Media Training: What Is It and Why Do You Need It?

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Media training is a specialist course designed to coach businesspeople on how to act in public interviews and how to get the best results from media appearances. It exists to help individuals learn to come across well on screen or over the radio.

Every Business Needs Public Relations

Public relations (PR) and outreach campaigns are an essential activity for many businesses. If you want the public to know who you are and what you do, appearing on broadcast media to share your expertise and advice is a great way to do it.

However, it’s not as simple as just going on a TV or radio show and magically knowing exactly what to say to give a great impression. This is where media training comes in.

Here, too, is where a good PR broadcast agency can help. In the post below, we examine why good media training is so important and what it can do for you.

What Is Media Training?

Media training is a specialist course designed to coach businesspeople on how to act in public interviews and how to get the best results from media appearances.

This training helps individuals learn to come across well on screen or over the radio. It is a course of tips and techniques to help the speaker keep their responses on track. Also, individuals can learn to anticipate likely interviewer questions and give a polished and professional impression on the day. It is also a great way to fine tune your corporate narrative and make sure you have something really valuable and useful to say.

Many people who have never been interviewed live on air before are surprised to discover how easy it is to panic and get “deer-in-the-headlights” syndrome when a camera is pointed at them. Often, they forget what they were supposed to say. They stammer over their answers and blurt things out they later regret.

Being interviewed in such a public fashion is a high-pressure experience with a lot riding on it. After all, it is not only the individual’s reputation on the line, but also that of the company they represent. For this reason it’s extremely important to prepare as much as possible.

A media-trained speaker will likely have a much easier time in the hot seat. They will be able to speak far more confidently than a nervous and untrained spokesperson. With many hours of practice and preparation under one’s belt, it’s much more likely the interview will go smoothly and the speaker will end up sounding great to audiences.

There is also a significant difference between doing print and broadcast interviews. Therefore, it’s important to know your medium. This will ensure you get the most out of the interview and get your messages to land.

Why Do You Need Media Training?

One important reason to take media training is that it will help you to maintain control of the interview.

Even though the host asks the questions, it’s important to remember that they can’t force you to say anything that’s not on your agenda. Media training will give you the skills you need to gently steer the topic of conversation toward the things that you want to talk about. When have had good media training you will be less likely to get drawn into areas you are not prepared for.

Secondly, it’s important to develop an engaging speaking style. Good media training can help with that. By learning some tips and techniques concerning body language, tone of voice, and camera (or microphone) awareness, you can learn to speak in an appealing fashion that draws people into what you’re saying. The last thing you want to do is to bore people with monotone and expressionless deliveries of your answers.

Another way that media training can help is that it encourages you to prepare answers to some anticipated questions. There’s no reason to let yourself be caught off guard and left flustered by a question you ought to have seen coming. Fortunately, media training will help you to think about and plan for those awkward moments.

What Are Some Good Interview Tips?

A professional media training course will cover a lot of ground. However, here are some quick tips to bear in mind for media appearances:

Speak clearly and simply. One common problem among nervous speakers is the tendency to speak too fast. They also tend to use a lot of filler words (such as “um” and “er”) for fear of losing the listener’s attention. However, by speaking more slowly and clearly, you can often have the audience hanging on your every word.
In on-camera interviews, try to maintain good eye contact with the host. You don’t want to seem bored by the conversation. And looking around too much can even make you seem shifty or evasive.
Be sure to inject a good deal of your own personality into your responses. Part of the reason for the company to do a PR appearance is to let the public put a friendly face and a voice to the brand. Therefore, it’s best not to appear to be a script-reciting robot.
It’s also a good idea to do some background research on the interviewer and the type of show they present. What types of questions do they tend to ask? Are there types of guests who seem to get a better or worse response from them? Which demographics of people tend to tune into their broadcasts?

Broadcast interviews are a great PR opportunity for any company. However, you will often have only a few minutes of available airtime to say your piece. So it’s vital that you hit all your talking points and make an excellent public impression.

Learn to Give a Great Impression over the Airwaves

Media training is an absolute must for anybody new to broadcast interviews. It will allow you to speak engagingly and confidently on your subject and stay in control over the direction of the conversation—and ultimately give a fantastic impression.