Media training is a specialized form of communications training that helps media-facing individuals to anticipate reporter behavior, avoid common traps, and confidently focus on their messaging.
Though the media landscape is shifting, the importance of media training is undiminished in an era when there are more writers and news “reporters” than ever before. Media training enables communicators to focus on their own interview objectives, whether facing traditional mainstream journalists, trade reporters, or bloggers.
“Mark’s experience and background lend to his impeccable credibility and knowledge of the Public Relations industry. Not only can he work media training magic with a senior leadership team, but he excels in crisis communications. I would recommend MediaWorks to any organization that values PR!”
Jericho Lopez
Johnny Rockets Restaurants
MediaWorks media training consists of three main components:
1) Orientation/media education
Training participants are exposed to the basic concepts of media communication, including the ground rules of doing interviews and the “Do’s and Don’ts.” Real-world video examples illustrate best practices and common media mistakes. We’ve crafted this module over two decades to be captivating, compelling, and engaging. No superflous PowerPoint!
2) On-camera drills
On-camera interview drills comprise the most important element of any media training session. Even if training participants are anticipating print/blog interviews exclusively, the video camera is a vital tool in capturing the interview drills and accurately revealing strengths and challenges. Repeated drills allow each participant to address shortcomings, sharpen messaging, and make improvement from one round to the next. Drills are challenging but never artificially so. We don’t need to scare clients in order to convince them that media training is important.
3) Follow-up support
Tremendous progress can be made in a single day of media training. However, a quality training experience always involves some amount of free follow-up support, to allow trainees the opportunity to receive feedback after they implement the lessons learned. MediaWorks offers one full year of media training follow-up support, which is automatically included in every session we conduct.
Contact us for more information on our media training and crisis communications services.
