The Art of the Interview
Media interviews are both a science and an art. Journalists expect the influencers they interview to be visionaries who tell exciting, quotable stories with accuracy, humor and confidence – who answer directly rather than evasively -- and who speak with both knowledge and passion. 

Loma Communications media training workshops and individual coaching sessions prepare executives from around the world to become highly effective spokespeople – the kind journalists seek out for interviews.  We offer realistic interview practice and valuable insights into the media environment for seasoned executives and new spokespersons alike.

Capturing great media coverage is more than crafting a well-told story.  Executives and communicators need to build long-term relationships with the journalists, analysts and other audiences critical to a company’s success.  Loma provides continuous learning opportunities where senior executives with years of interview experience can freshen their skills, add new interview styles and learn proven new techniques for creating meaningful dialogue with reporters.

Journalists are now studying the strategies executives learn in media training and are constantly developing new story-mining methods that work around those strategies.  It is more critical than ever for executives and communicators to stay ahead of the game.  Loma teaches them to recognize these new and ever-changing techniques.

We encourage our clients to treat journalists as prospective allies, not adversaries.  We believe in a straight answer, not evasive maneuvers.  An interview is a constantly re-negotiated relationship where, as with any game of strategy, if we are trained to think several moves ahead, we lose the need for evasion or defensiveness.  In this game, both parties can find common ground – and both can win big.    

While Loma customizes each training program to the needs of the participants, our programs contain both cognitive learning and behavioral/skills development modules.    These two types of learning are very different.  For example, when we learned to drive a car, we began with learning the rules of the road and safety tips in a classroom, but it wasn’t until we got behind the wheel that we mastered the skill. 

Our training uses a similar approach, with multimedia material and tools to equip spokespeople with what they need to know -- and dedicated training and coaching to help them build the required skills.  Both methods are essential.

Training Results
Loma workshops develop company spokespeople who can:

• Deliver quality content (news, information, background and perspective) on topics of interest to the media and their organization
• Speak with confidence and authority on market trends, the business environment, customer needs and the issue relevant to their position
• Comfortably discuss how the company’s products and services relate to customer needs and the industry as a whole by telling the company’s overall story
• Present themselves as visionaries and expert sources on industry topics that are important and relevant to the company.

We make sure spokespeople know how to:  prepare for media interviews, make their story relevant and interesting to target journalists, build the context and frame the conversation to maximize the outcome, stay focused on their communications objective, answer tough questions, minimize inaccuracies, gain and maintain control of their responses and align themselves with the corporate story/messaging.

Media Spokesperson Certification and Train-the-Trainer Programs
Loma develops custom Media Spokesperson Certification Programs for organizations that need accurate, reliable news sources.  We certify participants at four levels, each requiring a more advanced level of knowledge, authority and interviewing skills

Level 1: Subject Matter Expert – a technical, product or program-level spokesperson who is qualified to speak on a single area of expertise.

Level 2: Proactive Spokesperson – speaks on a broader area of expertise and can relate this to the company overall.

Level 3: Business Media Spokesperson – a level that can address the business performance of company and all major initiatives.

Level 4: Broadcast Media Spokesperson – In addition to all of the above, this level includes expert on-camera skills.

Level 5: Media Trainer – When clients’ needs are best met by an in-house trainer, for example, in remote locations or overseas offices, Loma’s Train-the-Trainer programs help develop the skills trainers need for successful, high-impact programs.

Tutorials
We generally begin our cognitive training with tutorial modules.  While we customize our tutorials for the needs of each client, below are examples of some topics we may address: 

• Understanding the media environment and how to deal effectively with it
• Your role as a spokesperson
• A spokesperson’s imperatives
• Handling a media inquiry
• Communication techniques: preparing for the interview
• Best practices for interviews across media formats
• Mastering the art of messaging, story lines and themes
• Presenting yourself and your message effectively
• Interview do’s and don’ts
• Handling questions confidently
• Using verbal techniques and non-verbal gestures.

We also work with our clients to create internal models for the spokespeople to assimilate, such as links to successful interviews.

Individual Coaching
Journalists look for a sense of passion in their subjects.  Professional athletes call it being “in the zone.”  Actors call it being ‘in character.”  In the world of business, it’s an executive’s ability to first master the fear or tension everyone feels during an interview – and then unveil the skill and brilliance they were hired for. 

Speaking both passionately and accurately does not happen by accident. It is a learned skill – one that may require many executives to shift dramatically from their normal persona and overcome personal blocks.  While passionate speaking cannot be force fed, it can be evoked through the advice and inspiration of an experienced one-on-one coach.  

Loma customizes every coaching session moment-to-moment to work with the individual.  Most often, our trainers will conduct mock interviews, which will be recorded and critiqued.  We simulate the real-world situations the participants are preparing for, from lengthy background interviews to fast-paced broadcast interviews to handling the unexpected. 

Our professionals create an encouraging and safe environment where participants will feel free to take risks, break self-defeating patterns and make bolder and better choices in their speaking. We take pride in our unerring instinct to observe and analyze the essence of a speaker – our gentle prompting while they practice -- and our expertise in guiding them to present their company with accuracy and passion.

It is our intention to make each session powerful, energetic and engaging, while exercising the utmost respect and diplomacy with our clients. We respect the enormous value of their time and our foremost objective is to quickly and efficiently achieve both the executive’s and the communicator’s goals.