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info@relationsinc.com
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"Media Training"
- Are you and others in your company prepared to do on camera interviews?
- When a reporter ask you a question, "off the record," what does that mean?
- Are you prepared to answer the "Darth Vader" questions? The ones you pray no one will ask, but you know they will.
- How well you do in the interview will impact your company’s reputation, because the media controls the public’s perception and perception is reality – especially during troubled times.
Planning and executing a media relation strategy that tells your story, and influences public opinion, is critical to the success of an organization. The media can be your biggest ally, or your worst nightmare. Media training will prepare you, and others in your company, to project a comfortable, competent on camera image, while providing meaningful messages with confidence and sincerity.
Training Objectives
The purpose of the media training is to help those who may be thrust in the media limelight, especially a hostile media, develop the skills necessary to deliver "YOUR Messages." An interview is an opportunity to quickly disseminate vital information to a great number of people -- the general public, employees, government regulators and other stakeholders. At the time of a crisis, these target audiences will naturally look to you for answers.
Getting your messages out effectively is a skill needed by anyone who could end up in the media spotlight. If you are communicating to the media following a fire, explosion, product tampering, or other problem, you should know that the media is going to go where the crisis is, and they are going to demand answers to their questions. The need to respond quickly, and from the location of the emergency, will precede by hours the ability of home office PR staff to "rescue" the operations personnel. Therefore, those on the spot must be trained and prepared to act quickly.
Our media training is designed to provide individuals with the skills they will need to show the media that your organization is in control. If you don’t appear to be in control, the media will take over the story and show your organization as inept and unprepared to respond to an incident that they will portray as avoidable. That sets you and your organization up for even more serious problems, such as class action lawsuits.
Training Techniques
Videotape playbacks and critiques are an essential part of every training session. Feedback from participants always stress how valuable seeing themselves on camera was to their learning experience. The trainers carefully guided critiques pertaining to body language, facial expressions and eye contact yield the greatest growth and improvement. Beyond "on to look good on camera," participants are taught how to prepare for interviews.
Research
Finally, to make the training relevant, research is conducted so the trainers understand the potential crisis situations, policies, and media relations history of the organization. The training is then tailored to address the real issues and questions the participants could face.