Writing Tips: Compose a Resident Spotlight Article

It’s a fact- we love learning about your residents! When our team is creating your unique newsletters, they often read the submitted Resident Spotlight articles. This type of article highlights people in your community, and it makes us more connected to you as well. That being said, if we enjoy this type of article so much, it’s guaranteed that your own readers will enjoy them too! 

The first step in writing an article like this is to interview the subject. Start with the basics to get them talking. Find out where they’re from, what their family was like growing up and if they have siblings. Did they go to college; what did they do for work; did they get married; do they have kids of their own? Grandkids? Great-grandkids? Try to ask open-ended questions so you don’t end up with yes or no answers. 

Now that you’ve got them opening up about themselves, you can ask some more unique questions. Try asking if they have any memorable travel stories or about their favorite vacation destination. What hobbies do they currently have and what hobbies did they have in the past?  You can ask some deeper questions, too, like: what is their proudest accomplishment or what’s the best advice they’ve ever given or received. An especially juicy question to ask would be about historic moments they might have witnessed or been affected by; we can only imagine the fascinating stories that could come in response!

Remember, these are just suggestions of questions and hopefully they inspire your own unique questions to ask! Be open to letting the conversation flow and the anecdotes lead the interview; you never know what you might find out about this person. To finish up your interview together, snap a photo of the resident to accompany the article in your newsletter. You can even ask this person if they have any photographs they want to include in the article to support their stories! We can’t wait to see what you come up with.

Learn more about our activity calendar and senior living newsletter services or book an appointment to discuss your publishing needs.