BEA Ignite shares the best peer-reviewed enterprise ideas for the classroom. I

1. Rebecca Taylor
Siena College
Pitch Perfect
BEA IGNITE

2. Pitch Perfect
Rebecca Taylor, J.D.
Siena College
BEA, Spring 2015

3. 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

4. What makes a story?
• Think timeliness
• The difference between a story and a topic
• Events, Press Conferences, Trends, Advances, Profiles,
Look-Backs, Kickers

5. Prominence Proximity Impact
Conflict Relevance
News Values

6. Let’s Pitch …
• Develop a single-sentence synopisis
• Clarity
• Comprehensive understanding of story
• Confidence
• Prepare for rejection

7. 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

8. Selling Points
• Team Coverage?
• Exclusive elements
• Interview
• Live locale
• Video / pics
4/11/2015
8

9. Just for freelancers …
• Pitch your story to multiple outlets
• Know your publication / outlet
• Get permission

10. 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

11. Selecting Winners
• Students and prof identify top ½ of stories among those
selected between 2 teams