Keep cool - The spokesperson training from HeadlineAffairs

© AI generated image from Canva.com

Those like HeadlineAffairs who are based in the city know how long summer can be when the heat moves in. Opening the fridge once, breathing in the cool air and grabbing a cold drink or even an ice cream from the freezer... pure refreshment. We turned the tables on our last Spokesperson training session. We drove to a major production facility for refrigerators in Germany and did our best to make the management team sweat. Fortunately, they were cool.

In their showroom, the manufacturers had broken down their refrigerator models into numerous individual parts to show how these individual components make up a large whole. It's the same with communication. It can sometimes feel like good communication requires you to think of hundreds of little things. This is off-putting and in many places prevents managers from recognizing and, above all, taking advantage of the opportunities that communication offers.

Of course, it is the media's job to point out problems, uncover untruths and ask critical questions. But the media can also inspire hope and spread a spirit of optimism. That is also necessary. Not least when it comes to issues such as climate protection, we need to come together as a community to make ecological change possible. Companies also need the media for this. Pioneers in sustainable business show others the way, retain customers, win customers, find partners and enhance their reputation. But only if they provide information about it. Communication and exchange with the media are essential to enable social change.

In our HeadlineAffairs spokesperson training courses, we take communication apart just like the fridge. We analyze the individual parts and practice, practice, practice putting them together to form the big picture: an effective dialogue with the media. It is so often forgotten that a media interview does not have to mean an attack, danger or loss of control. It is a dialog between two fundamental members of society. If you meet the media representatives as human beings and on an equal footing, you can ensure that both achieve a mutually beneficial result.