8.45 Introductory briefing

Sometimes delegates arrive feeling a little apprehensive about the day ahead. This session gives us the chance to get to know a little more about them before running through the schedule and objectives for the day.

9.00 Establishing the Message

We start with a brainstorming session to get the delegates thinking about the positive messages they want to get across in an interview and to underline that they must be determined to get these published as well as being prepared to respond to the interviewer’s agenda.

We will work through the interview scenarios that they have chosen from a selection that we have prepared in association with their PR team. Once they have worked out the messages they want to get aired we spend the rest of the session showing the delegates how to put these across in the most effective way.

9.45 – Radio Tutorial

The first of our “Highway Code” sessions looking at some of the basic mistakes people make when being interviewed with tips on how to avoid these.

10.30 – Press Tutorial

The low-down on the life of the “hack” and his deadlines! Our print journalist fills you in on the different approaches required for dealing with trade or general news interviews and is there such a thing as “Off the Record”?

11.00 – Interview Preparation

Each delegate prepares for the interviews and refines the positive messages that were produced during the earlier Establishing the Message session. The following interviews will give them practice in handling sensitive issues or explaining difficult company concepts.

11.15 – Interview time

We’ve talked about how to do it and now we put it into practice. You’re either being interviewed in the BBC radio studio followed by a one-to-one feedback session or talking to our press journalist who will then write up a story based on this conversation. The other delegates will be observing the radio interviews in the control room because they can learn a lot from each others performance.

12.15 – More interviews

This time delegates are on the telephone to show the different skills required when not face to face with your interviewer. This is followed by a group feedback session.

13.00 – Morning recap followed by lunch off site

While the group is out having a well earned break and generally being encouraged to relax, our press journalist is busy beavering away writing up the stories based on his interviews. Our TV journalist is busy too – waiting round a corner, ready to pounce on the merry bunch as they return from lunch for the afternoon session. It might be unlikely to happen to them, but once they have been through this experience they will be fire-proof and know not to say “no comment”, “I don’t know” and “I haven’t a clue because I’ve just got back from lunch”!

14.15 TV Tutorial

We all tend to “judge books by covers” and need to know how to use our appearance and behaviour in front of a camera to maximum advantage. Here we share tips on how to avoid the basic mistakes.

15.00 – How do I look?

Delegates face the camera for a detailed interview in a studio environment and then later “on the street” providing soundbites against the distractions of background traffic and passers-by shouting “Hello Mum”.

16.30 – Group Feedback on newspaper articles

“I didn’t say that! Oh yes, perhaps I did”. What might seem a cosy chat over coffee can change the public’s perception of your company overnight and ruin your career if you don’t learn how to handle the gentlemen of the press. Don’t be wary – but always be aware of who you are talking to.

17.00 – Final recap

Delegates leave with copies of their performance on DVD, a newspaper article, course notes and memory cards.

Post Course

Each trainer will write feedback notes on the delegates with recommendations and these will be emailed to the company within 3 working days. There is also post course support with an open invitation for delegates to phone us for a quick telephone refresher if they face e.g. a radio interview some months after the course. If they send us copies of any real interviews they carry out, we will review these and email them some feedback.