Let’s say you own an international energy company and there is a huge explosion and people who work for you are killed.
Or that there’s a large oil spill and major damage control is in order (both figuratively and literally). The media is there before you know it and they are asking questions you don’t know the answers to. What do you do? What do you say?
This is where Flow Communications comes in, with media veterans Jeremy Maggs and Kate and Tara Turkington conducting specialist emergency media training for executives. Aimed mostly at the corporate sector, this service has become very popular with old and new clients alike.
The training is a mix of both the theoretical and the practical, as delegates are given the opportunity to put what they’ve learnt into practice during recorded radio and television interviews, which the entire group then critiques together. It can be a nerve-wracking but intensely educational experience!
“Our media training services are in demand, with new clients finding us on a consistent basis. It is often great to see delegates engaging with the media soon after the training,” says media trainer and CEO of Flow Communications, Tara Turkington.
Media training is just one of the services that Flow provides, as we help a wide range of clients understand how the media works and thinks. That way, when a crisis hits, they are better equipped to handle themselves and the media attention.
Tara, who recently had the honour of conducting media training for MultiChoice Africa‘s country managers in Uganda, said of her work, “It’s a privilege to meet the different and interesting people that we provide media training to. The training is essentially about building people’s understanding of and confidence in dealing with the media.”
Each training session is formatted according to the needs of the client, as these are as diverse as the clients themselves.
Most recently, Flow has trained five top managers from MasterCard Africa and two Durban-based delegates from Lubrizol, a company that supplies performance chemicals and technologies for transportation, industrial and consumer markets. We’ve also done training for five senior managers from Growthpoint Properties, the largest listed property investment holding company on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE).
Flow also offers crisis communication training. “We have a record of one of the delegates engaging with the media only a couple of hours after the training. It’s a very empowering experience for people,” says Tara.