"Your advice will stay with me every time I walk into a pressroom or in front of a camera from now on. You are great at what you do!”
-Jack Nicklaus, Professional Golfer
"Karen provides the professional guidance and strategic counsel that isn’t often found among other media trainers. She develops an understanding of the issues and the company BEFORE she trains your spokespersons.”
-Doug Petkus, VP, Petkus Communications
"Your training allows people to see the benefits of discipline and planning, key to any business plan, strategy or customer interaction. This attests to your skills, experience and ability to connect with people. You’re the best I’ve ever seen and I’ve seen a few!”
-Syd Havely, Dow Chemical Company, Director Global Issues Management
"Karen’s ability to apply media scenarios to our company environment and develop strategies for future encounters is invaluable. She brings enthusiasm, energy and wealth of knowledge to anyone who has contact with the media.”
-Patrick Newkirk, Communications Director, CSL Behring
“This was the most effective media training I’ve received in my executive career and one of the most important courses ever required of our executive team. Real world practical experience taught by award winning journalists has made a dramatic difference in our ability to succinctly and effectively manage media messages.”
-David Vidovich, VP-Human Resources & Labor Relations, Tasty Baking Company
"When I learned that our office was to participate in a media training program, I was less than enthusiastic. What a wonderful surprise I had working with Karen. She was alive, sensitive to our issues, prepared, perceptive, and focused. Her program was the best investment we ever made"
-Dr. Thomas F O'Brien, Superintendent of Schools, Archdiocese of Philadelphia
Action News: Karen Friedman’s
TV Reel
Our hands on real-life media training sessions give you the skills and confidence needed to present yourself and your company in the best possible light. Getting your message across clearly and concisely during any media interview can be a challenging or nerve wracking experience. Our experts are award winning reporters and former journalists, and they know what will be asked and how your words will play in the story.
Whether you benefit from small or large group sessions, private coaching, half day, full day or multiple day programs, we research your issues and tailor the on-camera role playing to meet your specific needs. Even if you aren’t likely to be interviewed on TV, you will face tough journalists during numerous videotaped drills followed by extensive individual critiques to help you anticipate questions, deliver meaningful messages, turn hostile questions into opportunities and understand what reporters want.
We’ll show you good and not so good videotaped and print examples of how others do it and since we are experienced journalists, we’ll write or broadcast the story so you can see how your interview comes out. From the expected to the unexpected, we will put you through the paces and provide techniques to make you media-ready.
We can prepare you to handle a variety of interviews including:
TELEPHONE INTERVIEWS
Prepare for a media briefing, satellite media tour, newspaper, magazine, radio interview, blogger or phone conference from the comfort of your home or office. We’ll help you fine-tune messages for specific audiences, simulate real interviews and practice delivery skills, keep the interview focused and show you how to make sure your energy and enthusiasm comes through the phone.
PRINT INTERVIEWS
As veteran reporters, our coaches will provide techniques to polish your interviewing skills so you’re quoted more frequently and accurately by newspapers, trade journals, web-sites, bloggers, social media sites, magazines and business publications. Learn how to build relationships with reporters who cover your industry and understand what they’re after so they keep calling you back. Whether you’re launching a product, communicating your company’s story, discussing a serious issue or managing a difficult situation, you’ll learn to better prepare and deliver your message.
RADIO INTERVIEWS
You’re media relations campaign did the trick and you’ve been invited to field questions on a popular radio talk show. You’ll have more time to discuss your subject. Isn’t that great? More time is great, but you must know how to maximize that time to your advantage so your key points are crystal clear and listeners can relate to you. Our radio interview training puts you through the paces so you can anticipate tricky questions in advance, develop powerful opens and memorable closes, learn to speak quickly and concisely, turn negative calls into positives, gain greater voice control and get invited back.
TELEVISION INTERVIEWS
Whether the interview is Live or taped, we will show you how to craft and deliver meaningful messages in short time frames. You’ll face experienced journalists, who will teach you to anticipate tough questions, structure concise responses and deliver compelling sound bites to different audiences. From local news to national news — talk shows to entertainment formats — our simulated Live TV interviews will put you in the center of a story to show you how it really happens. We’ll also help you with body language, eye contact, and attire so every appearance is an opportunity for you to shine.
NEWS CONFERENCES
Addressing many reporters at once is a challenging task. Unlike individual interviews, when people shout out questions, interrupt and team up, it is very hard to gather your thoughts and take control. From room set up to introductions — serving food to distributing handouts — we’ll teach you how to moderate, handle question and answers, manage outbursts, keep the conference on track and deal with interviews that catch you by surprise.
SATELLITE MEDIA TOURS
Conducting a remote interview means the interviewer is in one location and you are somewhere else. Looking straight into the camera with an earpiece in your ear and doing one short interview after another presents some difficult challenges. Where do you look? What happens when someone talks in your ear? How should you sit? What if the interviewer doesn’t bring up the subject you want to talk about? If the camera light goes off, can they still record you from the control room? We’ll simulate this situation and tailor the training to this specific format so you can practice and sharpen your skills so you make the most of a remote opportunity that allows you to reach so many people at once.
DESK SIDE BRIEFINGS
Building relationships with editors and journalists is critical if you want them to think of you when they need an expert opinion or quote. After all, if they don’t know you, why would they call you? Positioning yourself as an industry expert often means setting up a series of meet and greet meetings with key media. You’ll only have a few minutes to make a first and lasting impression. Our reporters will set up a series of videotaped role-play exercises to help you communicate with impact in finite time frames. We’ll teach you how to follow up and increase your chances that they’ll follow you.
MEDIA BRIEFING PRESENTATIONS
When a company is unveiling an educational or awareness campaign, it is important to educate reporters who cover that subject or industry. This typically requires short team presentations followed by informal question and answer sessions at an invitation only media event or luncheon. Our training helps celebrity spokespeople, teams and individuals learn to more effectively tell their story, sharpen their media presentation content and visuals, prepare for Q & A and personalize their delivery to capture audience attention.
PHONE COACHING
To meet your ongoing needs and make sure you're always prepared, we are now offering coaching and message development services by telephone. While this is not a replacement for invaluable face-to-face sessions, for people who need immediate, follow-up or limited coaching, we can review your key messages and help you deliver them effectively. Contact us to set up your personalized media training session today.
TELEVISION INTERVIEWS 