6 live journalism event ideas you can replicate in your community

This is a series on Better News to a) showcase innovative/experimental ideas that emerge from the Knight-Lenfest Newsroom Initiative and b) share replicable tactics that benefit the news industry as a whole. 

These “wins” come from Blue Ridge Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio, Enlace Latino NC, Texas Metro News, The Assembly NC and Vermont Public. All six organizations participated in the American Press Institute’s Live Events Sprint for Table Stakes Alumni in 2024.

More from this program:

• A workbook to take you from journalism event idea to execution
• How to pick the right venue for your journalism event
• A spreadsheet that will help you organize research about your possible venues
• How a “run of show” document can make your journalism event a success
• A run of show template
• An event proposal document to help you get started on your next journalism event
• Leveraging partnerships and sponsorships for journalism events 
• Sponsor pitch deck template and accompanying guide
• A checklist for marketing your live journalism events
• Using events to supercharge your election coverage

This piece was one of Better News’ most viewed of 2024. Check out the full top 10 list here.

Live events are a valuable platform for any news organization: a chance to not only showcase your journalistic work, but to reach new people and deepen loyalty with your existing audiences.

In early 2024, the American Press Institute convened a five-month cohort to help six Table Stakes Local News Transformation Program alumni organizations do exactly that. Their projects ranged from community picnics to trivia nights to listening sessions, but they all shared a few things in common — among them, a commitment to centering diverse audience needs and pursuing both journalistic and strategic innovation.

“I think this showed us that … there’s a lot of room for growth in these types of live events for us, which is awesome,” said Bethany Taylor, the event coordinator at Boise State Public Radio. Her team is hosting a series of three panel discussions on mental health in partnership with a local TV station. 

Here’s a look at that project and the five others that came out of API’s 2024 Live Events Sprint, with tips and tricks for other organizations hoping to rev up their journalism-led event operations. Each team received a $5,000 grant to implement their event concept.

More than 100 people participated in Blue Ridge Public Radio’s trivia night at Pleb Urban Winery in Asheville, N.C. (Photo by
Laura Hackett/BPR)

Blue Ridge Public Radio’s summer trivia series

Blue Ridge Public Radio reaches thousands of listeners across 14 North Carolina counties, but that audience tends to skew older. To reach a younger audience, the station partnered with an established local trivia host in May, June and July 2024 for a series of “public radio takeovers.” BPR journalists wrote two rounds of trivia questions, which focused on local events, news and history. Station staff were also on hand at the hosting winery to connect with guests, whose average age ranged from roughly 25 to 40, said Stephanie Rogers, BPR’s communications and engagement manager.

Big win: The first two of the three planned trivia nights drew more than 100 guests each — and also attracted lots of interest from sponsors. BPR sold two sponsorship packages, to Ingles Markets and Knollman Dental, netting roughly $4,500 in revenue and allowing the station to distribute free T-shirts, pizza and drink tickets to the first 40 people who RSVPed to the event. 

Try this: Partner with an established event series or host to simplify planning, promotion and execution. “This was a big pro for us,” Rogers said. “He already came with the tech setup and the personality, and he already had an audience in place — so it exposed us to a totally different crowd than normally tunes into the radio.” 

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Panelists discuss teen mental health at a June 6 event convened by Boise State Public Radio and KTVB. (Boise State Public Radio)

Boise State Public Radio’s mental health chats 

The panel discussion that Boise State Public Radio hosted on June 6 represented a first for the station: While staff had held events in the past, they’d never done so in partnership with another news organization. This joint panel convened three experts on teen mental health, as well as moderators from both BSPR and their partner, KTVB, at a downtown conference center called Boise Centre on The Grove. It’s the first of a planned three-part series.

Big win: Organizers wanted their audience of roughly 80 people to leave with actionable strategies and resources — not just information, said Taylor, BSPR’s event coordinator. They brought in three vendors who offered mental health services and distributed folders containing worksheets and other practical resources. 

Try this: Double-up with another news organization to extend your reach — and your ambition. Working with KTVB “was really exciting — it kind of forced us to stretch ourselves a little bit,” said Bethany Taylor, the event coordinator. A post-event survey indicated that nearly 60% of attendees were new to BSPR, and 100% of respondents said they’d be interested in attending future events. 

Guests at Enlace Latino NC’s June 6 listening session in Henderson, N.C., were “highly engaged, making the session very successful” said Angélica Santibañez, the organization’s director of development. (Enlace Latino NC)

Enlace Latino NC’s listening sessions

Since 2018, Enlace Latino NC, a nonprofit digital newsroom based in Raleigh, N.C., has aimed to not only educate and inform the state’s Latino immigrant community, but also involve them in state policy and politics. On June 6, the organization hosted  a community forum in Henderson, N.C., with a local city councilman and a member of Gov. Roy Cooper’s Hispanic/Latino Affairs Advisory Council. The group of roughly 30 attendees learned about the inner workings of local and state government and asked officials their own questions, said Angélica Santibañez, the organization’s director of development. The team has also held listening sessions in other parts of the state and plans to seek sponsors for future events in the series, Santibañez said.

