Editorial Planning for Digital Teams: Masterclass

How to build effective plans for audience growth, news events and special projects 

This one-day editorial planning training day will give you a toolkit for effective planning and leave you feeling confident about being well-prepared for huge events in your sector.

What You’ll Learn: Key planning skills, how to cover live events, long-term strategy

Thoughtful and well-executed editorial planning is the backbone of any newsroom – and makes the days you can’t plan for much easier. You’ll start with the basics of effective planning by looking at events you can prepare for and the types of content strategies you can create.  

The course then takes a deeper look at what makes great live news coverage and how you can best utilise the resources in your workplace to ensure a slick operation is in place. We’ll cover how to plan for events your audience is invested in and, with the help of an experienced news editor, pull together a strategy that you can use and tweak in your workplace.  

You’ll learn all about the art of live-blogging – from choosing when to run them to how to plan content that will make life easier on the day. You’ll also receive plenty of tips that will leave you feeling confident about working calmly and quickly under pressure.   

Through group discussions, the course also covers the pros and cons of updating content versus creating new pages, and building a distribution plan to make sure your audience stays informed on the platforms they use most.   

Planning isn’t just needed for live news – it’s vital in any audience-building work, whether you’re launching a brand new website section or building authority on upcoming events such as Black Friday or the start of a hotly-anticipated TV series. This course covers the best practices (and timelines) for this.  

You’ll take an in-depth look at the types of content you plan, and why variety is key, before taking part in exercises that focus on generating original ideas and making sure your projects don’t run out of steam.

How you’ll learn

This three-module course will be led by an experienced editor who has worked in national newsrooms, who will share their knowledge and expertise through presentations, discussion and practical exercises.

Who the Editorial Planning for Digital Teams course is for

This editorial planning training is for journalists and creators whose roles involve planning and publishing content online. It’s perfect for anyone who wants to build an effective content strategy around news events or build their audience by branching out onto new platforms or covering different subjects.  

We also offer other courses which focus on specific areas – such as the Social Media Masterclass and How to be a Brilliant Editor – while Digital Content Essentials: How to Stand Out Online provides an overview of the digital media landscape.

We currently offer this course as bespoke training for teams and can deliver it remotely, or in your offices. Get in touch using the button below to discuss times and dates, as well as how we can tailor it to your needs. 

If you’re booking for yourself, find all of our scheduled courses here

Course Modules

Planning: News to Features

  1. Why editorial planning matters
  2. How to plan for news events
  3. Planning by verticals and topics
  4. Planning by example
  5. Putting planning into practice

Brilliant Live News Coverage

  1. News stories you can (and can’t) plan for
  2. Building a breaking news protocol
  3. How to run a live-blog
  4. Preparing content for live events
  5. Updating news and distributing stories

Practical Planning

  1. Choosing an audience to build
  2. What to plan for – and why
  3. Building authority on competitive topics
  4. Putting together a content strategy
  5. Further options for growth

Editorial Planning for Digital Teams: Masterclass

How to build effective plans for audience growth, news events and special projects 

Get in touch

What our students say

View all testimonials

PA Media Training were efficient, well organised and genuinely lovely people to deal with and, importantly for us, able to provide flexibility around our needs to create the bespoke training we required. I wouldn’t hesitate to use them for further training or to recommend them to other organisations.

Mayor of London’s Press Office
, Head of Media

The methods and techniques you learn (and apply) on a daily basis through teaching, coursework and eventually exams crop up again and again in both job applications and jobs themselves – the course content is directly relevant to the realities of the industry. 

James Saunders
, Digital News Reporter
, GB News

The staff truly go above and beyond, providing detailed feedback, a wealth of knowledge and many career opportunities. I’d recommend the course to any budding journalist. You’ll have fun, too!  

Erin Waks
, Trainee Sub-Editor
, Daily Mail

Being equipped with an NCTJ Diploma does massive favours for your future, and the skills the course taught me are ones I lean on every single day. The simple fact is, I wouldn’t be where I am without that course. 

Alex Barker
, Videographer & Presenter
, The Athletic

The training scenarios are as real to life as you could possibly get. They took considerable time to research our current plans and issues and used these to design a series of true to life radio and TV interviews. The team is outstanding, and their expertise and knowledge has been invaluable. Book them – you’ll be glad you did.

NHS Vale of York Clinical Commissioning Group
, Communications Manager

I learned to write concise articles and features, while developing my skills in social media, interviewing sources, and producing stories for an increasingly online audience. The course has allowed me to start a full-time journalism career.

Jonathan Moynihan
, Social Media Producer
, Forces News

Contact us

For more information , simply fill out the form and a member of our team will be in touch.