Get Your School’s Success Story Across To The Media

May 5, 2010 - PRLog -- Too often school administrators and academics miss important opportunities to tell a school’s compelling story during media interviews, according to two media relations experts who specialize in collegiate spokesperson preparation and training.

Interviews with journalists are a golden opportunity to share a school’s accomplishments and advance its point of view, according to Michael Beightol, principal at Collegiate Spokesperson Prep (http://collegiatespokespersonprep.com). “Yet too many articulate, passionate college deans and subject experts go into an interview unprepared, resulting in lost opportunities.

“One of the reasons is that dealing with reporters is one of the most counterintuitive experiences to be undertaken by academics and administrators,” he said. “A reporter will ask what appears to be a stream of unrelated questions. In fact, he or she is searching for a hook or angle to base the story upon. The interviewee, of course, would rather have the conversation flow in a logical sequence, but that is just not going to happen.”
                                                                 
The answer, according to Nick Farina, CSP co-principal, is that a collegiate spokesperson needs to go into an interview prepared with three key messages and to deliver those messages as often in as many different ways possible. Here are some few tips that will help a collegiate spokesperson get their school’s key messages across during a media interview.

First of all, remember that the goal is to keep control of the conversation so that the school’s key messages appear in the final story or get on the air. Collegiate spokespersons should remember that the real audiences are potential supporters, prospective students and donors and that a reporter is only a conduit to key audiences.

If you are a collegiate spokesperson please keep in mind that:

•  Most interviews tend to be conducted in a conversational and often disjointed manner that can lull or distract you into forgetting to get your points across. Stay alert and look for opportunities to deliver the key messages.

•  The reporter is gathering factual information and also seeks background information about the school and interviewee. Be informative and document your key messages with facts. This makes messages more compelling and powerful.

•  Reporters look for “color” in the form of interesting quotes. One of the best ways for a collegiate spokesperson to get a key message across is to wrap it in interesting language and anecdotes.

•  Reporters are keen on trends. Try to help them.

•  Conflict and controversy are always “big sellers.” Just be factual, deliver your messages, and avoid being sucked into negativity.

•  A reporter may have a misimpression. Do not hesitate to correct it or to respond to a negative leading question by saying “no” and then provide the accurate information. Stay positive.

•  When preparing key messages, support them with examples, personal experience, third-party endorsements, anecdotes and facts.

And, said Farina, remember that an effective collegiate spokesperson prepares key messages and practices using them. “It takes hard work to make something seem simple,” Farina said.

About Us
Collegiate Spokesperson Prep (http://collegiatespokespersonprep.com) is a team of award-winning communicators and journalists who work with universities and colleges to create highly effective spokespersons. CSP trained collegiate spokespersons effectively articulate their school’s benefits and accomplishments consistently, at every opportunity. They lend powerful support to the goals of their school, including advancing its ranking and attracting the best possible students.

CSP also offers public relations positioning and crisis communications consulting to help solve any perceptional problems confronting a school. For more information go to http://www.collegiatespokespersonprep.com.

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Collegiate Spokesperson Prep is a media training and messaging development service specifically for colleges and universities. Founded in 2010, CSP principals include former journalists, communications experts and business consultants.