Media training is about helping you come across as comfortable, confident, and relaxed anytime you have to speak to someone in the media, a reporter, a journalist, or a talk show host, and these days it’s about speaking to your own camera for social media and media you create.
Why Media Training Is Important?
The good news is, THERE ARE FIRMS WITH EXPERTS IN MEDIA SPEAKING WHO WILL BE YOUR MEDIA TRAINERS.
Is it important to attend media training before you present yourself in front of the media? For me, it is a 100-times yes!
Because if you are intended to create an unbeatable reputation among your clients, customers, and audience, you have no room to make a mistake.
Media training is all about you! It is about your practice and our consultancy.
Media training is only carried out by hundreds of minutes of practice to deliver a PERFECT 5-minute interview.
And if you will be making a mistake, media trainers will be having your back.
The Most Important Tip
Remember! NEVER GO FOR AN INTERVIEW WITHOUT SEEING YOURSELF ANSWERING THOSE QUESTIONS IN FRONT OF YOUR OWN CAMERA.
This is important. When you look at yourself speaking on the camera, you realize what mistakes you are making.
Sometimes, you have to change your posture.
Oftentimes, you must change your tone to create soundbites. Keep recording yourself on your camera unless you are satisfied with the final video.
Only now you are ready-to-go for the interview!
How Media training is beneficial for you?
Media training helps you feel comfortable in front of the camera.
Most importantly, they help you identify the purpose of your media interview and craft a concise message.
A message that you can deliver within 30 seconds or even less. Media training helps you formulate a strategy to tackle the pinching questions that MIGHT be asked during an interview.
Two Features Of Media Training
1. Starting Off With Recording:
As soon as you step into the media training firm, you will be asked to answer certain questions in front of the camera. T
his turns out to be weird for absolute beginners. But the fact is, PRACTICE IS THE ONLY WAY TO BECOME AN EXPERT MEDIA SPEAKER.
2. No More Than 3 Messages:
When you are going for a media interview, declutter your mind and scrap off the excessive content it has.
YOU ONLY NEED MAXIMUM OF 3 MESSAGES TO CONVEY.
Anything more than this would be ambiguous and there will not be any concise conclusion of your interview.
How To Concise Your Topic?
When you are brainstorming the answers, a lot of things pop up in your mind.
Remember that you are not supposed to reply with every GREAT answer that comes into your head. There is a saying, the more you say, the more you get yourself into trouble.
So, you have to concise your topic and define the topic, purpose, and target of your interview.
It should be focused on JUST ONE THING and fulfilling JUST ONE purpose.
Media Training Tips
What are very specific easy things you can do to come across better in the media for your next interview.
For starters, just lean forward about 15 degrees into the camera if you are doing anything on video.
What a lot of people do is they try to have perfect posture and they hold themselves straight up and it makes them look skiff, scared and nervous.
You just have to lean forward about 15 degrees, it will make your head the focus, it tends to make everyone look slimmer and better.
So for a video or a TV interview or anytime you’re in front of a camera leaning forward about 15 degrees is the number one tip to help make you look better on video.
What is Media Training For Executives and Tips ?
Many executives are so busy. They have got division heads, assistants pulling on them here & there and they think of themselves already as a good communicator, “Hey! I am the CEO” or I am at this top senior vice president.
Because my communication skills are better than those people, therefore I can wing the interview, I don’t have to practice, I don’t have to rehearse, I am too senior.
I have too much stature to do training; training that’s for juniors.
That’s not the mentality you want. Smart executives realize that when they communicate and they communicate to the media, that is the most important thing they do in their job because that has an impact on how investors see them, suppliers, their own employees, their customers, the public, regulators.
So how well you come across in the media as an executive is critical.
So the number one tip for an executive is you’ve got to spend time doing a videotaped rehearsal if it’s an important interview, even if it’s a minor interview.
For something that seems minor, you still need to do a rehearsal. Even if it is a colleague or a PR assistant calling you over the phone doing a sample interview with you on your phone while you are driving to a TV station or radio station.
Certainly, if you are doing this from home, doing an actual SKYPE video or ZOOM video, rehearsal with your in-house PR council or outside PR council, or with a media trainer like me, is going to help a great deal.
