Our member Detavernier Strategic Communication has together with London based Communication Science Group developed a new evidence-based media training course. The new course covers all techniques executives need to master, to prepare for, and give media interviews. The course is sold through Detavernier Strategic Communication and will also be made available under white label licensing agreements to marketing and PR firms in Europe, North-America and Asia.
Consultants have been giving media training for decades. Some techniques that are taught are useful and valuable, but others are no longer in sync with the many scientific insights that are currently available on what makes verbal and non-verbal communication impactful. Jo Detavernier, SCMP, APR, founder and principal of Detavernier Strategic Communication, is a seasoned consultant who has given media training workshops for hundreds of executives over the last fifteen years in both the Brussels and Austin markets. Detavernier has now collaborated with Richard Chataway, Principal of Communication Science Group and an expert in behavioral change communications, to develop a media training course that is built on solid scientific grounds.
“Time to bring science into media trainings.”
“Media training urgently needs an update. Behavioral science has made great strides understanding how different manners of verbal and non-verbal communication are perceived. Should you talk with a low pitch, should you talk fast, will you be understood if you use negative statements… These are all matters where too often trainers will follow their intuition or, even worse, divulge pseudoscientific insights. It is important not only for the trainees who need and want to learn the right skills but also for trainers whose credibility is at stake that we turn media training into an evidence-based discipline. This training module is meant to be a contribution towards that effort,” says Detavernier.
“Marketers and public relations professionals will often not make sufficient use of the insights of behavioral science simply because they do not know where to find the right information, and that is a pity, really, because so much research has been conducted already on how people perceive verbal and non-verbal communication. I was very excited to participate in the development of this training course and am convinced that trainees will extract great value from it,” says Richard Chataway, principal of Science Communication Group.
