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Mediafriendly provides “gold star” training both at client sites and at its headquarters in the picturesque riverside town of Marlow, Buckinghamshire - with easy access via the M25, M4 and M40 motorways.

NHS & Health

Drug Action Teams: Media Training Programme

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Be prepared for when the mic is in front of you

This is a Media Training Programme designed specifically for groups of five participants nominated by the Drugs Strategy Directorate and aimed at professionals from Drug Action Teams and DPAS Regions.

Although this Workshop can be tailored to the requirements of Chief Executives or Service Directors, as well as those at "grass roots level", people who work "on the ground". Its aim is to provide your Drug Action Team with a "stable of media spokespeople" who can handle media enquiries on a range of issues ranging from Drug Rehabilitation programmes to changes in cannabis legislation.

We want to help these professionals who have all the specialist knowledge and experience in drugs related issues to communicate positive messages such as the work of the Drugs Prevention Advisory Service. We will also concentrate on turning around stereotypical images of drug users and focus on the progress that has been made in tackling drug misuse.

We will prepare you for every possible angle of enquiry, relating to drugs related issues from radio and television as well as give you the confidence to co-operate with the media as and when required.

It is clearly imperative to tackle key media issues such as Crisis Management as well as Success Messages.

Media Friendly offers Crisis Management and Success Message training as an integral part of its Media Training Programme.

We will help you:

Develop the skills for effective Newspaper, Radio and TV interviews.
Develop skills for presentation and appearance for TV interviews.
Develop skills for voice and sound for Radio interviews.
Handle Crisis Management and Success Message scenarios by taking control of every media interview, from the first enquiry to the last sound byte.
Give you the confidence to show grace under pressure, by appearing calm and relaxed, under the most hostile questioning and unfamiliar challenges.
Formulate a proactive approach to News Management.
Change the perception of "blame culture" within your local media.
Structure your media contribution through a logical sequence of bullet points, which you should insert into every response, to avoid unfriendly and biased editing.
Give you a smart overview, so that you can spot the news angles, hidden agendas and journalistic traps in advance.

The programme is divided into two - a short theory based session followed by a more hands-on, practical main session.

Using filmed and recorded broadcast interviews and video playback analysis, we ask you to take part in real life Radio and TV interviews.

We list a full range of possible interview scenarios we will be covering at the end of this document.