Bespoke Media Training
Learn how to give confident, authoritative, engaging print, radio and TV interviews.
Learn how to give confident, authoritative, engaging print, radio and TV interviews
Full-day and half-day Bespoke Media Training delivered either in person or remotely, to help spokespeople to hone their skills, think like journalists, and feel confident and prepared.
What you'll learn
How to make the most of a media interview, a great opportunity to tell customers, suppliers, regulators, Government and other audiences your latest news and views. This course will teach you how to craft key messages for maximum impact and deliver them naturally and with authority. You'll learn to think like a journalist, so you can anticipate, prepare for and answer the tricky questions.
Your trainer will also share techniques to help you project self-assurance and remain calm and in control, even when you're not feeling it. We discuss the way the media works, what journalists are looking for in an interview, the pitfalls to avoid and what we can learn from case studies of real-world good and bad interviews.
We regularly provider refresher training to candidates who have previously completed Bespoke Media Training and wish to update and refocus their skills.
Learn from experts
In-person courses for individuals and groups take place at your own offices or our central London training centres if preferred, using our 'pop-up' studio setup.
Alternatively, we can train remotely if you prefer, using Zoom. Interviews are increasingly recorded remotely, with guests questioned 'down-the-line' by journalists in distant studios, so for remote training we focus on helping spokespeople to look and sound natural while answering questions looking straight to camera or recording on a telephone or ISDN line.
For all Bespoke Media Training, delegates are taught by senior broadcast journalists who are also specialist media trainers with years of experience in coaching spokespeople. You'll put the theory into practice in a series of realistic mock interviews co-designed with your comms team to enhance and extend your skills as a media spokesperson.
Courses can include: print interviews; radio interviews (face-to-face or down-the-line); TV interviews (face-to-face or down-the-line); soundbites for reporter packages. Recordings are played back, so the trainer can critique, advise and help you improve throughout the session.
After training, you'll receive full course notes by email and a link from which to download copies of your recordings. Each delegate also receives their own, personalised post-training evaluation report from the trainer, assessing their performance during the course and providing suggestions, exercises and tips for continuing to improve and develop.
Who Bespoke Media Training is for
This training is for you if a core part of your job is to regularly represent your organisation in broadcast media interviews. We are always pleased to welcome back previous delegates to give them refresher training and are experienced in designing refresher sessions that really engage and further develop delegates' skills.
You may want to follow this course with Crisis Media Training which focuses on the advanced messaging and performance skills required for coping with the toughest interviews.
Course Modules
Module 1: Bespoke Media Training Theory
Understanding the media and what journalists want
How print and broadcast differ
The best way to prepare for media interviews
Crafting powerful key messages
Responding to tricky questions and steering interviews
Voice and body language techniques for projecting confidence
Module 2: Practical exercises
Print interview
Radio interview (down-the-line)
TV interviews (sit-down with interviewer, soundbites)
Breathing exercises for overcoming nerves
What our students say
I honestly thought that the whole day was fabulous!!! You really couldn’t have done anymore for us. The combination of practical exercises and feedback was particularly useful, it was a challenging day (in a very good way) in that we really had to think, learn and adapt quickly. I know the team are significantly better prepared for media interviews after this training.
PA Media Training were efficient, well organised and genuinely lovely people to deal with and, importantly for us, able to provide flexibility around our needs to create the bespoke training we required. I wouldn’t hesitate to use them for further training or to recommend them to other organisations.
The training scenarios are as real to life as you could possibly get. They took considerable time to research our current plans and issues and used these to design a series of true to life radio and TV interviews. The team is outstanding, and their expertise and knowledge has been invaluable. Book them – you’ll be glad you did.
The team is flexible, slick, well-resourced and overall simply first class. Their expertise and knowledge have been invaluable. I was delighted with our choice, so I’d have no hesitation in recommending them
The lifelike interview settings and tasks that PA Media Training deal in replicate perfectly the real-world feel of a tough media interview and help the delegates come out of the day feeling much more confident that they can play an active role in representing their organisation.
What a great session we had on Communicating with Impact. Bridgid shared practical techniques to enhance and develop our communications skills so we can present and speak publicly or to senior stakeholders with confidence and impact. I speak for my whole team in highly recommending Bridgid Nzekwu if you are after effective and fun communication training.
Interested in this course?
Talk to the Press Association Academy team about dates, fees and bespoke options.