Turner Strategies has provided spokesperson training for nonprofit, corporate, and government organizations for more than a decade.  Our training sessions consistently are rated as “excellent” and “best ever” by workshop attendees from coast to coast.   For sample course agendas or additional details, please contact Pam Avery, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , 402-305-0799 or 202-466-9633.

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Full-Day Workshop

Know What to Say and How to Say It

What you say and how you say it is critical to getting information out to your internal and external audiences, the news media in all of its forms, bloggers and others. This full-day course is designed to give attendees the confidence they need to explain their work and talk about tough issues.  Participants will learn:

• What reporters and producers look for in a news source
• Their  rights as a news subject
• How to respond to different reporter styles
• How broadcast interviews differ from print and online interviews
• How to engage your publics via social media
• How to prepare for interviews or public speaking engagements
• How to craft and deliver their organizational messages
• How to communicate their messages effectively—even during a crisis
• How to take charge of their on-camera appearance

This highly interactive course features customized scenarios relevant to each participant’s program or projects, and intensive one-on-one videotaped sessions with a professional interviewer and TV photojournalist.  Workshops include videotaped, real-life examples of what to say and what not to say during a news media interview or community meeting, and a case study of a relevant project or issue.  Participants will be contacted prior to the workshop to obtain information for the on-camera scenarios.  Each will receive a customized Spokesperson Training Manual and a DVD of on-camera interviews conducted during the course.  The course is limited to 12-14 participants. (Note: this can be expanded to 18 attendees if interviews are done “news conference” style, rather than one-on-one.)

Full- or Half-Day Workshops

Mastering the Message

Spokesperson training is a must for anyone called upon to speak about an organization’s project or issue. What you say and how you say it is critical to getting information out to your many constituents and stakeholders, including the public. This course is designed to help participants identify, hone and deliver their messages in a team setting.

Participants will gain skills to:

• Prepare for interviews or public speaking engagementsKnow their rights as a news source
• Craft key messages for a program, issue or project.Deliver their messages effectively– even during a crisis
• This full- or half-day interactive workshop can accommodate up to 25 participants.  Workshop attendees will:
• Review four key elements to message development and learn how to craft effective messages specific to your projects, sites or issues.
• Develop messages together on a relevant group scenario.
• Learn how to deliver and pivot back to key messages in any situation. 

The group will break into small teams to develop messages on a relevant project or topic. Each team will select a presenter who will be videotaped by a “TV news team” during a mock interview.  The full-day session includes on-camera training sessions and critiques for additional participants. All workshop participants will receive a customized Spokesperson Review Guide.  The full-day workshop also includes a master DVD of the on-camera sessions that will be provided to the workshop coordinator for duplication and distribution to attendees.

Present Effectively with Style and Skill

How you present information to your key stakeholders, including government agencies, communities and others, can make a big difference in how your project, issue and the organization in general is perceived by your audiences. This course is designed to give you the confidence you need to “stand up and deliver” effectively.

Participants will gain skills to:

• Plan and organize an effective presentation
• Understand the rules of audience engagement
• Deal with difficult participants and situations
• Develop a credible presentation presence

This highly interactive workshop features videotaped examples of effective and ineffective presentations, and one-on-one exercises to enhance each participant’s confidence as a public speaker.  Participants will work in groups to prepare an effective presentation that will be delivered in an on-camera session. Each presentation will be discussed and critiqued by workshop trainers and fellow participants. The full-day course will include on-camera “re-takes” of each presentation.  

Workshop participants will receive a customized Presentation Review Guide.  The full-day workshop also includes a master DVD of the on-camera sessions that will be provided to the workshop coordinator for duplication and distribution to attendees.

Half-Day Workshops

Understanding “Citizen Journalism” – A Social Media Primer

Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Digg, Pinterest. Welcome to the new world of social media. It’s a medium that takes many forms, including blogs, podcasts and instant messaging, to name a few.  Today, anyone with a modern cell phone can become a “citizen journalist” and transmit information about your organization’s project or issue faster than any news release can be written or released. This half-day tutorial offers a map of the social media landscape and how staffers can deploy social media techniques within their organization’s social media guidelines.

Participants will learn:

• What social media is and isn’t.
• The difference between social media and new media.
• Fundamentals of communicating via social media outlets – the dos and don’ts.
• How to develop a social media plan for your organization that utilizes your best resources without overwhelming you.
• How organizations effectively deploy social media tools and techniques.
• Ways to use social media within the context of your organizational guidelines on use of such media.
• During a group exercise, participants will develop messages on relevant case studies for use on social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook.  Participants will receive a customized Guide to Social Media.

Crisis Communications Training

Be Prepared – Manage Your Reputation Before, During and After a Crisis or Emergency

What do a government agency, a major oil producer, a toy maker and a spinach farmer have in common? Each faced a crisis that could have shaken public confidence and affected their ability to conduct business, or—in some cases —survive.   No organization is immune from the need to manage its reputation should a crisis occur.

This half-day workshop will explore how to differentiate a true crisis from an emergency; how to plan for routine emergencies; how to prepare for a crisis before one happens; and what you can do to protect your organization’s reputation and ability to function, no matter what the situation.  Case studies of successful and not-so-successful crises and how they were handled will be presented during the workshop.

Workshop participants will practice developing message points for crisis scenarios.  Depending upon class size, each attendee, or a representative from each breakout session, will deliver his or her message while being interviewed by a “TV news team.”  Each presentation will be discussed and critiqued by workshop trainers and fellow participants.

Each participant will receive a customized Crisis Communications Guide, and a master DVD of the on-camera session will be provided to the workshop coordinator for duplication and distribution to attendees.

Spokesperson Coaching Sessions

Fine-Tune Your Spokesperson Skills – One-on-One Coaching Sessions

 These one-on-one coaching sessions are for any staffer who may be called upon to speak to stakeholders, the public or the news media. This 60-minute on-site session includes a review of key message development and delivery, and a brief discussion of news media pointers. An on-camera practice session with a mock TV-news team and a playback and critique of the interview follows. If time permits, we conduct a second on-camera session and review.  A week or more prior to the coaching session, participants will receive an email asking them to describe their spokesperson experience, and provide an issue or project they want to review during the coaching session. Participants will be asked to come up with key messages for his/her issue or project prior to the training.  Participants will receive a customized Spokesperson/Media Tip Sheet during the session.

What to Do When the Phone Rings

How to prepare for and respond to phone interviews

The majority of news media interviews are conducted via telephone or by email. This one-on-one phone interview training is for those who need a refresher course on how to “stay on message” during phone or email interviews. The course is especially useful for staffers who have participated in the “Know What to Say – and How to Say It,” or other spokesperson/media training workshops.  Prior to the mock phone interview, each participant will be asked via email to identify a specific project or issue he or she currently is working on, and the best time to schedule the hour-long phone coaching session. The phone session will include a primer on working with the news media, a review of key messages, and a 15-minute interview, followed by a critique of message content and delivery.  The training, including response to the initial email, interview and critique, requires a time commitment of approximately 1- 1/2 hours.  Participants will receive a follow-up email critique of their interviews along with a customized Spokesperson Tip Sheet.

Workshop Instructors 

(Visit Turner Strategies About Us – Our Team)

Pamela Avery, Suzanne Turner, Dominic Frederico, Jackie Fleshman, Greg Howard and Abigail Collazo.