Because when you get it wrong as an executive, it’s not just about you, it’s not your ego. You potentially harm the whole organization.
On the other hand, when you do great interviews, consistently you build your brand, build your reputation that everything helps as it fuels that.
Think of someone like Richard Branson and the virgin company.
He does so many media appearances and he always has a smile on his face.
It’s not that he is perfect, he has lots of us and um’s come out but he shares his enthusiasm for his latest project and he’s interesting and he tries to have fun. That is the essence of good media skills for executives.
What is Media Training For Trainers and Tips?
Well, if you are a trainer and you are teaching people how to speak to the media? you better be good at yourself.
One thing I do in every training is I do a quick demonstration not long, I want the focus of the spotlight to be on the client person I am training.
But, if someone asked a question of you know what’s the best way to Facebook live or do a quick youtube video.
I don’t talk about it, I’ll actually do it.
I’ll open up my phone, go to Facebook live and I’ll do a 60-second Facebook live video, where I am walking the talk.
I look comfortable, I speak in a confident way, I communicate a point.
So, if you are going to be a media trainer, you need to do that.
My other Big-Big tip for media trainers is the number one blunder most media trainers make, they talk too much.
Now I have to talk in these videos because I can’t talk to you right now but if you are in a live training situation, the number one thing you need to do to help an executive, an athlete, an author, or anyone you are training is you need to get them speaking on camera more watching themselves, critiquing themselves and doing it again and again.
I have found in 30+ years that I’ve been doing media training.
The longer I do this the less I actually say in a day of life training.
The more the trainee says and the better the results.
So, you have to fight your instinct to want to pick apart and tell someone 50 different things, they did right and wrong about every single little interview because if you do that, the interview will take 2 minutes and you’ll take 2 hours or 3 hours to critiquing that one interview and then there’s no more time to really make progress.
The most important thing, the biggest lesson I’ve learned in training, tens of thousands of people all over the globe in persons and more than a million people online is that where people get the most value from media training is when they can look at a video of themselves having gone through a tough interview and they could say, ‘yes that’s exactly how I want to look’, that’s how I want to sound, that’s my message, doesn’t matter where the interview is sliced, diced or edited.
I’m happy with the results, if you as a trainer can create that result, you will be a success; the training session will be a success and your client will love you.
What is Media Training For Athletes like and Tips?
Athletes from a very young age are put in a position where they have tremendous access to the media.
After a game you win, you lose; reporters will want to talk to you.
I mean this happens even in middle school in some places.
There is tremendous interest in the culture around the world in sports and athletics. So as an athlete, you have a chance to communicate a lot.
What you don’t want to do as an athlete, just say the normal boring cliches, oh we played real hard and the other team showed up and the coach said we give them; people heard that a thousand times.
What you need to do is to think about how you can say something interesting after again.
Show some insight, give a little bit of color, create an image in people’s minds to get them to think about how you play the game whether it’s after the game, before the game, what you want them to think about.
Because here’s the thing that most athletes don’t realize especially when they’re in high school or college.
The big money in sports is from speaking, not doing the thing.
Tiger woods makes so much more money as an endorser when he appears in commercials than he does actual prize winnings.
You look at the people whether it’s football, soccer, other sports; it’s the athletes who develop the reputation of being articulate.
They can go on to careers as announcers, as talk show hosts, as play-by-play, people as on-air reporters and analysts.
Their careers can go 50 years sometimes and they can make more and more and more money every year.
You don’t want to be one of these athletes who made a ton of money and then your whole career was over at age 25 and now you’re emptying a truck in the middle for minimum wage, for the rest of your life, you don’t want to do that.
So that’s why media training is so important for athletes because it can help you in so many aspects of your career and certainly if you get to the elite level of any sport part of what the big bucks you’re receiving go towards is your ability to market that team by being available for interviews.
So, many professional sports leagues these days have it as a requirement that whether it’s after the tennis match, after the football game, you have to make yourself available to the media; you’re going to do it anyway.
Why not be great at it, why not build your own brand, your own reputation doesn’t matter if you want to start an insurance company after your playing days are over or if you want to be a play-by-play commentator for a major network.
