To maximize each client’s training experience, we follow this step-by-step process.
It’s more work for us (and maybe a little more for you), but our process guarantees a customized workshop designed to meet your unique needs … not cookie-cutter, off-the-shelf training by someone who doesn’t understand you and your issues.
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In-Person Training
Planning Beginning up to several weeks in advance, we confer with you about your needs, your trainees and their backgrounds. We agree on an agenda and the logistics of our session. You provide us with whatever background material you have on the issues your trainees will need to address. Then, we start digging.
Preparation We pride ourselves on our research, and we’ll uncover any hidden vulnerabilities that might arise in an interview or presentation. We customize our “best practices” presentation to your industry and trainee’s skill level.
Benchmark Interview If you would like, we can conduct a pre-training mock interview with one of your trainees, simulating a media call. We then write a brief news story based on that call, showing what can happen if you don’t take charge of an interview. This story is presented as a kick-off to our workshop when we meet in person as a group.
“Best Practices” There are a few simple rules of effective communications, and we “walk the talk” in our PowerPoint presentation on best practices, which includes video clips of communicators doing the right and wrong things. Not a dry lecture, this is the fun part of the workshop where participants learn by example. We laugh, we cry … we learn.
Role Play After learning the theory, now it’s time to put it into practice. We set up a realistic media scenario and role play a series of interviews… print, broadcast, SMT, etc. Each interview is followed by a confidence-building critique of what went well and what could use improvement.
Critique No one enjoys criticism. But the way criticism is offered can really affect how it’s taken. Jim Cameron doesn’t play proctologist with his clients, so this part of the learning process really won’t be as painful as some fear. But neither does he pull punches or give phony praise for a lousy execution.
Debriefing After the trainee leaves the workshop feeling newly confident and ready to communicate, our work continues. We’ll debrief with you, the agency or whoever our client may be, on the trainee’s strengths and weaknesses. We can prepare written reports or deliver them verbally. And we’ll suggest a course of action to keep the learning underway.
Free Follow-up Unlike many trainers who take the money and run, we’re committed to long-term relationships. We’re happy to work with our trainees for 90 days with free telephone follow-ups, answering questions, doing more role playing, reviewing video tapes… whatever will keep our graduates on the beam.
Logistics We bring our own video and computer gear. You supply a training site (a small conference room is fine) and a TV set. If it’s a big group, we might ask to borrow your LCD projector. Some trainers insist you come to them and pay for use of their over-priced professional TV studio. That’s a waste of your travel time and money. We keep it simple and affordable.
When Time Is Short
Phone Training Many of our media training workshops are done by phone, saving you time and money. This is especially effective when pending interviews will be done by phone, for print or radio for example. If you’re prepping for face-to-face TV, satellite media tours or other TV opportunities we’d suggest working with us face to face.
Web Training If you have access to WebEx or similar internet training technology we can “meet” with you online. Again, this training saves time, travel—and expense.