Media awareness and interview training for scientists and researchers
Working with the media means more exposure for your research, your institute and you. We offer our media awareness and interview training in three different “flavours”. What’s best for you?
Our media awareness and interview training is designed to help you understand what you want, what the media wants, and how to bring the two together so that you get your message across clearly, and so that the media can help you convey that message accurately to a wider audience.
Media training offerings
Media awareness training
Scientists and researchers who simply want to understand how the media works and why media matters, this workshop is designed to help you become more aware of how to get the best from your interactions with the media. In four interactive hours, participants will gain a better understanding of how the media machine works, what journalists are looking for, how to align what you want to communicate with what journalists want to publish or broadcast, and how to make your messages clear and impactful.
Gain clarity about your goals, the media’s goals, and what the audience wants.
Identify key themes and key messages that will inform, educate, motivate and persuade your audience.
Add impact to your messages with powerful language, facts, stats and stories.
Practice your newfound skills by creating a draft article, blog post, press release or similar communication content.
Fancy a chat? Need more information?
Let’s arrange a time to speak.
Media communication and interview masterclass
Our media communication and interview masterclass will help you find the story in your research and learn how to generate media coverage that is true to your science AND engages your audience.
This hands-on workshop is conducted in small groups of four to six participants and delivered over two half days. During this session, you will learn how to effectively communicate your work to the public, stakeholders, government, industry and the media.
The course covers online media interviews; radio interviews; interviews for print journalists; handling tricky questions and staying out of trouble; print and online media; developing your communication plan; social media and becoming an ‘expert’.
Find out how the media works and how you can make it work for you.
Meet print and multi-media journalists and media professionals to learn how to ensure your research is reported accurately.
Practice being interviewed on video and via audio only (a.k.a via telephone!) by real journalists.
Gain confidence in talking about your research so that it has an impact on the media, government, industry and other stakeholders.
Conveying the complexity of your research, your life’s work, into a 30-second grab for the media or one-minute elevator pitch to funders or even a Vice Chancellor can be hard. The solution is to shape the essence of your science into a story.
Fancy a chat? Need more information?
Let’s arrange a time to speak.
1-to-1 Media Training
For any scientist, (no prior public speaking experience to seasoned communicators) this fast-track session will get you ready to handle a live interview by the end of 60-min. You’ll leave knowing what interviewers are looking for, and how to control your message through creating your own 5-8 second soundbites, which you can use beyond media opportunities in:
- Persuasive pitches to policymakers and funders
- Lectures
- Elevator pitches
- Casual situations
In 60-minutes, we’ll:
- Craft your research/professional story into 5-8 second soundbites that appeal to a non-university educated audience,
- Identify which aspects of your research are most attractive to your audience – and that of the media channel.
- Practice a live 2-min interview, incorporating your soundbites
- Gain coaching in speaking skills (voice modulation, diction, cadence, posture, eye contact with the camera.)
Fancy a chat? Need more information?
Let’s arrange a time to speak.
Delivery formats
We offer this training as:
- Half-day and multi-day interactive group training sessions (number of sessions dependent on the content) online via Zoom or similar platforms. Ideal for conferences and large events with poster sessions.
- 1-to-1 coaching sessions
- Short formats with modified (reduced) content depending on your needs, for example, webinars, and short talks.
- Part of longer science and research communication programmes for students and early career scientists.
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Kind words
Loved this. So much information and still time for some good discussions with fellow students. I look forward to being able to use some of the ideas when I create my first poster.
I have just completed SciComm Success' Poster Design Workshop. It was full of interesting tips and tools, some of which I have already built into my poster planning. Although we had a big group and I expected a lecture/webinar format, Suzanne constantly invited us to provide feedback and our own experiences, and I enjoyed hearing what fellow biologists like and don't. I liked that the group was international and enjoyed the flexible and informal discussions - some via chat, some using whiteboards, some simple audio discussion. It felt as if we could all contribute, wherever we were. I would recommend this workshop for anyone new to creating posters for conferences. It would probably be a good refresher for poster presenters, too. Thank you, SEB, for the opportunity.
This was a good refresher on best practice planning and design for posters. I particularly enjoyed the sessions on tools for choosing colour palettes, which I have since used in other communication materials, and the discussion about online and virtual conferences, which was an eye-opener for me during COVID. Thank you, Suzanne!
Have something different in mind?
Book a call with one of our training team and let’s explore what you are thinking about, what you need, and what we can do to help.