Big win: From the beginning of the event planning process, Enlace Latino NC made  their listening sessions welcoming and accessible to community members with varying language, childcare and scheduling needs. Interpretation services were available to translate the conversation as needed, for instance, and the news organization provided both dinner and a gas/mileage stipend to attendees. 

Try this: “We have been doing events for a very long time, but we were not as organized as we could have been,” Santibañez said. So for this community forum, Enlace Latino NC developed a run of show document — a standardized, one-stop guide to keep everyone on track — and created individualized checklists that enumerated each staff member’s responsibilities before, during and after the event. Read more about creating a run of show document here and find a template from API here. 

Six honorees pose for a photo at Texas Metro News’ celebration of women leaders on April 2. (Texas Metro News)

Texas Metro News’ celebration of women leaders

Six large, international organizations based in the Dallas area are led by Black women.  

Texas Metro News, a weekly paper and daily news site targeted to Black women in the state, recognized that as both an opportunity and a cause for celebration. On April 2, the paper hosted a rooftop party and discussion where each leader delivered a short talk about her personal and professional journey and received recognition from local, state and national officials. Each of the more than 200 guests left with swag bags, refreshments and a bit of inspiration, publisher Cheryl Smith said. “We tried to put together an event that was informative and had that journalistic edge to it and that also was fun,” she added. Texas Metro News has since planned two follow-up events with the presidents of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and the National Medical Association.   

Big win: Texas Metro News saw an immediate bump in newsletter subscribers and ad sales after the April event, Smith said. The celebration also boosted Texas Metro News’ brand recognition in its core demographic: The outlet has since received invitations to attend or distribute print editions at events hosted by its honorees and their organizations, which include large sororities with hundreds of thousands of members around the world. And thoughtful details from the celebration, like a branded photo booth, played well on social media. 

Try this: Make events both informative and fun to maximize engagement at your event — and turn attendees into ambassadors for your organization afterwards. Guests at the April 2 celebration left on a high note: “At the end, one of our entertainers had a playlist of songs, mostly the oldies, that would make anyone of all ages get up and dance,” Smith said. “And that’s what actually happened.” 

Editors and staff from The Assembly NC address guests at a breakfast in Greensboro on June 20. (The Assembly NC)

The Assembly NC’s Greensboro breakfast

After The Assembly NC, a three-year-old statewide newsroom in North Carolina, launched its Greensboro reporting team, the outlet hosted a breakfast and panel discussion to introduce the new division and the issues it covers to that community. Roughly 40 people attended the session, which was hosted by Assembly staff including editors Emily McCord and Joe Killian and founder Kyle Villemain. Similar events are planned for Wilmington, Fayetteville and Durham later this year.

Big win: The planning process for The Assembly’s June 20 event doubled as a sort of market research, helping the team better understand their expanding audience. Through preliminary conversations with potential guests, for instance, staff learned a lot about the gaps their readers saw in the local media ecosystem and the types and timing of events they’d attend. “We learned a lot about that audience just through talking to stakeholders,” said Paige Ladisic, The Assembly’s former product and growth director.

Try this: Assign dedicated editorial and business-side staff to event planning, Ladisic recommended, to make sure both sides of the program come together in tandem. “It doesn’t have to be a full-time staff person whose only job is hosting events,” she said. “But it certainly can’t be just a teeny-tiny chunk of one very busy person’s day or two very busy people’s days.”

At a May 23 community picnic, Vermont Public reporters set up listening stations where community members could discuss the election issues that matter to them. (Vermont Public) 

Vermont Public’s community picnic 

Vermont Public, a joint NPR and PBS affiliate, has adopted what’s called a “Citizens Agenda” approach to its 2024 election coverage: a strategy that homes in on questions and policy issues important to the station’s audience. As part of that approach, Vermont Public hosted a free community picnic in St. Albans on May 23. In addition to providing burgers, cotton candy and a bounce house for kids, the station set up one-on-one listening stations with reporters and convened a panel discussion on the economy, which listeners have ranked among their top electoral issues. Two more picnics are planned for Orleans and Rutland counties later this summer.

Big win: Vermont Public hoped it would reach a new audience with the picnic — and it did, said Julianna Vasquez, the event producer at Vermont Public. Of the 91 attendees, 43 were new to the station. Organizers also worked hard to make the event responsive to community needs and concerns, surveying local residents at a gas station, coffee shop and farmers’ market as part of a related office hours program. “It’s all about taking our cues from the community to inform our coverage,” said Vasquez. “The panel theme was based on what we’ve heard so far in Franklin County.” 

Try this: Make events family-friendly to reach more people and build a sense of community. In its audience research ahead of the picnic, Vermont Public found that many people craved that type of shared social space. They also heard it from attendees afterwards.  “Love how it was an event about the community and it involved the kids with something to do,” one attendee wrote in a post-event survey. “I was grateful for the chance to have a community event like this,” wrote another. 

Hear more about Vermont Public’s event series on the Better News podcast.