Being interesting, confident, engaging every single time a reporter sticks a microphone in your mouth can only help your career. That’s why media training is so important for athletes.
What is Media Training For Radio like and Tips?
A lot of people take radio for granted, TV scares people so they’re more inclined to get media training for that and if there is a text interview with a major publication like the NEW YORK TIMES, that can be scary.
So people might prepare for that more but radio seems casual and it seems easier somehow.
Well here’s the thing, you still have an opportunity to make a great impression, a horrible impression, no impression, and a great impression and communicate your message.
So the challenges are the same, now it’s true you don’t have to worry about how you sit or move your hands if it’s a radio interview.
You have to worry about makeup but you still need to focus on having an Interesting message.
Now, here’s a quick tip about radio, let’s say you’re on a one-hour-long public affairs show on a talk radio station you may think oh wonderful, it’s an hour long.
I have all this time I’ll wait till the end to pitch my latest book or my campaign, No.
An hour seems like a lot of time but in radio especially commercial talk radio, it isn’t because the average audience member typically only listens for about 15 Minutes.
If they’re in their car they get out of their car, they’re in the parking lot for the grocery store they’re not going to sit there to listen to you.
If they’re at home Listening to walk into another room, they don’t hear it after a while.
So, there’s only about a 15-minute window out of that 15 minutes you’ve got sometimes the top of the hour, the news, the weather, the sports, commercial break, questions from the anchor or the host.
You might only have two minutes to speak in that 15 minutes and that’s all someone hears from you.
So that’s why it is again critically important that you narrow your focus, you narrow your messages down to just three.
That’s the most important tip when it comes to appearing on the radio.
What is Media Training For Television like and Tips?
Television is obviously a visual medium, so you need to take that into consideration.
I could have the greatest message ever, deliver the most wonderful insights ever, but if I’m looking like this the whole time, and you’re watching this video you’re not going to take away any of these great messages.
You’re going to say why is that scared guy reading notes off the floor, it’s a little thing like the eye contact makes such importance and these days if you’re being interviewed on zoom, for example, skype there’s the tendency to want to look at the person who’s asking you the question.
Well, look what happens if I am constantly looking down or over, I am literally shifty-eyed.
We’ve been taught in virtually every culture in the world not to trust someone who’s shifty-eyed.
So when it comes to television you have to pay close attention to things like if there’s no reporter around looking right at the camera, if there is a reporter around and you’re being interviewed by someone on set, just look at that person it will look fun, also you need a slight smile on your face because most of us when we are listening to someone talk, listening to someone ask us a question we do this.
How does that look?, probably looks like I am scared, nervous, bored; you need a little bit of a smile on your face and the final thing is you need to move.
When human beings are comfortable and confident and they’re in a conversation, your head moves, your body moves, your face move, your hands move.
The first thing nervous people do when they’re being interviewed on TV, is they freeze their body.
So you’ve got to tell yourself when you’re nervous keep moving your hands, keep moving your body, keep moving your head, that is the most important tip when it comes to media training or television.
What are Media Training tips on Body Language?
If a reporter is interviewing you in person even if it’s a print reporter, your body language is important especially if you are a high-ranking CEO or a politician and the reporter is an investigative journalist and they’re trying to dig at some controversy.
You may have a good message but if your body language is defensive, close-arm, looking down, scowling, you’re going to send a message to the reporter, “hey I am guilty, I am hiding something here”.
This is true even if there’s no TV camera present, they’re just sitting across from you, sitting next to you at a table or a restaurant, So you want to look comfortable and confident and relaxed any time you are talking to a reporter.
Now for most people that the tension-filled part of this is body language when you’re on television because it’s human nature to be nervous and when we’re nervous at some level we’re all like little bunny rabbits.
You ever go out for a walk and you spot a bunny rabbit and it does this (jump).
It figures if it doesn’t move you won’t see it and you won’t kill it and eat it.
At some level, as human beings, we’re still wired that way we might not rationally think of it in those terms but that’s what’s happening.
I have seen the body language of thousands and thousands of executives all over the world freeze up as soon as I put that camera and light on them.
That’s why it’s critically important that you are aware of your body language and you know exactly how you’re coming across. So you need to rehearse your body language before any interview.
