A Step-by-Step Guide to Executing Effective Virtual Deskside Meetings
Prior to March this year, I was taking a least one or two deskside meetings a week. As a freelance writer who works from home alone most days, I’ve found these meetings to be very valuable—not only as a way to get me out of the house and meeting new people, but also as a fecund source of story ideas. It’s infinitely more helpful to have real conversations about news, trends and ideas than to sit behind my desk and email with people all day.
Last week, I accepted my first virtual deskside meeting. I went in with no expectation, counting on this being an experiment to test the waters on the usefulness of this kind of new conversation. However, I was very pleased with how it was executed, from initial invitation to follow-up. The publicist behind it handled the virtual deskside with utmost professionalism and presented great value to me as a freelance writer, making it worth my time. Here’s how she did it, and how you can, too.
Invitation
I’ve known and enjoyed working with this publicist regularly for about 6-8 months, so when she first emailed to ask if I’d be interested in taking a 30-minute meeting via Zoom with a travel client of hers, I was much more open to the idea than if it had been a cold pitch. In her initial outreach, she kindly explained who from her client (a resort in Cape Cod) wanted to speak with me, and why. Then, she provided a few days and times as options for the meeting, all about two weeks out. This was a critical step, because had she just left her call to action open ended (i.e., “Can you let us know when you might be free?”), I would have been less inclined to put in the effort to look through my calendar and go through the unavoidable back-and-forth on finding a time that worked for everyone.
Takeaways:
Only request virtual desksides with freelance writers you have existing relationships with.
Give them lots of advance notice. At least a week is good, two weeks or more is better.
Keep it short. Asking for 30 minutes or less of their time is reasonable; an hour is not.
Be upfront about why you’re looking to connect with them, what news you have to share and why it will be valuable to their work. A general session where a client gives an overarching PowerPoint presentation is not going to be helpful.
The work involved with setting up meetings, especially now, is a deterrent. Take out as much administrative background as possible to make your proposal easier to say yes to.
Preparation
Within hours of me confirming what day and time would work best for me, she sent along a calendar invitation that included the full names and titles of the two representatives from her client who would be on the call, and included them on the invite, as well. I cannot stress how important this is when inviting freelance writers to join a call. Many journalists have multiple interviews a day, so making calendar invitations as specific as possible—including all parties involved, what the general topics of discussion will be and the link to the Zoom meeting room (or whatever platform will be used)—is essential.
Since we had scheduled the virtual deskside with this publicist’s client a few weeks in advance, she followed up with me the week of, and the morning prior to the meeting to ensure we were all set. It was a kind gesture that showed she cared enough to make sure the meeting would still work with my schedule.
Takeaways:
Send the freelance writer a calendar invite in a timely fashion—ideally, within a few hours, or at least the same day as they accept a meeting.
Don’t send generic invitations that only include the journalist’s name. (“Meeting with Kelsey Ogletree” is not going to give me any sense of what this meeting is about, nor make it stand out on my calendar with a dozen other calls the same week.)
Include the link to join the call. This sounds obvious, but is often forgotten or wrong.
Confirm the meeting with the writer the week of, or at least the morning of, the call.
Flow
The call started right on time via Zoom, with the publicist leading a quick introduction of the two individuals from her resort client, then letting them speak. I appreciated how they took the lead on the call, rather than leaving it all up to me to think of what to say and what to ask from the beginning. We talked about the current situation at the resort and some news they had to share about how they were planning to reopen, then left plenty of time for questions during the second half of the call.
Overall, it struck the right balance of information sharing and conversation, which is critical for any deskside meeting—virtual or not. At one point during the call, when they were speaking about a new layout of the property, the publicist brought up a map of the resort and shared her screen, making it easy to follow along and understand what the client was talking about.
Takeaways:
Start and end on time, always.
Provide introductions, then let your client take the lead. Don’t expect the journalist to start off with questions right away.
Educate your client prior to the call that they should not be talking for the entire duration of the meeting. Leave blank space for the journalist to be able to add in their thoughts and ask questions.
Follow-Up
Within two hours of the virtual deskside, I had a thank-you note in my inbox from the publicist on behalf of her client, as well as a few bulleted action items to follow-up on that we’d discussed in the meeting. She also offered assistance going forward on any stories I was working on for which this client might be a fit. I came away from the virtual deskside feeling pleased that I had gotten three or four solid stories ideas from those 30 minutes, had gained some new insights into the resort world regarding reopening in a post-COVID-19 world, and that this publicist valued and appreciated my time.
Takeaways:
Say thank you in a timely fashion.
Follow-up on potential story ideas discussed in the meeting without being pushy.
Offer assistance going forward for anything the freelance writer may need help with.
Have you done any virtual deskside meetings with freelance writers this spring? What strategies are you using to get them to say yes? I’d love to know what you found most valuable from this blog—let me know in the comments below.