Media training helps you get ready to speak with journalists and interview hosts, from writing key messages to answering questions in a mock interview on camera. Much of media training for founders is preparation you can do on your own before a video or press interview. Choose your key messages, back each one with proof, rehearse out loud, and learn about the outlet before you sit down. A first interview is a big moment, and you can practice every step here at your desk.
What Media Training Covers
DePaul University’s communications office describes its media training as sessions that range from developing talking points and key messages to intensive on-camera mock interviews. Universities also publish media interview tips for their own experts, and the advice that follows comes from three of them.
Choose the Key Messages You Want People to Remember
Start with your key messages, the points you most want the audience to remember. Utah State University’s guide to media interviews suggests one to three key messages, and UC Santa Cruz’s media training page advises keeping each point short enough to share in 20 seconds or less. Write each one as a sentence you would be glad to see quoted.
Back Each Message with Proof
Utah State pairs key messages with about three supporting talking points. Proof points are the facts that make a message believable, such as a customer result you have permission to share or a number you can show from your own books.
For each answer, try this pattern from UC Santa Cruz: answer the question, give supporting information, move to your message, and state it.
How to Prepare for a Media Interview by Practicing on Camera
Give yourself a few takes, because seeing yourself on video can be uncomfortable at first. The UC Santa Cruz guide recommends saying your key messages out loud, recording your answers and listening to them, and speaking naturally without reading. Watch each recording twice, once for content and once for delivery.
To choose what to rehearse, use our list of questions to ask an entrepreneur, grouped by subject. In the interview itself, the same guide advises keeping your eyes on the reporter and away from the camera.
What to Learn about the Outlet and the Interviewer
Before you agree, UC Santa Cruz suggests asking about the story angle, deadline, outlet, and interview format. Then watch or read a few recent pieces by the same interviewer, and have a press kit ready so she can check your bio and facts.
What On the Record and Off the Record Mean for You
On the record means a reporter can use what you say and name you. In a Poynter column, Tom Jones writes that once a reporter agrees to keep something off the record, the ethical choice is to neither report nor repeat it. Information given on background can be used without naming you.
Jones adds that these terms should be agreed on before you say anything, and that a reporter can refuse. UC Santa Cruz notes that each reporter defines off the record differently and advises avoiding it.
How to Handle a Question You Cannot Answer
A question you cannot answer is easier to handle with a plan. UC Santa Cruz advises against inventing an answer: acknowledge the gap, and offer to follow up with the information or with a colleague who has it. Utah State adds that when a question falls outside your expertise, you can say so and return to your message.
Put Your Practice to Use in a Pink Fins Media Interview
A Pink Fins Media interview would give you a long conversation about your company, and you would be free to share the full YouTube episode and watch it back, like your practice recordings. When you feel ready, or when another founder comes to mind, the Nominate a Woman button sits at the top of this page.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Is Media Training?
Media training is preparation for interviews with journalists and hosts. DePaul University describes sessions that range from writing key messages to on-camera mock interviews.
How Do I Prepare for a Media Interview on My Own?
Start with one to three key messages and the proof behind each, then record your rehearsals and watch them back.
How Many Key Messages Should I Have for an Interview?
Utah State University suggests one to three key messages with about three supporting talking points.
Can I Ask a Reporter to Keep Something Off the Record?
You can ask, and the reporter can refuse. Poynter notes that the agreement should come before you share the information.
What Should I Say If I Do Not Know the Answer?
Say that you do not have the answer and offer to follow up with it. Then return to your key message.
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