Program:                 Seminar
Length:                    6 Hours
Fee:                             Call for Pricing
# Participants:    8 on-camera participants, but any number may attend the session

Description:

Our most popular course, Media Relations 101 is an insider’s guide to the news media. Upon completion, you will be able to use the news media to your advantage, understand how to generate positive news, learn how to control the news media in a crisis situation, and be proficient in how to do actual news interviews.

Our basic news media workshop is a six-hour seminar conducted at your facility for your top executives. In the morning we take you behind the scenes to show you exactly how the news media operates. We tell you how reporters think, explain their mind set and show you what you can do to influence them. We walk you through a newsroom and teach you how to meet, entertain and understand reporters. We explain techniques for performing during an interview, and take you in front of the camera for your first interview session.

In the afternoon we’ll teach you four specific answering techniques that will prepare you to answer the toughest questions, while making your point. We’ll show you what you did right and wrong in the first interviews and how you can improve your answering skills.

Then we’ll put you to the test – the second interview and final exam – where we explain all the reporter’s trick methods of interviewing. You’ll be surprised how easy it really is once you know the answering techniques. You’ll feel more comfortable knowing you can handle the “Sam Donaldson-type” questions.

MORNING SESSION – INSIDE THE NEWS MEDIA
8:30 am to 10:00 am

This part of the seminar is designed to give you the fullest understanding of the media’s function in our society.  It includes:

·    What is the News?  — The four major categories of the news.
·    Inside Television — More than half of Americans get ALL their news from TV.
·    Inside Radio — Talk shows, fragmentation, AM vs. FM.
·    Inside Newspapers — The special needs of the newspaper, dailies and weeklies, editorials.
·    The Other Media — Wire services, trade press, ancillary publications.
·    Social Media/Internet.

10:00 am  to 11:30 am

This part of the seminar focuses on developing your own media strategy so you can effectively communicate your message to the public.  It includes:

·    Media Strategy — The crisis plan, briefing your people, generating positive news.
·    Journalistic Ethics — The do’s and don’ts of dealing with reporters.
·    Presentation — Performing for the media.
·    Preparation — How to control a news interview.
·    Meet the Media — Time for your first on-camera interview!

Lunch

AFTERNOON SESSION – HANDS-ON WORKSHOP
12:30 pm to 2:00 pm

This part of the seminar teaches you the correct way to conduct an on-camera interview.  It includes:

·    Critiquing Your Interview — What went right and went wrong in your first interview, and how to fix it.
·    Answering Techniques — Four very specific ways to answer the toughest questions while making your point.
·    How to Avoid “No Comment.”

2:00 pm to 3:30 pm

This part of the seminar allows you to experience a second live interview now that you know how it’s done!  It includes:

·    Your Second Interview — Try out your new answering techniques and feel your new-found confidence.
·    Subtleties — The difference between the broadcast and print interviews.
·    Critiquing Your Interview — You won’t believe the difference.
·    The Wrong Way — The Worst Interview Ever!