Articles

So, you are preparing for a crisis news briefing or a public meeting in which you expect emotions to run high. You have developed key messages that you believe will inform the media or calm angry residents who are unhappy with your company. But before getting a chance to deliver your messages, you make a mistake that ensures your news briefing or...

In private conversations, most of us tend to speak freely, often expressing our personal opinions on a variety of topics. But if you are a spokesperson for a company, government entity, trade or industry association, your personal opinions should take a back seat to the public positions of the organization you’re representing during a media...

There is nothing more important in your quiver of effective communications tools than the bridge. It’s a verbal device that allows you to acknowledge or address a question you don’t want to answer and transition to a key message that you want to deliver. It appears White House economic advisor Jared Bernstein had already built his “bridge” in...

When preparing for a media interview, you try to anticipate questions and develop answers to them. Of course, you want those answers to contain key messages that are memorable and relevant. One of the most effective ways to accomplish this is to incorporate a personal story into your answers. We found a perfect example of this in an interview...

It doesn’t happen often but every once in a while we see such a powerful example of compelling communication that we need to add no words or analysis. Actor Matthew McConaughey delivered such a message from the White House briefing room this week on the Uvalde school shooting. Uvalde is McConaughey’s hometown and the massacre of 19 children and...

Expressing empathy for people affected by a tragedy is the first priority when you’re conducting a news briefing. It should come high up in your statement as you release information to the media about the incident. However, it’s not good enough to just say empathetic words. You must act and sound like the words are sincere and heartfelt....

The headlines screamed out with an inexplicable but accurate quote from a major party candidate for governor of Georgia. Democrat Stacey Abrams told a crowd of supporters that Georgia was “The worst state in the country to live.” The remark left headline readers wondering why on earth Abrams would denigrate the state she wants to govern. Well,...

Speculating during an interview is a trap that can land you in hot water. Afterall, no one has a crystal ball and speculating about the future usually distracts from your key messages. However, there are occasional exceptions to this rule and we found one in a CNN interview with Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. He is asked to essentially...

We often find during our media training workshops that participants are reluctant to read entire statements during mock media news briefings. Our participants worry that reading a statement, rather than ad-libbing one, makes them appear wooden and insincere. Our response sometimes surprises them. We believe a spokesperson can project sincerity,...

So, you’re already a good communicator but you want to take your messaging skills to the next level. One of our favorite ways to accomplish this is an analogy, a powerful tool to help explain key messages in a way everyone can understand. We saw an outstanding example of this during a CBS interview with Oksana Markarova, the Ukrainian ambassador...