Media training? Who needs it?

Whether you’re in middle or top management, there will come a point in your professional life that dealing with the media will be part of your role.

And you better be prepared for it.

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A few years ago I had the privilege of working on a project with Tyron Hyde, who is well-known as the king of property depreciation in Australia.

Tyron did his university thesis on depreciation when it was not even talked about in the country then. Today, he and his company – Washington Brown – are the most sought after quantity surveyors and depreciation experts.

Tyron must be one of the most passionate people I’ve ever worked with. And his passion is contagious. He could talk for hours (about properties and depreciation) or maybe even the whole day if you don’t stop him.

He has a knack for telling stories. And he tells them well. For example, he recalled how he used to count the number of trucks going in and out of a construction site when he was just starting in the construction industry. Even that mundane and boring activity – waiting and counting trucks – Tyron made interesting by retelling how he could still see the dust and dirt at the site. And that dusty experience inspired him to study.  It also made him realise he was not cut out to do manual work.

Towards the end of our project Tyron was interviewed on live TV about his book – Claim It – which is the first book on property depreciation in Australia. Given his enthusiasm and passion for what he does, Tyron proved to be one of the best TV interviewees I’ve worked with.

Though he knows the topic inside out, he was happy to go through some possible unexpected questions. He locked in some time for at least one rehearsal before the actual interview. And we were in the TV studio well ahead of time, and that gave him plenty of time to relax and get settled before going on air.

Not everyone, not even CEOs may have the same level of expertise and degree of passion that Tyron has. And for many people doing media interviews could be a real challenge. Some people are just not comfortable talking to the media. This could be due to some negative or unpleasant experience in being interviewed in their previous roles.

But whether you have had good or bad, negative or positive experience with media interviews, it is a fact and reality of corporate life that you will be interviewed by the media at some stage.

Whether you’re in middle or top management, there will come a point in your professional life that dealing with the media will be part of your role. And you better be prepared for it.

Over the years, we have done media training for CEOs, COOs, market analysts, fund managers, technical analysts, and traders and helped them prepare for media interviews. Everyone who’s done the training came out with a better appreciation and understanding of the media environment.

For example, the media training showed them that not all journalists are out to ‘get you’, unless of course you have something to hide, or you’re a politician? The training would also give you a glimpse of the editorial or news day and how the pressure of deadline and limited space/air time can affect the stories we read and hear about.

Most of all, the media training gave the participants more confidence in dealing with and in preparing for any future media interviews.

If you need to prepare for media interviews and would like to know how we can help you, please contact us. We will be happy to discuss how you can be more confident and more authoritative when you do your next media interview.

Contact us on: eva@de2communications.com or info@de2communications.com. We will be happy to chat with you on: +61 421 333 763