I’m sometimes contacted by clients who say they have an exceptionally high-level spokesperson within their organisation who is in need of “advanced media training.” He or she holds this lofty position, is experienced and competent in media interviews and needs to take things to the next level. I have learnt to proceed with caution when this is the initial brief.
I mean no disrespect, but more often than not, the communications advisor has mistaken the spokesperson’s senior role with for their media competence. Granted, high level executives will get through most interviews on superior subject knowledge, general intellect and sometimes it’s combined with a bit of charisma too! But when things are stripped back, what they are lacking isn’t a super-charged technique to manage forensic interviews – it’s actually a fundamental process to follow from the preparation phase through to the message delivery.
So often, a session which was initially framed as “advanced” ends up with the spokesperson actually re-visiting their entire approach for preparing for a media interview and adopting what is (for them) a new but highly effective methodology.
That’s not to say there aren’t some spokespeople who benefit from advanced sessions – because there. It’s just, they’re few and far between. Honest and clear communications between media advisor and trainer in the pre-training phase is what will save time, maximise effectiveness and determine the real format and level of training required.
For more on this or to discuss your organisation’s media training requirement please contact Saltwater Media Solutions.
