Interview like a Pro: Media Training for Spokespeople

Overview

This interactive, hands-on coaching course will provide you with an understanding of the media landscape in Canada, the new realities for media outlets and journalists and the resulting imperative for organizations and individuals who want to succeed in this environment. Participants will learn how to vet and prioritize media opportunities, meet the needs of journalists as well as personal and organizational goals, and how to focus on a workable plan that delivers well-framed arguments for traditional and social media.

The main focus of the course is to teach techniques and best practices for interviewing—skills that are valuable for media interviews, and for success in other types of interviews, and moments where you have “the floor”. The aim is to help you gain comfort with any and all opportunities to share expertise and perspectives succinctly and in a compelling manner, while also adeptly avoiding being taken down an unintended path.

Topics

• The top 10 must do’s for an effective interview
• How to develop compelling key messages
• What to do when the interview isn’t going your way
• How to adjust for TV, radio, print, social or other mediums
• How to build effective relationships to support public-facing communications

Audience

• Communications and marketing teams (media and social media leads, management, people responsible for public-facing messaging and coaching others)
• Senior and mid-level managers of public, private and not-for-profit organizations
• Program leads of highly visible public-facing programs
• Content-matter experts (program leads, researchers, policy experts)

Duration

Cost

• $655 (plus tax)

Featured Instructor

Paula Bernardino, MCM, CSR-P, SCMP® Strategic Communication Management Professional (SCMP) with more than 15 years of experience, Paula has an expertise in strategic corporate communications and public relations acquired while working for large global corporations and not-for-profit organizations. Paula is currently a strategic independent consultant in communications and corporate responsibility while also guest speaking at conferences and panels.

She is a course lecturer at McGill University in the Public Relations program where she teaches the Internal Stakeholder Communications and Communication in the Corporate Sector courses. She is also the teaching assistant for the Organizational Public Relations and Applied Ethics in Communications Management courses at McMaster University in the Masters in Communications Management program.

Sessions