Show & Steal: Sharing our favorite ideas that went viral, engaged readers

2017 conferenceFeatures newsshow and stealstory ideas

Oct 10

Written By

By Laura T. Coffey, writer, editor, producer, TODAY Parenting Team and TODAY.com, and Sharon Chapman, features editor, Austin American-Statesman

Huge thanks to all the hard-working features editors who shared so many amazing coverage ideas at the 2017 Society for Features Journalism conference in Kansas City! Remember, journalists are encouraged to borrow and adapt the ideas discussed at our Show & Steal presentations each year. We’re all doing more with less, we're all eager for good ideas that worked — and, thankfully, we’re all in this together.

This year, editors shared dozens of smart submissions in the following categories:

Let us plan your year: Yes, the holidays, but also think seasonally — spring, summer, back-to-school, winterizing, hurricane prep — anything that happens annually. We want to help each other plan a calendar of content ideas.

New ideas that worked: A digital feature, a new digital presentation, a new way you grew audience or got reader solicitations. Content, events, whatever you tried that worked!

That’s entertainment: The name says it all — the best of your culture coverage, both high and low.

Editor’s favorite: Cool multiplatform presentations and anything else you loved.

It went viral: We all need the traffic. Tell us how you scored page views and engagement.

Also, in the wake of this year's destructive hurricanes, we added a special category about how to handle coverage of hurricanes and other natural disasters while living through the danger on a personal level. Thank you to the Houston Chronicle in Texas and the Sun-Sentinel in Florida for taking the time to tell us how you did what you did.

Here are the Show & Steal ideas for 2017. Click on the link below the images for the PDF slideshow: