Worst-case scenario…you are just told you have to do a media interview in five minutes. Far-fetched? No.
It’s not uncommon for reporters to call, send an email, text or even post something on social media that begs a quick response. Even if they aren’t specifically calling to request a formal interview with you, you know you or someone in your organization needs to talk to them…NOW.… Read the rest
After producing over 240 episodes of my podcast called Shaping Opinion, I’ve interviewed a wide range of people, some who’ve had a lot of experience with media interviews, and others not so much.
Still, for the better guests, it really didn’t matter how much experience they’ve had doing interviews so long as they could tell a story.… Read the rest
Since 2018, I’ve produced over 230 episodes of the Shaping Opinion Podcast, which is released weekly. In all of those episodes I only had to go back and edit one after it was posted because I made the mistake of letting the guest name names.
More to the point, the guest told a few stories that were unflattering to the two or three individuals mentioned in our interview.… Read the rest
One of the biggest challenges in media relations is not only having the right spokesperson on a given topic but having enough subject matter experts (SMEs) to go around.
Not every organization or every media relations program can be solely reliant on one spokesperson for everything. No matter how large or small your organization, it may not be fitting for that one person to try to speak to everything.… Read the rest
Over the past four years, I’ve conducted over 225 interviews for my podcast called Shaping Opinion, and prior that, I’ve spent decades handling media relations, conducting media coaching and training and working with clients on the full range of public relations activities. After all of that, I can honestly say, the public relations profession is dropping the ball on podcast interviewing.… Read the rest
Over the years, I’ve done my share of media training, and in the course of that, I’ve gotten very familiar with how other media trainers operate and what we all have collectively accepted as conventional wisdom when it comes to media training.
For instance, find one media trainer who does not teach you to speak in sound bites, and I’ll … well … I don’t know what I’ll do, but whatever it is it will be unlikely, because media trainers teach you to speak in sound bites.… Read the rest
Let’s say your background and training is that of an engineer, or a sale exec, or a lawyer, or maybe an accountant, but here you are, your company has selected you to be spokesperson on a particular issue. Perhaps that issue is a pressing one and this situation has already reached high levels of intensity going in.… Read the rest
It’s one of the most potent words a headline writer or a reporter can use, and if it’s used to describe you or your organization, it’s clear what the writer thinks, but more importantly what that writer wants the reader to think. You’re guilty.
The word is, “Denies.” As in, “The company denies wrongdoing.”
Let’s put this proposition to the test.… Read the rest
What do you do if a resident of an assisted living facility “elopes” and no one can find him? Or when caregivers are accused of possibly mistreating patients and residents?
These are just two of the hypothetical scenarios we had to address recently when we helped an assisted living facility update its crisis communications plan and conduct media coaching for senior leadership.… Read the rest
In my media training work, I once worked with a colleague who liked to handle the portion of the workshop on key messaging. That segment included classroom lecture followed by an independent exercise.
She would “click” to the Powerpoint slide that featured this question:
Then she would ask the group to spend a few minutes writing their own individual and personal answers to the question.… Read the rest