What is Media Training?
Media training is training that’s designed to help company spokespeople communicate with journalists.
This helps spokespeople become more confident when dealing with the press.
It also helps spokespeople be more effective: representing the company in a more engaging way while concisely communicating all the right messages.
Why is Media Training Important?
You’re probably a busy CEO or technical lead. Why would you ever even need to worry about doing an interview in the first place?
The truth is: because it’s close to impossible to avoid one. The 3D industry is small, and if you’re an industry leader, word will eventually get around to the media.
Before long, you’ll be expected to discuss key industry trends, and chat through the ins and outs of your next products or projects. Your opinion will matter.
That’s why it’s so important to have some media training. After media training, you’ll be a confident spokesperson that’s excited about every interview.
You’ll learn to avoid appearing too cagey or nervous. You’ll also learn how to avoid surprise tactics like the ones in our intro above—which happen more often than you would think.
15 Media Training Tips from Journalists
Media Training Tip 1: Don’t shy away from interview opportunities.
If you’re so worried about saying the wrong thing that you avoid interviews altogether, that’s never a good sign. Avoiding journalists means your company’s marketing and press coverage will suffer.
Instead, always take the opportunity to take control of your narrative. Simply do a media training brush-up in the days before the interview so you’re confident that the training is fresh in your mind.
Media Training Tip 2: Create your story.
Before you go to the interview, make sure you have a clear story in mind.
Check in with departmental leads at your company and prepare your core message.
If there’s any time-sensitive news that would be beneficial to discuss, you can shape your answers to include all the details when you get to the interview.
Also, try to have a couple of key soundbites or statistics in mind ahead of time: numbers and analogies always resonate well with audiences.