Media Awareness
Most people in your organisation will never undertake a media interview. But there are many who need to understand the importance of reputation and how the media operates. They may need to understand how to handle journalists until a press officer or spokesperson arrives. For these staff we offer a half day interactive ‘Media Awareness’ seminar for groups of up to 20 participants who are typically:
- frontline customer care staff, reception staff and security personnel
- staff who will be part of your response to any operational incidents
- middle managers who would benefit from understanding the external operating and reputational environment in which your organisation operates
We include lots of video clips to illustrate our points, and encourage audience interaction with the help of willing volunteers. We usually ask for volunteers to take part in mock media interview / situational roleplays. Recorded and replay with the group, these highlight the lessons to be learnt and how to avoid the pitfalls of dealing with journalists who we emphasise, are not your friend. It is also the ideal seminar to run on your annual company conference or at a regional networking event.
Media 101
Then there are staff members who will undertake the very occasional print interviews on the telephone or face-to-face. These interviews are not hostile and you judge them to be about providing information rather than managing reputation. This three hour ‘Media 101’ training course for up to three participants is stripped of the ‘story and the message’ element of our usual media training. It is focused on understanding the media and the dos and donts of handling journalists. Mock interviews are run, recorded and played back with the group.
“Thank you all for such an excellent and thought provoking session today. I’m extremely grateful for the insight and experience shared in such convivial atmosphere. I’ll be putting some of what you’ve shared into practice soon.”
“On a personal note, I would like to thank you and the whole team for what was a thoroughly enjoyable and informative session. From the initial meeting with Andrew to the session, everything was extremely well organised, highly engaging and met the brief perfectly.”
“The training was professional, well-structured and relevant. What a great team Electric Airwaves were!”
