Brainstorming for story ideas

Katie Johnston Chase of the Boston Globe was trying to come up with a travel/tourism story idea when it hit her: “What's one of the big expenses of traveling? Lodging. What's a way to cut those costs? By swapping homes with somebody.”

The brainstorming session that helped her focus on the importance of lodging costs, led to a story about Bostonians swapping homes to save money while on vacation.

Today’s Tip: Brainstorming by starting with general questions can help you develop story ideas. Follow up on those ideas with sourcing to see if they will work.

Katie describes her next steps:

“I called a home swap company and asked how they were doing during the recession, and the owner said he'd been getting record-breaking numbers since September 2008.

"And a story was born.”

Balance in Business Forecasts

Sean Sposito balances car dealers’ expected sales with other sources in this article for The Boston Globe. While he cites a pending sales tax increase and the roll out of the government’s incentive program as evidence that consumers will buy, he notes that limited qualifications and the recession may squash those forecasts.

Today’s Tip: Unlike weather forecasts, business forecasts need balance.

To be a useful consumer piece, you have to provide context. Seek sources until you feel that you have balance in your piece. Don’t forget to step back on the final read to ensure you didn’t create a promotional piece.