Category: Media trainings

Headlining is a media interview technique that helps spokespeople lead with their most important message so it is heard, remembered, and preserved through journalistic filtering and editing.

Media interviews can be demanding, especially for less experienced spokespeople. They require focus, clarity, and the ability to think on your feet, often under time pressure and with limited room for error. But even very experienced spokespeople can struggle to consistently get their message across to the audience they actually want to reach.

Knowing and applying delivery techniques puts a floor under performance. It does not guarantee a perfect interview, but it reduces the risk of a poor one. Delivery techniques help spokespeople stay oriented, communicate more efficiently, and protect their core messages from being diluted, misunderstood, or lost altogether.

Headlining is one such delivery technique. Like repetition, flagging, and bridging, it is designed to ensure that key messages actually reach the audience. Headlining means that a spokesperson leads with the core message first and then elaborates on that message with proof points. When there is more than one key message, those messages are grouped and followed by proof points that support one or several of them.

The technique is simple, but its impact is significant. By stating the most important idea upfront, spokespeople increase the likelihood that their message is understood, remembered, and retained as the interview unfolds.

Journalist attention and the filtering effect

One reason headlining works so well is that journalists operate under severe attention constraints. During interviews, they are most likely to register what is said at the beginning and what is said toward the end. Anything that falls in between competes for attention with follow-up questions, time pressure, and the journalist’s need to shape a story.

If a spokesperson does not lead with the key message, there is a real risk that the most important point never passes through the journalist’s filter at all. Audiences will never receive a message that the journalist does not pick up. Headlining acknowledges this reality and adapts to it, rather than assuming that every explanation will be heard in full.

Editing risk in recorded interviews

Headlining also matters because many interviews are recorded and edited. Background explanations, nuance, and examples are often the first elements to be cut when time or space is limited. When a spokesperson builds toward a key message instead of leading with it, that message may disappear entirely in the edit.

By contrast, when the key message is stated clearly and early, it is far more likely to survive. Even if an answer is shortened, the essential point remains intact. Headlining therefore protects messages not just in the moment of the interview, but in what audiences ultimately see, hear, or read.

How people remember information

Headlining also aligns with how people process and remember information. Audiences tend to recall what they hear first and what they hear last. Attention naturally fluctuates, especially in longer interviews or technical discussions.

Leading with the most important message increases the chance that it is remembered, even if attention drops later or if only a short quote or clip is ultimately used. In this sense, headlining serves both the journalist’s workflow and the audience’s cognitive limitations.

Staying focused as a spokesperson

There is also a benefit for the spokesperson. Interviews can easily drift as follow-up questions, anecdotes, or examples pull the conversation in different directions. Without a clear internal structure, spokespeople may over-elaborate or lose sight of what they intended to say.

By stating the headline message upfront, spokespeople give themselves an anchor. It becomes easier to recognize when an answer is drifting and to return to what matters most.

An example of headlining in practice: proptech

Consider a proptech CEO asked:

“Why are real estate firms investing so heavily in data and software right now?”

A non-headlined answer might sound like this:

“There has been a lot of change in the market, and companies are trying to respond to tenant expectations. Technology has evolved quickly, and there are new tools available that weren’t there before. At the same time, margins are under pressure, and firms are looking for efficiencies across operations, leasing, and asset management.”

The answer may be accurate, but the key message is diffuse. A journalist could easily edit this down to a generic statement about “market change” or “new tools,” losing the strategic rationale altogether.

A headlined answer starts differently:

“Real estate firms are investing in proptech to make better decisions faster in a more volatile market. Data and software allow owners to price assets more accurately, manage energy use more efficiently, and respond more quickly to tenant needs. In an environment where margins matter, better information has become a competitive advantage.”

The difference is not substance, but sequence. The key message is clear from the first sentence, and the proof points explain why it matters. Even if the answer is shortened in editing, the strategic point survives.

