COMMUNICATIONS MEDIA TRAINING IN JOHANNESBURG

Adrian Steed gained hands-on experience as a broadcaster in the South African Electronic Media for 40 years. He worked on Radio from 1957, and then, when Television was introduced in 1976, he made the transition to what is currently the most powerful medium in the world.

The first thing that Adrian does when he’s approached by a new client is to establish what the client’s/delegate's training needs are. Generally they fall into three categories:

1. Media Training and Media Relationships
2. Crisis Communications to the Media in the event of Big Bad Trouble...deaths and injuries.
3. Presentation Skills, which apply to radio and television appearances and making live presentations to groups of people.

Adrian is only too aware of how nervous and apprehensive everybody is when dealing with the media or making presentations, so he gets positive results by conducting the workshops empathetically and tailoring them to delegates' specific needs with personal and intensive coaching. The courses are interactive, comprehensive and informative in every respect. Some of their aspects are surprising and challenging, but delegates never fail to say how much they have learned in a comparatively short space of time and how much they have enjoyed having themselves built up and prepared for handling the presentation of themselves in any situation.

Adrian's services have been and are used by, among many others, companies the likes of Anglo American, Anglogold, De Beers, Goldfields, Impala Platinum, Pick 'n Pay, JCI, AECI, IBM, Standard Bank, First National Bank, Barclays SA, Old Mutual, Metropolitan Life, Alexander Forbes, Murray and Roberts, Barlow World, South African Airways, Sasol, Telkom, Rand Water, Eskom, Clover SA and Daimler Chrsysler SA to name just a few.

Surprisingly, Adrian has trained delegates attending his Masterclasses from more than 25 different countries.

No sooner had Television started than Adrian began to get requests from public relations practitioners for help with clients who were anxious about forthcoming media encounters, especially those involving TV appearances. During the past 25 years Adrian has helped hundreds of business people present themselves to advantage in any situation, more particularly when making business presentations or being interviewed by the press or on radio and television. He has a wealth of knowledge and experience in this unique training arena and, while he is quick to point out that he can't change people's upbringing and education, he can and does achieve remarkable results with people after just a few hours, encouraging them to adopt new skills and techniques. It's work that he enjoys, and he says that to watch people who need his help put his advice into practice is extremely gratifying and fulfilling.

The basic training course for Media Training - many elements of which apply to the other two categories - is as follows:

1. An overview of the South African Media...the press, radio and television.
2. How the media work and the vital role of public relations.
3. Journalism, how journalists work and how to work with the media.
4. Presentation of the first part of a training video which highlights dramatically the perils of speaking to the media when you're unprepared.
5. A review by Adrian and the delegate(s) of the mistakes a company representative makes in the video while talking to members of the media.
6. The second part of the training video which shows what the representative should have said and done.
7. Delegate(s) are given hands-on experience before a TV camera, during which they are taught how to handle different kinds of pressure.
8. In-depth discussions and demonstrations of critical body language, during which the delegate is taught how to present himself to best advantage. This part of the course applies to the presentation of one's self to best advantage in any situation.
9. A detailed explanation of how interviewers approach radio and television interviews. This extends to the delegate as the interviewee and how he should conduct himself.
10. Hands-on experience of radio and television interviews about the delegate and his business, including what not to say and how to get a core message across despite of an interviewer's questions.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Postal Address:
PO Box 91115
Auckland Park
2006
Gauteng
South Africa

Tel: +27(0)11 726-8095/6
Fax: +27(0)11 726-1275