Mastering Media Interviews

November 24, 2020

Becoming seasoned and confident when engaging the media is a skillset that takes time to develop and involves extensive training and coaching. Washington Business Dynamics (WBD) has in-depth experience facilitating media training and coaching senior executives on public speaking engagements.

Media training is an important skill for senior leaders in order to actively engage with the press during crisis communications situations. Team WBD has amassed experts with more than 30 years in the media industry who specialize in crisis response, ensuring clients are trained and prepared to interact with the media.

Below is just a glimpse of the depth of training capability housed at WBD. This overview walks through how to connect with your audience to control the narrative, along with defining the engaging mind mapping technique.

Connecting with the Audience 

It is important to understand both verbal and non-verbal body language. Gestures and stance should appear natural while adding emphasis to specific messages. Mirroring an interviewer’s body language can go a long way toward appearing open-minded. Depending on the interview format, eye contact with the interviewer can also help you connect with your audience, but it is important to look out into the audience when responding to a question.

Controlling the Narrative

To navigate the world of biases, misunderstandings, and polarizing topics, it is important to think through all of the stakeholders’ agenda, and prepare clients for media interviews by providing background on the media organization and advice on the reporter’s goals. Prior to the interview, WBD experts craft messages designed to drive home key points. In preparing for the interview, knowing a few of these points will help navigate difficult questions, by being able to circle back to some of the core issues.

The Science of How We Communicate

WBD knows how to challenge clients with practice interviews. Through this, clients gain comfort, but can also see effective techniques and phrasing in order to have an engaging interview. Active listening will also help a client be at ease – by actively listening, it is easier to connect with the interviewer.

While engaging with the media can be intimidating, partnering with WBD experts is a sound methodology to being successful in the challenging world of media outreach. Learn more about WBD’s Communications practice.