Why headlining improves outcomes

Used consistently, headlining allows spokespeople to communicate with greater clarity, protects key messages from being lost in editing, and increases the odds that both journalists and audiences take away what matters most. It is a simple technique, but one that reflects a realistic understanding of how media interviews actually work.

A structured media training approach helps train executive spokespeople through small-group practice, message preparation, escalating interview complexity, and governance to ensure consistent, disciplined external representation.

Media training is a structured process that prepares designated spokespeople to communicate clearly under public scrutiny and support the organization’s positioning when visibility matters. While the fundamentals of effective media performance apply broadly, training must reflect differences in role, exposure, and responsibility.

At the top of the organization, media training is necessarily individual. The CEO’s public role requires dedicated, one-on-one preparation, addressed separately. This article focuses on executive spokespeople below the CEO: leaders and experts expected to represent the organization externally while reinforcing, rather than defining, its voice.

Executive spokespeople are typically selected for one of two reasons. Some are designated because they are responsible for corporate matters and may need to speak on behalf of the organization within their functional remit. Others are designated because they serve as thought leaders and are expected to contribute expertise-driven commentary that advances the organization’s positioning. These categories can overlap, but they create different emphases in training.

Training executive spokespeople builds on the same underlying principles used at CEO level, but it serves a different purpose. Where CEO training centers on individual positioning and strategic authority, spokesperson training is designed to create consistency across multiple voices while strengthening individual performance. For that reason, it is most effective in a small-group setting that combines practice, observation, and structured feedback.

Why executive spokespeople are trained in small groups

For spokespeople below the CEO, learning occurs not only through speaking but also through observing how others handle comparable situations. Small groups, capped at three participants, preserve intensity and ensure that everyone remains fully engaged. Participants rotate between being interviewed and observing peers, which accelerates pattern recognition and reinforces learning.

Individual assessment before the group session

Although the training itself takes place in groups, it begins with individual assessment, and the nature of that assessment depends on why a spokesperson was selected.

For executive spokespeople designated for corporate matters, the trainer reviews past interviews and public appearances to identify delivery habits, recurring weaknesses, and message-discipline issues that are likely to reappear under pressure.

For executive spokespeople designated primarily as thought leaders, the trainer again looks back at prior performance, but also calibrates the training to the individual’s thought-leadership persona. Where that persona has been made explicit, it becomes a deliberate input into how messages are framed and delivered. Where it has not been made explicit, the trainer works from the persona that most closely matches the spokesperson’s observed communication style, while keeping messaging aligned with organizational guardrails.

Having this insight upfront improves the quality of the live session. Mock interviews can be sequenced deliberately, and feedback can focus on performance rather than diagnosis.

Core delivery techniques

Media training draws on a range of well-established techniques. Among the most important are headlining, flagging, and bridging, which help spokespeople maintain message discipline under pressure.

Headlining focuses on leading with the core message before supporting it with detail. Flagging uses explicit verbal cues to signal what matters most. Bridging enables a spokesperson to transition from a journalist’s question to key messages regardless of how the question is framed. These techniques are reinforced through repeated application until they become instinctive.

How mock interviews and feedback are structured

Live practice sits at the center of the training. Each participant completes multiple simulated interviews.

After the first mock interview, feedback focuses not only on delivery and structure, but also on preparation. At this stage, the trainer explicitly addresses whether the participant worked from clearly defined key messages and supporting proof points, and introduces the use of preparatory message maps as a tool for interview readiness.

Where trainees have not prepared messages in advance, this moment is used to explain how message maps help maintain control under questioning. Participants are then given additional preparation time before subsequent simulated interviews to develop or refine their messages using this framework. This ensures that later interviews test application rather than improvisation.

Each interview is followed by a structured feedback sequence. Peers first share observations based on what they heard and saw. The interviewee then reflects on their own performance. Only after these steps does the trainer add targeted guidance and correction. This order strengthens analytical listening, self-assessment, and retention.

