Free Media Training for Corporate Spokespeople

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Media training can help you interview better when you talk to reporters, journalists and online influencers.

This free media training course features Commcore Consulting Group CEO Andrew Gilman, a master media trainer, who was interviewed following his master class at the PRSA International Convention in Detroit.

Commcore provides executives and spokespeople in corporations, associations and public affairs organizations with communication skills training and public relations services virtually and in-person. They have customized training and coaching services to meet thier client’s needs

Mr. Gilman is also author of the book “Get to the Point” and also posts about sticky message of the month on his blog.

In this audio recording he provides an introduction to the most important things you need to know if you are serving as a official corporate spokesperson for an organization.

If you’ve never experienced a media training session before this recording will get you up to speed in a short of time.

What is Media Training?

Media training involves helping business leaders represent themselves effectively when interviewing to the news media through role playing exercises, mock interviews and watching and critiquing yourself on video.

A media trainer teaches business people how to communicate in short statements or sound bites that are difficult for journalist to edit and use out of context.

Media training session with Aboitiz in Manila

You learn how to avoid making ambiguous statements. The point is to speak in no uncertain terms that can be misinterpreted.

Media training how to avoid some of the common pitfalls that arise when interviewing with reporters who are filing stories on a short deadline and may not have the time to consider the nuances or inferences of a statement and instead take it for what it is.

Media training, while still popular today, was more popular before the internet and social media, when journalists were the gatekeepers of public audiences.

Media Training vs Social Media Training

Today, since anyone can communicate to the public via social media, social media training courses help non-official spokespeople used social media effectively and responsibly at work.

I have plenty of free social media training courses you can take if you’re interested in training unofficial spokespeople.

Online social media training course give businesses a useful, cost-effective way to increase their social media literacy and, in turn, effectiveness.

I have a library of online social media training program with the same high-quality, top-rated content I present in my social media bootcamps all over the world, backed with an arsenal of supplemental materials.

Social media training session I led at the US Embassy to Athens in Greece.

If you’re looking for social media training courses or if you need help producing customer success webinars for SaaS, check out these links. That’s not what this podcast is about.

How Much Does Media Training Cost?

This is a free media training session with interview drills that I recorded with a very experienced, senior media trainer with decades of experience.

He trains c-level executives and business leaders to serve as corporate spokespeople in official capacity.

If you’re looking to bring in a media trainer to conduct live media training at your organization, expect to pay from $2500 to $10,000 for one-day media training session with video recording and playback equipment.

Media training session I led at NORAD in Colorado Springs.

The price will vary based on the expertise of the media trainer, the breadth and depth of the actual media training session as well as the length of the session, number of people to be trained and the location. Here’s an article with more on pricing.

Media Training Tips

3:57 – Andrew Gilman on the objective of the sound bite, and on what it takes to craft a sound bite that gets picked up.

4:22 – Andrew Gilman discusses weaving sound bites into difficult interviews.

4:40 – Andrew Gilman on the best sound bite to come out of the recent US Presidential Election.

5:40 – The importance of analogies and visualizations in crafting memorable sound bites.

6:30 – Andrew Gilman shares one of the best sound bites he ever created.

7:57 – Andrew Gilman uses the WIIFM messaging factor to craft a memorable sound bite on the benefit of car doors that open wider.

9;30 – Andrew Gilman on how the LAPD, LAFD, Teacher’s Union and other California State Employees used carefully tested sound bites to defeat Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s attempt to eliminate Defined Benefit Contribution Plans.

10:39 — Referencing Wired Magazine’s June 2008 cover story on The End of Science, Eric Schwartzman asks Andrew Gilman whether or not the availability of data will change the way sound bites are created.

11:29 – Andrew Gilman discusses the shortcomings of data and the importance of tapping emotional sentiment when designing a sound bite.

12:20 – Andrew Gilman on putting a sound bite to the “Hey Marge” test.

12:58 – Andrew Gilman on the optimal duration of the quintessential sound bite, and why effective sound bites are always longer than what actually get picked up.

14:45 – Andrew Gilman on the impact of sound bites on our collective IQ as a populace.

15:09 – Leveraging sound bites to drive web traffic.

15:41 – Andrew Gilman on the impact of the sound bite on media and democracy, and some of the most damaging political sound bites of modern history.

16:20 – Andrew Gilman on advocating for your interests with sound bites.

17:05 – In addition to his book “Get to the Point” and his online sticky message of the month, Andrew Gilman’s recommends the book “Made to Stick” about how to create memorable sound bites.

17:36 – Andrew Gilman on how top political messaging gurus on the left and the right use sound bites to frame debates of national and international interest, and the power of well chosen words in striking popular sentiments.

18:10 – Karl Rove’s use of sound bites to promote policy.

19:33 – End

Photo by Sam McGhee on Unsplash

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