Manage Your Changing Workload

Steve ButtryNew York Press Association

September 19, 2014#NYPA14

Read more about it• stevebuttry.wordpress.com• slideshare.net/stevebuttry• @stevebuttry• stephenbuttry@gmail.com

Who’s in the room?• Publishers?• Top editors?• Other editors?• Reporters?• Visual journalists?• Digital specialists?• Others?

Your workload challenges?

What can you stop doing?• Spell out your priorities (yours & the

organization’s)• Analyze your workload• What doesn’t match?

What can you stop doing?• Can you just stop doing it?• Do you need permission? Then make

your case?• Can you do less of it?• Is someone else doing? Link or partner• Is free or cheap alternative available?• Can you accept a lower standard?

What can you transform?• Did your newsroom “bolt” digital

operations onto your print processes & duties?

• Is digital-first operation more efficient?• Should you “unbolt”?

Why “unbolt”?• Increase digital content• Increase digital audience• Increase digital revenue• Digital is the future • Work more efficiently

Unbolt your newsroom• News coverage & storytelling• Processes• Engagement• Planning & management• Mobile• Standards

Unbolting news coverage• Breaking news • Event coverage• Daily coverage• Enterprise coverage

Breaking news• Breaking news team completely

independent of print product, deadlines• Publish as soon as we verify• Update frequently• Liveblog big, breaking stories• Tweet, Tout & update from scene

Event coverageLivetweet & liveblog everything:• Sports events• Meetings• Trials• Festivals• Press conferences• Need a compelling reason not to

Live coverage• New Haven Register more than

quadrupled engagement minutes by liveblogging more events

• Berkshire Eagle murder trial: 25K engagement hours

Gettysburg engagement• More than 1,000 uniques daily, peak of

6,462• 5 days > 2K page views, peak of 7,728• 5 days > 35K engagement minutes, peak

of 96K+

Why to liveblog• Immediacy• News value• Storytelling• Traffic, revenue, sponsorships• Community engagement, loyalty • Interactivity• Saving time

Liveblogging situations• Breaking story• Meeting• Event (festival, march, concert, trial)• Daylong (Election Day, weather)• Sporting event (can use fans, bloggers,

HS journos)• Live chat

Liveblogging prep• Get names (confirm spelling), titles in

advance (ask, get program, etc.)• Set scene, saying what you’re covering &

that you’re live-tweeting• Describe your circumstances, vantage

point: at event, watching on TV, curating tweets

Tips, techniques• Short, frequent takes• Space isn’t an issue; engagement is• Liveblog becomes notebook for story• Consider links, polls, photos, audio, video• Use hashtag • Promote live & replays• OK to step away for question, video, etc.

Liveblogging issues• Accuracy (stress verification, ask

questions, seek links & documentation, correct quickly and candidly)

• Rough copy• Sports credentials, court access• Multi-tasking• Learning curve

Live-tweeting tips• Don’t transcribe; observe & report• In sports, mix play-by-play & commentary• Use hashtag (& check & engage)• OK to pause for checking facts, names• Note significant pause (halftime, lunch)• Fun interludes, exchanges, anecdotes• Check facts before you hit “tweet”

Liveblogging tools

Feeding liveblog into site• Embed in story on your site (w/ intro)• Feed in your staff members• Feed in (and use) hashtag• Police and look for spam, mischief• Remember to turn it off• Can you livestream video (yours or from

event organizer)?

Sponsoring liveblog• Banner ad on liveblog page• Work ad unit into embed frame• Insert clearly labeled ads in flow• Thank sponsor

From live to print• Will a brief suffice (plugging live

coverage?)• A summary story, shorter than you’ve

been doing?• Reporter can write faster• Bring back “rewrite” editor?• Should print coverage look ahead?

Routine daily news• Setting early deadlines (11 a.m., 2 p.m.)• Starting work earlier• Write routine stories as they unfold, as

we do w/ breaking stories (initial post followed by updates)

Unbolting from Sunday story• Plan enterprise stories for digital

platforms (crowdsourcing, data, social, video, photo, interactive, engaging)

• Publish for digital audience (during work week)

• Sunday story (if any) comes second

Five Satins, unbolted• Story published online Monday• Text story twice as long online (60” in

print)• Loaded with links• Videos• Audio clips• Use Sunday story for more engagement

Can you do more?Commissioned obituaries:• Offer reported life-story obits• Family commissions writer/videographer• More revenue for journo jobs• More satisfied customers• Not just obits: retirement, anniversaries,

graduations, what else?

Your ideas• How can you do more & make revenue

that gives you more staff time, not less?• What can you stop doing (or do less

frequently or more efficiently)?• How are you working more efficiently?