Increasing complexity deliberately

Interview difficulty increases as the session progresses. Early interviews are intentionally straightforward, while later rounds introduce interruptions, reframing, and sharper lines of questioning. Within each group, the least experienced interviewees typically go first. There is little value in going easy on participants with extensive media experience, while less experienced spokespeople benefit from encountering pressure early and learning through observation as complexity increases. This sequencing maximizes learning across the group.

Practicing adaptability rather than memorization

Media training is not about memorizing answers. Each interview round introduces variation so participants learn to apply core principles flexibly across topics, formats, and levels of pressure. Observation between rounds further sharpens judgment and accelerates improvement.

Understanding different media formats

Spokespeople are exposed to different media formats during training to understand how expectations shift. Print and online interviews reward clarity and quotability. Live broadcast adds layers of timing, presence, and non-verbal control.

To make these differences tangible, interviews are typically conducted on camera and with microphones. This is not only done so participants can look back at their own performance, but also to give less experienced spokespeople immediate, tactile exposure to the physical realities of different media formats. Experiencing cameras, microphones, and basic studio setups during training reduces friction and cognitive load when these elements appear in real interviews.

Institutional alignment and communications involvement

As with CEO training, it is valuable to involve a senior communications leader in the session. This ensures alignment with existing message frameworks, escalation protocols, and organizational guardrails. When direct participation is not possible, the trainer should be briefed in advance on priorities and constraints established by the communications function.

Multimedia learning and the value of examples

Learning is strengthened when information is processed through multiple channels. Seeing concrete examples of effective and ineffective interviews, whether drawn from participants’ own practice or curated external clips, reinforces pattern recognition and accelerates assimilation. Combining live interaction, spoken feedback, and visual reference points supports durable skill transfer.

Understanding the rules that govern media interactions

Training also covers the practical rules that govern media interactions, including what it means to speak on the record, off the record, or on background, how embargoes function, and when communications leadership should be involved. This knowledge reduces risk and supports disciplined engagement.

Governance, continuity, and refresh cycles

Media training should be treated as part of communications governance rather than as a one-off exercise. Organizations benefit from maintaining a simple registry recording who has been trained, when training occurred, and how participants performed. This registry should be embedded in the crisis communication manual so that, under pressure, it is immediately clear which spokespeople are trained, current, and appropriate to deploy. Tracking participation and performance allows refreshers to be scheduled as roles change, visibility increases, or skills decay over time.

The result: reliable, aligned executive spokespeople

When done well, media training produces executive spokespeople who are comfortable engaging with the media, disciplined in their messaging, and aligned with the organization’s positioning. They understand their role as credible voices within their domains and as reinforcers of the CEO’s voice.

Strong external communication rarely depends on a single voice alone. The CEO sets direction, but it is the broader cohort of executive spokespeople that sustains coherence when attention intensifies.

Media training for the CEO is a structured, realistic process that aligns message discipline, delivery skills, and thought leadership persona to ensure the CEO communicates with authority and strategic intent when it matters most.

The CEO is the spearhead of a company’s strategic communication. When it matters most, it is the CEO who speaks. Not frequently, but deliberately. Major announcements, defining moments, crises, and long-term positioning all require the authority, credibility, and visibility that only the CEO can provide. This makes every media interaction involving the CEO consequential and places a high bar on preparation.

Media training for a CEO is relevant at any stage of experience. It can support a newly appointed leader who is still finding their footing with the media, as well as a seasoned CEO who has given countless interviews. Depending on the experience of the CEO, some of the elements described below will receive more or less emphasis. In all cases, the objective is not to teach someone how to talk, but to sharpen performance, reinforce consistency, and ensure that media appearances actively support the company’s strategic objectives.

Two inputs are essential to effective CEO media training: an assessment of past performance and an assessment of the CEO’s thought leadership persona.

Assessing Past Performance

Past media appearances provide a concrete and objective starting point. They reveal strengths to build on and weaknesses that need attention, both in delivery and, where visible, in message design.