If a reporter can see you whether it’s television or just a newspaper reporter showing up at your office, you need to rehearse on video.
I would recommend you just use your cell phone and record video or a webcam, camcorder, it doesn’t matter the technology, what matters is you can see how you’re coming across.
Now, here’s the big blunder most people make if they’re doing a pretty good job with their body language.
Their hands are moving, what happens is people see their hands moving and they think, oh! my god I look like an idiot moving my hands, that’s not professional, I better hold my hands down and they hold their hands down, they freeze their hands, they freeze their body, they freeze their head, their vocal cords.
The next thing you know, they sound like they are in a hostage video. You don’t want to do that, you want movement hands, arms, body, face, eyebrows.
That’s what will make you come across, that’s what will give you strong body language for all of your media interviews.
That’s really the most important media training tip for body language.
what are The most important media training tip for phone interviews?
Cheat. What do I mean by cheating?
I mean stare at your message points, stare at your sound bites, have it on a single sheet of paper, and apologies that this sounds like I am anti-environmentalist.
I am not but a sheet of paper is far better than a computer screen.
You got your computer screen open, it’s too easy for notifications to pop up, for you to quickly check email if the reporter has to put you on hold for a second, there’s too many distractions.
Your computer could need a reboot or a virus hit it, you accidentally unplug it, power outage.
The beauty of paper is, it doesn’t ask for electricity, doesn’t have any virus or compatibility issues and it allows you to focus.
That is the number one media training tip you need to follow for phone interviews.
Have your notes, now not a whole paragraph, you don’t want to be reading paragraphs.
A message point is something you should be able to say in 10 words or less.
Sound bytes should just be one or two sentences.
So, you glance down at it but you’re not reading long sentences or paragraphs.
That’s really the most important media training tip for phone interviews.
What are the Types of Media training programs?
Media training programs include a number of packages that are suitable for different groups of periods. This blog would give you a detailed insight into how each program looks like and who should select it.
One-On-One MEDIA TRAINING
One-on-One media training is all about our undivided attention towards you.
In this type of media training, we focus on every aspect of media training that is needed for our prospects.
The best way to get most of the value out of this program is to let us know what you exactly want. We will then formulate the best possible solution for you.
Who should choose One-On-One Media Training?
This is the best suited for CEOs, executives, and leaders who have got to learn a lot in little time at the cost of money.
Media Training Workshops
Media training workshops are conducted in the form of a seminar with a lot of like-minded people gathered with JUST ONE AIM—MASTER MEDIA COMMUNICATION.
This is mostly self-improvement, coupled with a lot of fun and learning.
Media Training Workshop Template
We mostly start media training workshops by interviewing people randomly.
They are recorded and criticized by their fellows sitting with them. This is a huge opportunity to learn but you have to create guts to be JUDGED by the people.
Who Should Choose Media Training Workshop
This is the best suited for people who have got plenty of time to attend several media training workshops and have got a limited investment.
The media training workshop is the best pick for students and employees.
Online Media Training Coursess
Media training courses are popular among people particularly during the time of the pandemic.
The best part is, they are self-paced, and we can go deep into the topic, without worrying about time. Another good news is that they may cost not more than a cup of coffee.
Online media training courses not only include online lectures in the form of videos, but they also consist of worksheets, tasks, and quizzes.
Who should Choose Online Media Training Courses
Media training courses are for those who cannot get out of their homes easily and like to do self-learning.
If you think you are one of those? Click here to access our detailed courses.
Media Training Presentations
Media training presentations are all about an expert from a media training firm visiting your team and giving a presentation on media training.
This presentation would be crafted by keeping your needs in mind and the domain of activity.
Again, all we need is a complete brief from our clients so that we can create the best value for them.
Particularly during the times of pandemic, these presentations could be in the form of webinars.
This is a great opportunity for providing your employees with a session of media training.
The members will be allowed to ask questions and involve in the presentation to make the most of it.
Who should Choose Media Training Presentation
This is the best suited for corporations that want their employees to be media trained and able to speak in front of the camera.
Not only companies but political and non-profit organizations are also encouraged to hire the services of our media training presenters.
