Remote Communications Training Solutions

The world changed in March 2020. No more face-to-face media training workshops. Interviews via Skype and Zoom became the order of the day for the foreseeable future.

It’s a new — and sometimes intimidating — way of communicating for many spokespeople. What steps should your company take to maximize your odds for success in this makeshift media environment? The emphasis remains on the core principles in any meaningful program:

• Message development, refinement, and discipline
• Simulated interviews that replicate the real thing
• A sustained program that encourages professional development over time

It is highly likely, given newsroom cost-cutting proclivities, that Zoom interviews will continue once the pandemic eases. What does that mean to you? Your company needs a long-term strategy that also addresses the current trend.

NOTE: Some consultants may try to tell you these temporary solutions are a suitable long-range substitute. Nonsense. Remote learning is far from ideal when it comes to sharpening communications skills, whether dealing with the media, delivering presentations, or advocating before policymakers. The fact is we are not currently living in an ideal world. We must work with what we’ve got.

Bonus: Take a look at these remote solutions:

• Reporter’s Roundup, the telephone or video interview that results in a realistic news article.
• Express Training, the one-hour clinic that covers the nuts and bolts of how to deal with reporters.