On the verbal level, common issues include difficulty handling negative questions, losing structure when interrupted, over-answering, or drifting away from key messages under pressure. Some CEOs become defensive when challenged. Others struggle to close answers decisively or to regain control once a journalist reframes the discussion.

Non-verbal performance is equally important. Pacing may be rushed or overly measured. Eye contact may be inconsistent. Posture and composure can unintentionally signal uncertainty or defensiveness. Even in print or online interviews, vocal delivery, rhythm, and emphasis influence how messages are perceived. Reviewing past performance allows these elements to be identified and addressed in a targeted way.

Defining the Thought Leadership Persona

Beyond technique, a CEO’s media presence is shaped by how they are perceived as a thought leader. Thought leadership comes in many forms, and it is useful to acknowledge this explicitly at CEO level. This persona does not emerge arbitrarily, but reflects a communication style the CEO has consciously or implicitly chosen because it feels authentic and comfortable.

A CEO who communicates primarily as an evangelist will typically emphasize conviction, momentum, and belief, while a CEO who leans more toward a visionary posture may place greater weight on long-term direction and strategic intent. These are only two possible examples of thought leadership style.

The thought leadership persona does not replace or override the company’s message architecture. Primary messages, supporting messages, proof points, and factual guardrails remain constant. It does however influence which proof points are foregrounded, how examples are framed, how much emphasis is placed on ambition versus execution, and the tone in which messages are delivered.

If the thought leadership persona of the CEO has never been communicated to them in explicit terms, the trainer will follow the persona that comes closest to the CEO’s implicit communication style, as observed in past media appearances and early interactions during the training.

Making Media Training Realistic

Media training is only effective if it feels real. This requires simulated interviews that mirror actual media interactions and are grounded in real business developments.

Executives are rarely interviewed without context. Journalists typically approach them with a topic, an angle, or a reason for the conversation. Training should reflect that reality. Ahead of the session, the CEO should receive two interview requests for as many simulated interviews. These requests are handled by the trainer or a co-trainer acting as journalists. They outline the topic and indicate some of the questions that may be asked, but not all of them.

Ideally, these interviews relate to a specific announcement that is being prepared. This increases realism and engagement and encourages the CEO to invest effort in the exercise. It also allows the CEO to work from a draft press release or an existing message map, mirroring real-world preparation.

Interview requests are typically shared three to four working days before the training session.

Structure of the Training Session

A CEO media training usually lasts between ninety minutes and two hours. Theory and practice are interwoven. The CEO speaks, learns, applies, and speaks again.

From a practical perspective, CEOs are best trained individually. Media training is demanding, and few executives benefit from making mistakes in front of the CEO. If budget constraints require a group setting, participants should be at a comparable seniority level.

The session often begins with a concise overview of how the media operate, what journalists look for, and how interviews fit into the broader media ecosystem. This establishes context without overwhelming the trainee.

A first simulated interview follows quickly. Trainers should design this interview in a way that allows the CEO to make mistakes. Learning is most effective when it emerges from experience rather than instruction.

The Hot Debrief

Immediately after the first interview, a hot debrief takes place. The CEO is asked to reflect on their own performance before receiving external feedback. This approach increases ownership of the learning process and improves receptiveness to coaching.

At this stage, the trainer also assesses how the CEO prepared for the interview. If the CEO did not work from clearly defined key messages and proof points, this moment is used to introduce the message map as a preparation tool. The trainer explains how key messages are structured, how proof points support them, and how this framework helps maintain control during interviews. When the CEO is asked to develop a message map, it goes without saying that they are invited to do so with the support of the Director of PR or another senior communications leader, if such a person is available (see also later).

The trainer then adds observations, explanations, and targeted guidance, supported by video playback of specific moments. Recording the interview allows for precise feedback and avoids reliance on memory alone, particularly when a single trainer conducts both the interview and the evaluation.

