Get the most of out of every media interview with the practical and tailored managing the media training.

Media interview training is critical and can make the difference between creating a strong positive public impression or a truly negative one. It’s essential in helping you develop the skills to get your message across succinctly and with impact.

Our highly tailored media interview interview training will assist team members to understand the different forms of media, how to engage journalists and how to control even the most difficult interview.

Theory combined with practice interviews provide trainees with the experience of understanding and dealing with the media in a range of situations.

Includes phone interview practice with a professional journalist and detailed on the spot feedback from the trainer and journalist.

Training by experienced media commentator.

This media interview training is run by experienced media trainer, Catriona Pollard. She a highly regarded expert and media commentator in PR and social media and her views on personal branding, social media and PR are internationally published across print, online and broadcast media.

She has first hand experience in dealing with the media – she is interviewed virtually every week. She doesn’t just understand the theory – she knows what it’s like to have to get messages across clearly as well as managing a difficult interview.

“The training was invaluable. The tips learned in the session can be applied to different scenarios – like speaking with third parties (which I do regularly), carrying out/preparing presentations etc. The tips about trying to remain in control of the line of questioning and being able to broaden the conversation topic was also extremely helpful.

I would definitely recommend Catriona as a media trainer to others. She is both passionate and competent in what she delivers and has the ability to communicate the techniques in an easy to understand, common sense approach.” Brett Hayward, Essential Energy

Expertise with lots of prep

“I would absolutely recommend Catriona as a media trainer. Catriona did a lot of prep work to understand contemporary issues facing our organisation in the media and devised questions for the practical sessions she ran. She demonstrated great knowledge in her ability to formulate responses to challenging media questions and shared has expertise in developing techniques to adopt that.” Jane

Recommended trainer

“I would recommend Catriona as a media trainer. I found her easy to understand and she wasn’t afraid to critique when needed. She was extremely well prepared about the company which I found refreshing and she put together examples relevant to us. She managed the fear factors of dealing with the media.” Paul

Our highly tailored media training will assist spokespeople understand the different forms of media, how to engage journalists and how to control even the most difficult interview.

The media training covers:

  • Understanding the media landscape – what is news and how does it work?
  • How to interact with the media
  • What to ask when a journalist calls
  • How to stay on message and keep interviews within safe boundaries
  • Creating a “quotable quote”- what to say and how to say it
  • Packaging key messages for media success
  • Controlling a media interview – techniques that keep you on track
  • Techniques for different media –TV, radio and print
  • Interview planning – making sure you have the right messages

Media Training Outcomes:

In addition to practising techniques, the participants will:

  • Gain a detailed understanding of the media landscape
  • Be able to question a journalist on why a certain angle was taken or ignored
  • Have a better understanding of their own natural communication style
  • Identify performance strengths and areas for development
  • Have a set of checklists and tools for planning their next media interview
  • Be challenged to think about the ‘business’ of journalism and how to ‘play’ the media game
  • Gain a set of techniques they can apply in other situations, not just with journalists e.g. Board meetings, AGMs
  • Observe examples of how others have achieved good media performance using the techniques they’ve learned

Media Training Delivery

The Media Training can be delivered as interactive half or full day workshops for corporate teams, tailored to your organisation. We also offer mentoring to manage specific media interview situations.

Our Media Training is ideal for:

Anyone in a public facing role including the spokespeople for your organisation, employees and leaders, small business owners, or someone who simply has a message to share with the public

About the trainer – Catriona Pollard


Catriona Pollard is one of Australia’s most dynamic speakers and trainers. She has shared her dynamic and practical expertise with thousands of people both in Australia and around the world for organisations such as TEDx, DELL, CeBIT, Women on Boards, CEO Institute, Commonwealth Bank and Macquarie University, just to name a few.

She is a highly regarded expert and media commentator in PR and social media and her views on personal branding, social media and PR are internationally published across print, online and broadcast media.

She has first hand experience in dealing with the media – she is interviewed every week. She doesn’t just understand the theory – she knows what it’s like to have to get messages across clearly as well as managing a difficult interview.

Renowned for being an inspiring speaker and trainer, Catriona shares her personal insights and experience to help others, whether it’s with practical advice or shared wisdom.

With every training session, Catriona aims to ensure her audience takes away useful insights, inspiration and tips that will help them succeed in every media interview.

See Catriona present here.

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“Catriona shared an incredible amount of information and uncovered many crucial tips and tools to managing the media. What I found most valuable was how she invested a lot of time delving into my business and made sure I had a confidence to managing media interviews. I left the workshop feeling truly inspired and capable to tackle media for the business.” Ivanka Ruvarac, Marketing Manager.

Read more about Catriona
Get in touch to find out more about booking media interview training with us.