Why media training is important

Media training includes acquiring techniques that will help them anticipate any eventuality in any interview scenario, prepare appropriately for interviews, organise their thoughts and share knowledge clearly and concisely in a two-way discussion with the media interviewer.

This helps spokespeople to give better value in a media interview by helping them to identify with what the audience would be interested in hearing about, as opposed to only focusing on what they want to tell them. At the same time, it will help them get their messages across without going into sales mode, which could railroad the interview.

More respect

The better their interview techniques, the more respect spokespeople will gain from the media, and the more opportunities for interviews will come their way. Unfortunately, all too often, spokespeople view the media as the enemy that is out to get them, instead of acquiring skills to exploit the opportunity to get optimum media coverage and avoid the risks of negative exposure.

Anyone who interacts with the media will benefit from media training. I have come across individuals that are natural spokespeople, but these are few and far between. Interestingly, these individuals are usually the first to jump at the chance of honing their media interaction skills.

At the other end of the scale are those who spurn the suggestion of media training because they consider themselves to be really great spokespeople with no room for improvement. Meanwhile they are often the worst people to interview, largely due to their inflated egos, know-it-all attitude, and a tendency to speak at the journalist instead of engaging in a two-way conversation.

Group training

Full-day, group media training workshops work really well, especially in a scenario whereby having been through the guidelines, delegates take turns in being interviewed on their chosen topics for which they have prepared. After each interview, the rest of the group provides feedback on the spokesperson's performance.

This is the media training approach I mostly use when it comes to group workshops. It works really well and it is great for team building. One-on-one media training sessions are equally effective, although the dynamics are slightly different.

For example, with the one-on-one coaching sessions I run, the spokesperson gets my undivided attention for almost a full day and there is an opportunity for multiple interview sessions. This type of media training is particularly popular with CEOs, MDs and other company directors.

Interact better with customers

I have even run tailored media training sessions for companies to help their managers, sales people and other customer-facing staff to broaden their knowledge of the markets in which they operate and interact better with their customers.

While this might seem strange at first glance, when spokespeople interact with the media, their main target audience is - or should be - customers and potential customers. They therefore need to interact with media interviewers as if they were addressing this audience directly.