Teaching Core Media Techniques

Even in the first interview, trainers typically introduce foundational techniques.

Bridging teaches the CEO how to transition from a question to key messages, regardless of whether the question is positive, neutral, or negative. Headlining focuses on leading with the core message before supporting it with proof points. Flagging emphasizes the use of explicit signals to indicate what matters most.

These techniques are reinforced through repeated application rather than abstract explanation.

Increasing Complexity

The second simulated interview is usually more demanding than the first. Trainers introduce interruptions, loaded questions, and false dilemmas that force unacceptable alternatives. Performance again drives learning. Effective techniques are acknowledged and reinforced. Weaknesses are addressed with clear, actionable guidance.

If the CEO did not arrive with prepared key messages for subsequent interviews, additional preparation time is built in. Typically, an extra five minutes are given before the second and third interviews for the CEO to prepare using the message map introduced during the hot debrief. This preparation can again be done with the support of the Director of PR or another senior internal communications leader, if available.

Ideally, a third simulated interview follows. It is not more complex than the second, but it allows the CEO to apply what has been learned and to finish with a markedly stronger performance than at the start. Media interviewing is a skill, not a talent, and visible improvement reinforces confidence and motivation.

Understanding Different Media Formats

Simulating interviews across different formats helps the CEO understand the varying demands of different media. Print and online interviews place greater emphasis on clarity, structure, and quotability, while on-camera interviews add layers of non-verbal communication, composure, and presence.

Experiencing both formats during training allows the CEO to appreciate how answers must be adapted without compromising message integrity. The trainer actively guides the CEO through these differences and helps them navigate the expectations of each medium.

Multi-Channel Learning and Multimedia Reinforcement

From a learning perspective, the training deliberately follows a multi-channel approach. Learning is more effective when information is processed through different cognitive channels rather than through words alone. Live interaction, spoken feedback, and video recordings activate complementary forms of processing.

Recording the CEO’s own performance already engages multiple channels by combining verbal content with visual and non-verbal cues. Adding short video clips of other CEOs demonstrating effective and ineffective techniques provides additional content for visual processing. These clips create reference points that support comparison and pattern recognition, helping the trainee internalize best practices more quickly.

This multi-channel exposure strengthens retention and transfer. The CEO does not only hear what works or review their own performance, but also observes how similar techniques are executed by others, which accelerates assimilation and sharpens judgment.

Written and Unwritten Rules of Media Interviews

An effective CEO media training also covers the written and unwritten rules that govern media interviews.

This includes a clear explanation of what it means to speak on the record, off the record, and on background, and how these distinctions are applied in practice. CEOs need to understand that these terms are not interchangeable and that assumptions about confidentiality can lead to misunderstandings if not explicitly agreed upon.

The trainer also explains how media embargoes work, including why journalists use them, how they are honored, and what risks arise when embargoes are misunderstood or broken. This knowledge helps the CEO navigate complex media situations with confidence and protects the organization from unintended disclosure.

Institutional Alignment and Follow-Up

While it is generally not advisable to train multiple people during the interviews themselves, it is valuable to involve a senior communications leader such as a Director of PR or another internal communications leader in the session. This person can support feedback on messages and proof points and ensure alignment with existing communication policies and frameworks.

If such a representative cannot be present, the trainer must be briefed in advance on existing messaging frameworks, from message maps to message catalogues. These frameworks act as guardrails against which the CEO is trained.

An effective CEO media training combines realistic simulation, structured feedback, escalating challenge, and institutional alignment into a single, coherent learning experience.

An effective follow-up includes a personalized one-page debrief summarizing strengths, improvement areas, and practical guidance for future interviews. Learning is further enhanced by incorporating multimedia examples, such as short clips of other CEOs demonstrating effective and ineffective use of the techniques covered.

Media training at CEO level is not about scripting or performance for its own sake. It is about ensuring that when the CEO speaks, selectively and with intent, their presence advances the company’s strategy, credibility, and long-term positioning.