One of the first things you'll need to do as a team is come up with a prompt for soliciting questions. The question prompt is the text that your audience sees in a form embed.

Your prompt is the key detail that sets the tone for your project. It's the main piece of instruction that you give to your audience about how they should engage with you and what kinds of questions you're looking for. 

You should also craft some brief messaging that explains to your audience how the Hearken process will work. Then, you can put your form on a  permanent landing page on your website with that brief blurb explaining the process. Only a few sentences are necessary to give your audience the context for how to participate and make sure they understand how the engagement loop works. 

Learn more about what should go on the landing page for your Hearken project.

Getting people to submit responses is only half the battle. Next you want to make sure you can get responses that are right for your newsroom or series. Sometimes a question may be too broad or unrelated to your region or beat. Or they might be motivated by personal belief or bias rather than curiosity. And sometimes, they might not be questions at all, but come to you in the form of topics or suggestions, such as "You should write about healthcare." Crafting a solid prompt and messaging around your series or project will go a long way in making sure your audience knows the type of response you're looking for.

First and foremost, a good prompt is short, simple, and open-ended. Here's two very successful examples from newsrooms doing a general assignment, regional-based series:

Why do these prompts work so well? We’ve broken it down into three key principles.

1. A good Hearken prompt triggers the audience’s curiosity. Be explicit in your prompt about wanting questions from your audience rather than ideas or comments. Starting with the phrase “what do you wonder..." or "what questions do you have about..." makes it clear to your audience that you are soliciting questions. And this makes it more likely that your audience members will come to you from a place of curiosity and openness rather than one of assertion or personal agenda. A good prompt doesn’t ask, “What do you know?” It asks, “What don’t you know?” 

2. It sets parameters. Bay Curious is a local show, so the prompt needs to specify that they’re only looking for questions about the Bay Area. It probably doesn’t need any other parameters, but if your prompt is too broad, your readers may draw a blank. Adding more parameters can help inspire a reader’s ideas or point their curiosity in a certain direction. The Bay Curious prompt solicits questions about the Bay Area, its culture, or its people. Those extra parameters tell the audience that their questions don’t have to be about hard news or politics. They could be about slang or food or that strange hippie commune down the street.

3. It establishes the question’s purpose. Your prompt should communicate what you plan to do with your audience’s questions. Bay Curious clearly establishes that these questions are going to KQED reporters and are meant to prompt investigations.

Prompts that are too broad

That third prompt isn’t just broad, it also leaves open the possibility of submitting a demand rather than a question (E.g., “talk about crime rates”). Plus it invites responses based on people’s personal causes or agenda (E.g., “You should do a story about the crooked cop running the 14th district”). Instead, try using clear imperative statements like “Submit your questions.” Or, framing it as “What do you wonder/What have you always wondered/what questions do you have about..."

When you’re developing your prompt, we recommend testing the language with people around the newsroom (or better yet, with friends, family or strangers). Ask people the prompt you’re considering and see how they respond. If needed, you can give examples of the types of questions you’re looking for and see if they think a prompt makes sense or if it brings questions to their mind immediately. And of course, the Hearken engagement consulting team can give feedback for all series messaging and prompts! Email your point person on the team, or throw it to all of us at support@wearehearken.com.

OK. But what if you don't want to use Hearken for a general assignment series in the first place? What if you want to craft a prompt for a special series, to gather questions for a certain beat reporter, or for a major news peg? 

The same three principles about writing a good prompt apply here. Here's some very successful examples from partner newsrooms who use Hearken on a topic by topic basis:

Or, what if you do have a general assignment series with a broad prompt, and want to switch up the scope of topics you're getting? You can try rotating through a series of more specific prompts in addition to a broader one. 

Some prompts may get more questions than others, which can be handy data for your newsroom. Rotating through these more targeted prompts can help your audience figure out which topics generate the most interest and curiosity.

Don’t be afraid to be creative and flexible. You may want to stick with your general assignment prompt most of the time but switch things up for an important news event or special series.