Media Spokesperson Training for Executives

Your corporate communications strategy should include spokesperson media training.

Having a good media spokesperson on your team can make all the difference between your company gaining a good reputation or a bad one. Media Interview Skills Training in this area can reap huge rewards for your business – or avoid the pitfalls of an interview gone wrong.

A spokesperson adept at building rapport with experienced journalists through confident body language and presentation skills can help an organisation control the outcome, especially when dealing with the media.

Media Interview Skills Training

The Media Manoeuvres approach to executive media interview skills training is simple. Companies must have effective and efficient media spokespeople to deliver your messages succinctly and with impact. Media training should be ongoing for senior management, executives and team members.

Our experienced media trainers focus on developing new skills and behaviours. We deliver essential interview training that will allow you to control the interview, deliver consistent key messages, see the potential consequences of your words, and importantly, integrate new skills into effective performance. Improving media skills from unknown to expert prepares your executive team for the next critical media interview.

7 qualities of highly effective spokespeople

1. Knowledge of their target audience: It is imperative to know the target audience because these are the people with whom you want to communicate.
2. Understanding of the media: Knowing how journalists think and work is important when it comes to communicating with the media or managing media coverage during a crisis.
3. Understanding of their key messages: When working with the media it’s important to be consistent with key messages being delivered to the public. A good spokesperson will be able to address the media and stay on message, whatever the question.
4. Preparedness: Great spokespeople know how to prepare before speaking with a journalist. They can predict questions that may be asked and will always have the information they can draw from, such as company statistics and facts.
5. Eloquence: They speak with meaning and are articulate. People want to listen to what they are saying.
6. Calmness under pressure: They keep their cool in difficult situations and concentrate on the messages that need to be conveyed.
7. Confidence: They appear relaxed, confident, focussed and credible. They speak with power.

Course Outlines

Our short courses cover a range of interview techniques to ensure that a company’s spokesperson is able to deliver effective interviews with the media. We offer courses in varying formats specifically designed to match the skill level and needs of trainees.

Media Awareness

The focus for this session is an introduction to the media industry and how it works for participants who have had limited media experience or who may only deal occasionally with the media.

Conducted in a group setting, the session gives participants a grounding in what the media wants, how to satisfy media enquiries, identify what is newsworthy and how to maximise public relations opportunities.

Importantly, participants will also learn the danger zones and the repercussions of straying from defined spokesperson boundaries.

Executive Media Skills – Step 1

This fast-paced, interactive online course introduces participants to the skills and techniques required to effectively work with the media across a variety of situations.

Combining Media Manoeuvres’ media communication models and adult training principles, you will learn how the media works and what journalists are looking for.

We explore the elements of a successful interview, taking you through the interview process step-by-step. This training will help you hone your interview skills and transform you into an effective media spokesperson.

Tailored for executive, specialist and professional staff, the course comes with several interview tips and introduces participants to effective media control skills and builds confidence for all types of interviews by assessing strengths and areas for improvement through interview practice and feedback. It focuses on message development needed for all types of job interviews and provides valuable insights into how hiring decisions are made.

Techniques are ‘tested’ in a supportive environment using different forms of media (print, TV, radio, digital and social media) in realistic simulations to gain maximum interview experience and emerge more confident in your job search.

Advanced Media Skills – Step 2

During this session, participants are expected to be able to apply key communication models and media tools using the blueprints developed in Step 1.

Participants focus on their media performance by developing more sophisticated control skills and applying a strategic approach to media communication.

We focus on content and integrate the organisation’s strategic objectives with the participant’s media performance to refine media skills.

Other Media Manoeuvres courses include:

Issue Based Media Training
Crisis Media Skills
Crisis Simulations – Desktop Multimedia Role Play
Crisis Media Awareness

Testimonial:

“Great session. Very professional and the opportunity to practice the theory and test the concepts is invaluable.“
– Executive Manager – Suncorp

If you would like to find out more about our Media Interview Skills Training programs, please contact us today on the following numbers around Australia:

Melbourne : 03 9510 6000 | Sydney : 02 9905 8266 | Canberra : 02 6282 8660 | Brisbane & Perth : 1800 18 33 43