Get the most by H


If you’re inspired by attending events, why not hold your own? asks Linda Harrison


ave you ever considered running your own in-person event? Personally, I’d never pictured myself doing this. But when my writing and PR work started to dry up last year, it pushed me into action.


I told a friend about an idea for a speed-networking event for local businesses and regional journalists in Yorkshire. We put 30 tickets for sale on Eventbrite, booked a venue,


gave it a name – Meet the Media – and started sharing details on social media. Within a few weeks, it had sold out. I was a wreck on the day; hosting this pushed me way out of


my comfort zone. But the event was a hit. We got fantastic feedback, articles started appearing in our local paper about businesses who had attended the event and people emailed about joining the waiting list for the next one. We realised we were onto something. While I’d originally hoped it might be a way of making some extra cash, what I loved was discovering the other benefits, such as building connections with local businesses and journalists and getting our names out there. Meet the Media is now a regular event.


Think like a business Lisa Francesca Nand is a freelance journalist and travel expert turned entrepreneur who hosts regular in-person coffee mornings and networking events in Brighton and London. She says: “Like so many freelancers, I was finding that journalism alone wasn’t always enough to pay the bills. So, I started to think a bit more entrepreneurially. “I’ve always loved connecting people and sharing ideas, and I realised that hosting events could be a brilliant way to bring entrepreneurial women together – especially those juggling side projects or small businesses like me. Men are welcome of course, but many of my meet-ups by default seem to be women only. It feels like a lot of women are finding they want more from their working life and are going out and trying to do something different. “My first event was a coffee morning in Hove organised by me and a property investor friend, Mary Cullen. We managed to get 25 people along to a breakfast – entrepreneurial women coming together to chat about business, property, travel and life. It was such a success, and honestly so much fun, that I decided to keep going.”


Share your expertise Harriet Meyer, a financial journalist who writes for The Guardian, The Times and The Sun among others, is the


10 | theJournalist


founder of AI for Media. She runs online and in-person AI training for news, content and PR firms. Meyer says: “After more than 20 years behind a screen, I


wanted a change. When ChatGPT landed in November 2022, I could see what was coming, and it felt time to make a big shift. It’s been the steepest learning curve of my career, but I absolutely love it.” Meyer started running events for her AI training business because, she says, nothing beats in-person training, particularly in the age of AI. Her first event was a three-hour, half-day workshop for a PR firm. She now runs events alongside organisations such as the British Society of Magazine Editors and Women in PR in London, helping media professionals develop practical, actionable and mindset-based strategies for using AI. Meyer adds: “Journalism taught me how to listen, connect and translate complex topics into plain English – all skills that now sit at the heart of my AI training work. It’s still about people and stories, just told through a new lens. Freelance social affairs and global health journalist Sally


Howard started The India Story agency with Delhi-based journalist Geetanjali Krishna in 2020 to focus on cross- cultural and cross-border journalism collaborations. They now run in-person and online workshops and


Tip #1


“Don’t do it alone. If you can, find a partner who can help and support you. Offer early-bird ticket pricing when announcing the event and


https://creativeslikeusevent. abbasmarketing.com Angela Lyons


masterclasses for young journalists with a focus on their specialisms of solutions journalism (the US framework), cross-border collaboration and bid applications for journalism.


then go full price. People buy tickets at the last minute”


They also host solutions journalism training events in universities, and training sessions for academics. Howard says: “We run events to keep up our visibility and situate us globally and within specialisms. “For us as journalists working across borders and for numerous markets, they’re a good way of staying visible


in a few markets, particularly for LinkedIn presence. They can also be great for leading to paid lecturing work.”


“


Build a community Organising events can also provide a social aspect to work – or even lead to a new career. Penni Pickering, co-founder of Cowork Crew, says: “I’ve been a freelancer for almost 10 years and, in that time, spent lots of time working from home, and some time travelling and working from co-working and co-live/co-work spaces. I felt lonely in the home office, and decided to start up local events to solve my need. Turns out other folk had the same need. “My first event was in my local co-working space, Vulcan


Events are a good way of staying visible


Works in Northampton. It was a co-working event during the day, with a speaker at lunchtime. “It was lovely, and it turned into a regular thing – almost


monthly. We now run 10 months of the year. As our local community grew, other people became interested in having an event near them, so we set up in other cities with local


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24