newsworthy, today, shutterstock
WHY 80 % OF GOOD STORIES IS ACHIEVED WITH 20 % OF INPUT
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A few days ago a young colleague gave me a strange look, because I turned down “important news” from one of our business partners. As I gave her a long explanation about journalistic standards as justification for this, she listened carefully. I started out by explaining the way we want to interpret meetings industry reality. I then expanded on this by setting out the objectivity and accuracy of reporting that is the ideal of every media. I then spent quite a bit of time explaining that news has to have a direct meaning to the public we are addressing. It is also a key feature to recognize key recent events and forward them to the public in a brief fashion. And on top of all that the text has to be appealing and well put together. I finished off by explaining about the classic PR message, the type that is published by every media against payment – these messages are the ones we get the most.

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My quite broad explanation didn’t quite manage to sink in with her, so by way of experiment we divided the news of the day into five categories that, for easier understanding of editorial logic, I will post later on. What they show is rankings by editorial attraction, rankings that were confirmed on the www.kongres-magazine.eu web portal with measurable readership results.

In understanding these rankings, the key criteria that make newsworthiness that can then be evaluated on a scale of one to five are:

Timing and Novelty
Something genuinely new, that is appealing to worldwide meeting planners and that might affect their decision on organising an event or on the event that has just taken place.

Impact and relevance
The event is fresh and has the power to impact on a meeting planner’s decisions or on the way they think about the world.

Reality and prominence
Real statements from real participants, stakeholders and partners. The results can be from the first, the last, the oldest, the youngest, the biggest…

Importance
Has the event got results that resonate with a local, regional, international or worldwide audience? Such results can have profound consequences.

Public interest
What exactly is in the interest of the public we are addressing? Close events are usually more important than distant ones.

Sometimes we can also spice things up with a bit of conflict, because as human beings we’re naturally interested in conflict. Think about movies – they all have some type of conflict. Drama is built on it!

And we also like an unusual angle, as well as a new twist on an old theme, such as meeting design.

Currently the majority of the ‘news’ is just information and doesn’t have the right elements to form a real meeting ‘story’. That is actually a little bit surprising, because the target audience of meeting planners is very clearly defined, which means we know their habits well and we can get lots of help from online analytics offered to us by Google and many other systems.

Now, getting back to my colleague, lets see how the individual news articles that we received today coped with our new criteria for categorisation:

EXCELLENT NEWS
Newsworthy index: 4,55

LENKA JAROŠOVA APPOINTED TO LEAD THE PRAGUE CONVENTION BUREAU
A woman again heads the Prague Convention Bureau. The organisation’s new Executive Director is Lenka Jarošova.

Lenka Jarošová majored in Travel and Tourism Management at the University of Jan Amos Komensky in Prague. She has industry experience in Sales and MICE from her previous position of Corporate & MICE Sales Manager at Clarion Congress Hotel Prague. She also worked as Business Development Manager in the ZIBA project and Sales Manager at B&B Hotel Prague-City.

VERY GOOD NEWS
Newsworthy index: 4,09

HOTEL KORČULA WILL SOON SHINE IN COMPLETELY NEW SPLENDOR
The former Hotel de la Ville, today know as Hotel Korčula, was built back in 1912, making it the monument tourist tradition of Korčula and the heart of Korčula’s tourist facilities. The hotel made of old stone is reminiscent of the charm of an old Venetian Villa, especially in its very interior. The spacious 150-seat terrace offers a unique view of the Adriatic Sea and the ships passing between the Pelješac peninsula and the island of Korčula, all of which contributes to overall charm of these ‘old beauties’.

GOOD NEWS 

Newsworthy index: 4,00

VISIT ESPOO APPOINT LEOPOLD MARKETING TO DELIVER IN-MARKET REPRESENTATION SERVICES THROUGHOUT EUROPE
Visit Espoo has appointed Leopold Marketing to provide in-market representation throughout Central Europe and the UK to attract MICE business from the corporate and association sectors. The fully retained deal builds on previous activity undertaken by Leopold Marketing in 2014, which saw the agency deliver a pilot marketing campaign promoting Espoo to the UK market.

SATISFACTORY NEWS
Newsworthy index: 3,64

21 METRIC TONNES OF PAPER SAVED AT EVENTS BY USING POKEN
Poken, the Green Event Platform, today announces that over 21 metric tonnes of paper were saved at events in 2014, by replacing paper brochures and business cards with its Poken device.
In 2014 Poken recorded 1.94m instances where people had collected documents digitally using its platform at events, which saved a total of 3.88m pages being printed. The company also recorded 2.18m instances where event visitors used Poken to network and exchange digital business cards, eliminating the need for some 4.5m printed business cards.

UNSATISFACTORY NEWS
Newsworthy index: 3,27

MESSEZENTRUM SALZBURG WILL FULFIL ALL YOUR DESIRES
The Messezentrum Salzburg, with its outstanding accessibility, provided the perfect venue for renowned congresses last year. “Every year we are the event location for over 100 top-class exhibitions, events and congresses,” explains Dipl.-Kfm. Henrik Häcker, CEO of the Messezentrum Salzburg. “For large congresses with up to 5,000 participants, our multifunctional hall and its modern convention area, equipped with excellent event technology, fulfils every desire.” The newest multifunctional hall offers an exhibition area of more than 15,000 m² and can be separated into nine parts. The 10 exhibition halls are arranged in concentric circles and can be combined variably and rented separately.

newsworthy, today, shutterstock

So, before you get down to writing your own story, here’s a quick editorial starter tip: even the most inexperienced writers can help themselves by answering the 5 W questions (Who – What – Where – When – Why). By answering these questions I guarantee you a quick uplift in quality and a better sales conversion.
Have in mind: More Content – More Contacts / More Contacts – More Contracts.

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