Attending Meetings

If you ever write for a small paper, you will write a story about a meeting occurring in town.  These meeting can be discussing anything, and can sometimes be relatively dull.  Here's an example.  Now I recognize that this is not a real town meeting, but the thing is it will be hard to find a story from a town meeting that would be relevant to the entire town (which the example was obviously not).  When I wrote a story about a meeting for my class I was lucky that there was proposal that (if approved) might affect the entire town.  But that will not always be the case.  If you have trouble finding stories or gathering sufficient information from meeting to write a story, here's a few things you can do:

1.) Bring a Recorder

You should probably have one so you can interview anyone at the drop of a hatch anyway.  But if's always good to have a recorder.  If you can't figure out what to write about initially, listen to the meeting again and you might have a better chance of coming up with an angle.  If you forget a recorder, meetings usually have a scribe and you can ask them to send you a copy or ask where you can get a copy of the script.

2.) Ask Questions

If you have no idea about why part of the agenda is important, ask.  Find the person in charge of the meeting or someone who appeared to know what was going on, and ask about an issue.  A simple, "Why does it matter if Mrs. Finalon grows durian in the community garden?" Can clear up the matter.  Someone who is in charge would know why people would have a problem.  Turns out, Durian smells really foul, even when the skin hasn't been penetrated.  This could cause a rift among neighbors and upset the balance of the town.

3.) Research

Research before you go.  Town meetings usually have agendas, and sometimes they will be posted before the meeting actually happens.  Reading the agenda will help you brainstorm for a potential interesting story.  Overall, research helps you look and be more prepared.  Just replace interview with meeting, and read this post.