Media Skills on the Big Stage

CentreStage is now offering a fun, pioneering way of helping large numbers of people in an organisation deal with the news media in a single dramatic session.

Utilising the skills of international media trainer and broadcast journalist Michael Dodd – and the roleplay talents of its actors – CentreStage has developed a way of helping interviewees take the “fear factor” out of Jeremy Paxman-style TV encounters and softer media situations as well.

At the beginning of the session an interview is conducted with an actor who roleplays the part of a spokesman for what could be your organisation. In doing so the actor breaks some of the key rules of media interviews – gets diverted off his key messages, lapses into impenetrable jargon, waffles, loses his cool and possibly even storms out.

“Hitting the interviewer or insulting the viewers is an optional extra,” says Michael Dodd. “But whether you want a humorous or deadly serious version, audiences appreciate and learn from the drama of seeing what can go wrong if an organisation doesn’t play its media cards correctly.”

The interview is recorded and key moments are played back on a big screen to be analysed by the media trainer. Michael then gives the audience a series of tips for being a highly successful media interviewee - complete with recorded examples of good and bad practice by television regulars from the Prime Minister down.

The actor then gives a repeat performance – only this time he’s learned from his mistakes and aims to do everything right. He delivers his message with aplomb, speaking in easy-to-digest sentences and keeps cool however tough the questioning.

If they are up for it, volunteers from the audience can also be interviewed in front of the group – utilising the techniques they have just picked up. But this element is not compulsory. Some organisations are keen on trying it out in front of the group. Others prefer to try doing practice interviews behind-the-scenes – something CentreStage can also help with.

Michael has tested out the Big Stage format in a variety of countries including Russia, China, Finland, Hungary and Britain. One challenge he used to have before actors became involved was getting volunteers from the audience to do interviews in front of their peers. Some did, but it sometimes took a certain degree of arm twisting. Utilising actors solves this problem. Good and bad media practice can be demonstrated without any pressure on the audience to have a go.

“If volunteers do come to the party, that’s exciting and productive.” Michael says. “They don’t have to under this format – though they might be more inclined to come forward after they see how the actor in the second interview can make the process of dealing with the media more enjoyable and effective.”

Interviews with session participants are recorded on DVD, video or cassette and key parts can be played back so that performances can be critiqued and polished with everyone learning together. And while the interviews are designed to be realistically tough, efforts are made to ensure a fun and supportive atmosphere so that when mistakes are made the whole group can have a laugh and learn together. There’s only one copy made of each interviewee recording – and that’s given to the interviewee after the session.

Media Skills On The Big Stage is designed to fit into the agenda of conferences or away-days. Or it can be a stand-alone event, which is particularly useful if a company knows it’s about to be the focus of critical media interest.

It’s a flexible programme that can be tailored to meet the specific requirements of any organisation. The essentials can be slotted into an action-packed one-and-a-half hours or, if more depth is required, the programme can run over a half day or full day.

“Give me ninety minutes of your organisation’s time,” Michael pledges, “and we can transform the way your people see the media. This in turn leads to big improvements in the way the media see your organisation.”

Another aspect of Media Skills On The Big Stage is that it shows audiences how to spot a good news story which — if presented to the media in the right way — can potentially result in large amounts of free publicity and increased sales.

Michael says many organisations are involved in highly newsworthy activities without actually realising the positive publicity they could generate.

“I had a journalism colleague who used to say some people wouldn't recognise a story if it bit them in the leg,” Michael recalls. “But when people learn to view events through a journalist’s eyes then it can be remarkably easy to spot stories at every level which would interest the media.”

One part of the programme involves holding a mock media conference with a fictitious character where everyone gets the chance to ask questions. If they ask the right sort of questions — and the programme will show them how — a story emerges which the participants can then write-up. This leads on to demonstrating how to construct newsworthy press releases which get straight to the point and are written in the way media outlets will want to use them.