Finding personal finance angles: Online, May 10-14

This free workshop, ‘Show them the Money! Finding personal finance angles on any beat,” will give you tips and resources for adding consumer interest to your business and finance stories. Freelancer and Reynolds Center blogger Melissa Preddy will teach the course.

We’re in an era when specialty beats like personal finance are disappearing, even as our readers clamor for more economic coping news. No matter what your niche, you can produce packages that combine industry and corporate news with actionable information.

In one hour a day, from May 10 through May 14, you’ll learn basic strategies for helping audiences understand how business trends affect their wallets, beat by beat. Here’s a look at some of the main topics we’ll cover – and we’ll also add more beats and industries to the list at the request of enrollees. So pull up a laptop, and don’t be shy!

Melissa Preddy

Monday: Personal finance basics. Even if you don’t aspire to a career as a consumer columnist, you need to know the go-to, reputable sources on pocketbook issues ranging from stock markets and investing to personal income taxes to credit card use and debt counseling. Layering your stories with input from consumer watchdogs and advisers will always make them more digestible to readers.

Tuesday: Real estate. This could turn out to be the most upbeat spring selling season since the start of the recession … or the market could double-dip back into gridlock. We’ll discuss how to transform abstract statistics into compelling print and multimedia packages that illustrate the human toll taken by falling prices and stagnant sales, as well as how to keep readers informed about stimulus programs, tax credits and other home-buyer helpers.

Wednesday: Transportation. Cover consumer news from the world of airlines, automakers, trucking and rail systems. Traveler concerns range from gas-price spikes to the lease-or-buy auto dilemma to the a la carte in-flight and baggage services in the airline industry. Everyone travels, commutes or at least buys or makes goods that must be moved from place to place; we’ll talk about how to show the impact of transport costs on everyday expenses.

Thursday: Health care. It eats up than 15 percent of our GDP and probably at least that much of our readers’ worry-time. How to get the most bang for routine medical costs by using tools such as Flexible Spending Accounts, how to navigate private and public insurance systems and what the result of health-care reform means to the average family are among the topics we’ll discuss.

Friday: Financial services. From the corner credit union to the global credit-card processor to the 401(k), the typical family can have half a dozen or more financial-services firms nipping at its pocketbooks. And despite recent reforms to bankruptcy and lending laws, the unwary consumer can be nickled-and-dimed – or worse – by making ill-informed saving, borrowing and investing decisions.

YOUR INSTRUCTOR

Melissa Preddy served as a business writer, editor and columnist for The Detroit News from 1995 to 2008. She writes a daily blog for BusinessJournalism.org that offers shortcuts, alerts and caveats for reporters covering today’s fast-moving business and financial stories. You can also follow her on Twitter: @MelissaPreddy.

WHAT YOU WILL DO

• Spend between 1- 1 ½ hours each day working on the online seminar. Ideally, most of this would be done during the live session, at either 1 or 4 p.m. EST, Monday through Tuesday. Attending either daily interactive session is highly recommended, but you may also listen to recordings of the sessions to work through the seminar on your own. Adhere to the instructor’s deadlines for any work to be completed and submitted.
• Engage in discussion within the appropriate discussion forum concerning the readings and assignments.

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

Please do not register unless you are sincere about participating in this online seminar and can do so for each day of the designated week. Please receive approval from your editor prior to signing up for the seminar.

Those who successfully complete three regional workshops or online seminars presented by the Reynolds Center are eligible to receive a “Circle of Achievement” award certificate.

This free seminar is sponsored by the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism. If you have any questions about the webinar or the center, please e-mail Executive Director Linda Austin or call 602-496-9187.

The Reynolds Center is funded by a grant from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation. Besides its workshops, the center runs BusinessJournalism.org, offering daily tips to help you cover business better.