Great spokespeople are made, and the best of them learned in training. Over two days you build the messages, proof and news that make an interview work, learn to come across as yourself, and practise leading the conversation and handling difficult questions. Four recorded practice interviews, each replayed with coaching, take you from a friendly first interview to the hardest one matched to your level.
Messages, proof and news, structured preparation, body, voice and language, leading the interview, difficult questions and tricky dynamics, with four recorded interviews in the formats you face.
You train in a small, boardroom-format group, usually three to six people. Your trainer is a senior former broadcast journalist, from organisations such as Reuters, the BBC, CNBC and CNN, who also knows corporate communication, strategic messaging and reputation management from the inside. Briefings are short, with clips of real interviews showing what works and what does not. The course covers journalists and the new media as one craft: for every practice interview you choose the format, from a newspaper or broadcast interview to a podcast, a creator interview or a live stream, and a topic from your own work. Each interview is recorded in our studio, replayed on screen and coached, and each is set just inside your comfort zone. All coaching is constructive and encouraging. The course runs face to face in London and Dubai and live online over two half-days.
- Prepare quickly and well for any interview, using AI tools wisely
- Build messages backed by proof that convinces and stories people remember
- Find the news in what you have to say and frame it for the audience
- Come across as confident and natural through body language, voice and language
- Give quotable answers that survive editing and travel
- Lead the interview and steer it towards safe and productive ground
- Handle difficult questions with a flexible toolkit, without being evasive
- Adapt to journalists, podcast hosts, creators, live streams and panels
- Who might interview you, and the one thing every interviewer wants
- Messages: your most essential ideas, made simple and strong
- Proof: facts and stories that power your messages up
- News: what makes a story, and what gets shared
- Structured preparation, including preparing with AI
- Interview one: a friendly first interview to get familiar
- Body language for interviews: what audiences notice and what helps
- Appearance, voice and language: speak the way you talk, with warmth
- Quotes: how to be quotable when the clip is the new quote
- Before the interview: priming your posture, voice and presence
- Leading the interview: taking the initiative, building a connection and staying on safe ground
- Interview two: lead it
- Good reasons not to answer, and how to answer questions that feel like an attack
- Why old-school blocking fails, and what works instead
- Reframing, "dig for gold" and "zoom in, zoom out"
- Interview three: choose your tactics and use them
- Aggressive and friendly interviewers, traps and the false premise
- What to do when something goes wrong
- Act as if there are no rules: microphones, and why it is not over until it is really over
- Five formats at a glance: journalist, podcast, creator, live stream and panel
- Setting up well, on location and remotely
- Interview four: the hardest interview, matched to your level
- Your learning points, and how to keep developing
For anyone who may be interviewed on the record: designated spokespeople, senior executives and experts. It also helps communication professionals who want to know the encounter first hand. It suits first-timers and experienced spokespeople alike, because each interview is matched to the person.
- Live Online28–29 October 2026· $950Book
- Dubai9–10 November 2026· $2,400 plus VATBook
- Live Online25–26 November 2026· $950Book
- Live Online23–24 December 2026· $950Book
The following are some of the ISOC trainers who regularly lead this course, depending whether you join us in London, Dubai or live online.
No. The interviews build progressively from straightforward to challenging, and each is matched to your level. All coaching is positive, encouraging and focused on building your confidence.
Very. Your trainer conducts them as a real interviewer would, you are recorded in a studio set-up, and you watch yourself back with coaching, which participants consistently find the most valuable part of the course.
Yes. Journalists remain the core, and the course covers the newer formats throughout. For every practice interview you choose the format you are most likely to face.
Media Training covers every kind of interview, friendly, proactive and challenging. Crisis Media Training focuses on interviews when your organisation is under intense scrutiny.
Nothing specific. If you have a real interview or topic coming up, bring it: you choose the topic of each practice interview.
Yes. In-house media training runs for one or two days, with scenarios written around your organisation.