Valley PR Blog

Spare time? Sign up your CEO for media training

By Linda VandeVrede on July 12th, 2010 In Best Practices

One of my favorite media trainers, Roy Heffley, was in town recently and I caught up with him to get a read on what’s current now in media training.

1)      What are some of the hot issues you see CEOs concerned about in this recession?     

Improving customer service, improving products and services, improving transparency with investors, improving fiscal controls.  Kind of business as usual, on steroids.  From a PR perspective, that means fine-tuning the message for various audiences more than ever.  Whether due to the recession, new/social media or both, message development rules.  From traditional media training to new/social media, the techniques for delivering that message don’t matter if you don’t have the message right.  Funny how such a radical concept is exactly what the inventors of media training believed nearly 40 years ago.

 2)      Should an executive undergo media training even if he/she doesn’t plan to be in front of cameras?

 Absolutely.  The same techniques are vital in front of any audience, whether a reporter is involved or not.  Moreover, when executives are facing The Big Interview, I can help them far more by fine-tuning their existing skills for the topic at hand than by providing a mind-numbing crash course.

 3)      Are there certain industries that seem to be more in need of media training as part of the job?

 At some level, all industries can benefit from regular media training, since the same techniques are vital in any communication environment.  Of course industries in which anyone can be hurt (whether by their operations or their products), are more in need of media crisis training than others.  In those industries, I train everyone from CEOs and VPs to plant managers and safety experts.

 4)      In your opinion, who are some of the people in the national or international news right now, who demonstrate great “presence” on camera, no matter what is asked of them?  What specifically do they do that exhibits good media training?

I don’t think of CEOs as communications superstars these days, and that’s probably the way it should be.  Beyond solid analyst ratings, here’s how I define the good (and the bad):

Good:  The majority of unsung CEOs and the handful of politicians who actually answer the question that was asked before artfully conveying their own message.  They can be further identified by the rule of thumb that you notice and care about what they’ve said, not their oratorical hi-jinks.

Bad:  The majority of politicians and the handful of CEOs who follow the political style of media training, “pivoting,” “redirecting,” “deflecting” or otherwise simply giving their message while ignoring the actual question asked.  Or sometimes explicitly stating that the question “doesn’t matter,” “isn’t important,” “isn’t what the audience cares about,” etc.  They can be further identified by the rule of thumb that your reaction is, “Yeah, right…blah, blah, blah….”

_________________

The startup company I worked for a decade ago brought Roy in for media training for the entire executive team.  We were tutored and videotaped in front of our peers – talk about incentive to learn quickly!   Roy had us laughing with his ability to turn innocent answers into double entendres in much the way you see interviewers today twist unintended meanings out of simple comments.   Great training for the cold, cruel world out there.  

Your CEO may say he/she doesn’t need media training – don’t believe it.

Warning – once you’ve had media training, you will never be able to watch a broadcast interview the same way again.   You look for the eye movement, the deflection of the topic, the nervous tic, the inane responses (why does poor Miss South Carolina come to mind?).

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