TECHNE Training event: Media Workshop
4th May 2018
Date and time: 4th May 2018, 9:30am – 5:15pm
Venue: 11 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3RF, Room 0-03
This is a one day Media Workshop designed specifically for PhDs and early career researchers who want to build their research profile in the non-specialised media. The trainers, ex-BBC journalists with decades of training experience, prepare exercises and interviews tailored for each participant’s area of study, so are able to offer the training to mixed groups from different academic backgrounds.
There are 15 places on the course and we will be accepting applications on a first come first served basis. Please reply to this email to register. As this is an expensive course, you must be able to commit to the date and inform us immediately if you are unable to attend with a valid reason so your place can be allocated to another.
Rationale
In increasingly tight financial times for universities, investment in media training pays dividends in gaining more and better publicity for the university’s research. Our training will give you the techniques and confidence to capture media interest, and encourage you to seek out media opportunities, and potential cross-disciplinary collaboration, to further your career. It will also equip you with communication skills to explain your research to any non-specialist audience.
Workshop Outline
This interactive workshop leads from identifying media-friendly elements in research, building relationships with journalists through various channels, giving concise expert comments and concludes with on-camera interviews and playback analysis.
Throughout, trainees are given examples, templates and tips on how to tackle the exercises, to increase their confidence and broaden their understanding. The trainers do not believe in learning by humiliation, and see properly-grounded confidence as the key to interview success.
Learning Outcomes
· Knowing how to identify newsworthy, 'media-friendly' elements in their research
· Knowing how to 'pitch' their research to the media
· Mastering techniques for taking control of the interview and for answering difficult or hostile questions
· Increased confidence in giving interviews to print and online media, radio and TV
This training has been given to audiences at 36 British universities, including Oxford, UCL, UAL, Queen Mary, London, King’s College, London, Warwick, and Sussex, with over 75 % regularly rating the workshop excellent on questionnaires.
Among many favourable comments, Dr Doris Dippold, post-doctoral researcher in Education, University of Surrey wrote
“One of the best training seminars I’ve ever attended! Very professional trainers who were extremely well-prepared. Many thanks”
Robert Sugden, Graduate Teaching Assistant, Law School, Kingston University commented
“Tim and Lily were very engaging and knowledgeable trainers on one of the best courses I’ve attended at the University”
And Sonia Boyce, an AHRC fellow at the University of the Arts London described the training as “A really enjoyable and informative day. Thought provoking!”
AGENDA
9.30: Trainers’ introduction. Exercise: introducing yourself to a non-academic audience. What makes a good story? Understanding the Media. Language and Audience. Identifying “newsworthy” elements in your work.
1100: Coffee break.
1115: Initial contacts with the media. Your press office (optional input from university comms. staff). Exercise: Writing a headline and a summary for a press release on your work. How to get a letter published in the press, tips on using social media to attract journalists' attention to your research, and building relationships with journalists.
1230: Interviews as an active opportunity, not a passive experience: preparing your messages. Taking control of the interview. Techniques for handling difficult or hostile questions. Specifics of printed, online and broadcast media.
1300: Lunch.
1345 – 1415: Preparation for interview exercise. Exercise: recording of on-camera interviews for each participant (2 takes each)
1445: tea break
1415-1715: Interviews, playback and discussion