Media Training For Executives
Media training for executives is much like One-on-One but it may include a stakeholders and team of managers from your company.
It includes our media training experts being on-table with your team and dedicating the session to solving your company’s needs individually.
You just let us know what exactly you need, and we will be making you feel, “Oh! That was easy!”
This also opens another branch of a media training course called crisis communication training which refers to dealing with the crisis that your company is going through.
When a crisis hits your company, it may sound like you have to attend crisis communication training only.
However, crisis communication should always be practiced for a possible crisis that may (or even may not) hit your company ever!
Who should choose media training for executives
This is, as the name suggests, suitable for executives and stakeholders of companies and firms who find it their responsibility to maintain their reputation.
In the best-case scenario, the CEO should be accompanied by the managers and the spokesperson of his firm.
Media Training Books
Media training books are one of the best-selling books in the market today as the trend of shooting videos has picked up pace in the last few years.
Click here to order my detailed book on media training named ‘Media Training A-Z’.
Although we highly recommend you go through this book in order to educate and motivate yourself to get in front of the camera.
The fact is, you cannot master media communication unless you step into the field and get your hands dirty.
Just like you can read hundreds of books on swimming but you can never learn swimming unless you get into the pool.
Who should choose media Training Books
This book is made for people who have to travel a lot and love self-help books.
It will give you a detailed insight into media training at the cost of time. It is not really recommended if you cannot spend too many hours learning just 1 thing.
How To Answer Questions In An Interview?
The way one should talk on the media is a lot different than he might talk in his drawing-room.
When you are speaking in front of guests at your home, no one else is listening to you except them and after that particular moment.
However, when you are speaking on the media, millions (or even billions) of people are watching you.
And people may watch you for the next 50 years. The media training guide includes how you should respond to every question, whether harsh or flowery, during a media interview.
Packaging Your Messages Into Soundbites
It is often said, your messages should be concise enough to be deliverable in 30 seconds or even lesser.
We will help you point out your objective and based on that, help you formulate a maximum of 3 messages that you can deliver in the soundbites, no longer than 30 seconds.
Media training guides will help you learn the qualities of a positive response in every situation.
Cost Of Media Training Programs
This is a question that might be a big matter for a lot of people.
But there are prospects who understand the importance of getting educated and do not compromise on it.
Hiring media training consultancy services is just like buying a car.
You can invest 2000 dollars or 200,000 dollars in a car, and definitely, these both would never be the same.
So, if you are talking about an experienced media training firm, they at least charge 5 to 8 thousand dollars per day, or even up to 10 thousand dollars.
Some executives want a media training session every month or two months for years. In this case, you are talking about six figures.
However, if you are short on budget, you may go for online media training courses that cost no more than 10-15 dollars.
The thing to consider is that there are two things you can invest in media training; your time and your money.
If you think you have plenty of time, then you should go to workshops, books, and courses.
However, if you are a CEO or a stakeholder of a renowned company, it is not recommended at all to save a few thousand bucks and spends hours and hours on media training. After all, it is you who must assess the worth of media training to your company and invest in it accordingly.
How To Hire A Media Training Company?
This is something too honest about media training online to share the secrets of how to hire the best media training company. Whenever you decide to hire a media training company, keep these 2 things in your mind:
Explain To Them What You Want
Be 100% transparent with your media trainers and tell them exactly what you are looking for and why. Based on your needs, they are going to recommend to you the best solution that falls under your budget and fulfils your needs too.
Ask A Video Proposal
Whenever we send a proposal to our clients, we always send them a video proposal on why they should hire us.
Do you know why we do this? People think that if our media trainers can speak so well in front of the camera, they are in good hands.
On the other hand, if they hide and make commitments based on 1-on-1 meetings or phone calls, they are not showing you how good they are in media communication. Summarizing it;
NEVER HIRE A MEDIA TRAINING COMPANY WITHOUT SEEING YOUR MEDIA TRAINER SPEAKING ON THE CAMERA.
If you are looking for a media training firm that has been doing its job perfectly well for the last 30 years, you have landed on the right page.
Online Media Training would love to play its role for you too. Click here to contact us and let us know what you are looking for and why.