Did you know that NPR offers free Audio, Visual, Digital, and Social Media training on their website? Well, it's true. All you need is the motivation to have a look through their extensive list of posts.
They can teach you how to mix audio, engage your audience on social media, create quality photo captions, and write a compelling lead-in to a story. I've mostly been perusing through the audio training articles and one caught my eye. "What makes a good pitch? NPR editors weigh in". Their advice can be is applicable in many scenarios, not only when pitching a story to an editor.
I like that Alison begin by pointing out that a topic is not a story. It's usually easy to think of interesting topic, but much more difficult to find the focus. A good narrative needs a central question, high stakes, a conflict, or an interesting main character. There must be something that happens; things that get resolved or questions left unanswered. This is true when writing an article or book, creating a promotional video, writing for a TV series, the list could go on. All forms of narrative benefit from carefully considering the focus of the story.
Their third point hit home as well. She discuss the importance of a pitch being short and easy to digest. When I was working on perfecting my elevator pitch I changed it many times because I had too much to say. People respond best to ideas that they can "digest quickly and explain easily to others". In general, I've come to learn that being clear and concise can do wonders.
One of the extra tips at the bottom got my attention as well. Consider your perspective. Alison states that no one wants a story with a strong bias. I think it's really important to be aware of where you come from, and where others are coming from. The fact that we're all human means that we're stuck inside our brains. There's no way to be truly objective. Once I realized that fact, I found it much easier to think about where I come from, what my biases are, and how to not be blinded by them.