation – to community members, audiences and readers to your engagement session?
Are there local organizations, institutions, or businesses you could directly email or call to invite? And ask if they could extend the invitation forward to the community members they serve?
Are there local businesses, community message boards or places where you could post flyers/posters with your event details to invite the public?
What your newsroom/workspace provides
Are there already purchased resources you can be approved to use for your engagement session? Like office printers, pens, post-its, pens, markers, clipboards, etc.? If not, could you get reimbursed when buying supplies or could they cover the expense from the start?
Is there software (like online meeting service providers, working or document drafting tools) or hardware (laptops, projectors, tablets) that you could use for/during your engagement session?
Does your newsroom/workspace provide business or contact cards? Could you get some to hand out to people who attend your engagement session?
Does your newsroom/workspace have merchandise? Could you hand out stickers, pens, bookmarks, a little detail with your newsroom/workspace’s name and/or logo on it to extend your presence beyond the engagement session? If none, could you get approved to order stickers – or merch/supplies you deem appropriate – for your engagement sessions?
What your community provides
Are there free, public and/or community meeting spaces you could reserve to host in-person events?
Public libraries can be a great option and usually have a reservation system if they have meeting rooms available.
Are there coffee shops where you could meet with community members and/or advertise your event?
Could your newsroom/workplace partner with interns or volunteers to help host your engagement sessions?
Who is your newsroom or workspace comfortable partnering with? Who would you like to work with to help host an engagement session?
If you want to outsource design materials for your engagement sessions – if there isn’t a designer in your working team/company – is there someone in your community who could help?
If you want to meet with community members in a specific neighborhood, is there a resident who could help organize and/or host? Or a local organization who could help start the conversation between you and a neighborhood’s residents?
Is there an already established education, job, resource or information fair that you could participate in or attend to meet with community members?
Is there a local journalism institute or program – or an academic program related to your profession, if you are reading this and not a journalist – you could partner with to help with your engagement efforts?
FREE RESOURCES (!!!)
Listed below are some free resources to use or consult. PLEASE, KEEP IN MIND:
I’m not getting paid – or get any commissions/earnings – to list or recommend any of these, just a list of tools I’ve used when having to organize in different jobs.
I’m not endorsing any of these sites or tools; I have had to use them multiple times before, they are owned and managed by different companies for which I have not worked for, and ultimately you decide if you’d like to use them.
If you know of another resource not listed that you have liked and/or would like to share, let me know! It could help others who consult this guide, too.
For inspiration
Pinterest
Local events around you
Community billboards at coffee shops, libraries, community centers, etc.
Other newsroom’s events and activities
BUT PLEASE, DO NOT PLAGIARIZE! There are ways to do or host something similarly to others as you see online or in person, it’s always cool to attribute others’ work, and there are ways to adapt and/or modify something you like to work for you/your newsroom without ripping someone else off or appropriating their idea/creation.
Also: partnerships! Could you partner with a local venue or business, or newsroom near you to co-host a gathering?
For presentations + document drafting, storing and sharing
Canva
You can get A LOT done in the free version, and if there is an element or feature you NEED,you can sometimes pay only for what you want/use and not an entire subscription.
Prezi
Online background remover
Powerpoint, Word and Excel / Google Slides, Docs and Sheets / Keynote, Pages and Numbers
Lucidchart (for flowcharts and graphs)
GMail and Google Drive (also gets you Google Hangouts and Google Forms) / Outlook and Office (also gets you Teams) / Dropbox (free version has storage limit)
If you need to create a separate email address and team or public document storing and sharing space.
For online panels, chats, presentations
Zoom (free version has limited features)
Eventbrite (if you want to ticket/keep a registry of people accessing your event and it not be a spreadsheet or printed sign-in page, free version has limited features)
Streamyard (seems to have more features/controls on who presents/speaks during livestreams and presentations, free version has limited features)
For communicating post-engagement
Substack (for newsletters, posts)
Mailchimp by Intuit (to send newsletters and audience details, free version allows up to 500 contacts)
Social media (Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, X/Twitter)
Wordpress and Wix (for website-making, including some blog, communications and newsletter features, yet free version has limited features and cannot personalize domain as freely as you might like. Last I checked, they also included an ad or banner that plugged their own site.)
Do you want to chat about an engagement session you’re planning or thinking of hosting?
Fill out some info and I’ll be in touch shortly — thank you!