The first hour
Building a holding statement when you know almost nothing, so silence does not become the story. What you can say honestly before the facts are confirmed, and what you must never say.
Media training
Crisis media training for the worst day of your year.
Practical media training for Australian leaders and spokespeople who could find themselves in front of a camera, a microphone or a hostile inbox with very little warning. Led by former journalists and senior crisis advisers, not academics.
- Delivered live and online
- Recorded practice interviews
- Former journalists as trainers
What is crisis media training?
Crisis media training teaches the people who speak for your organisation how to handle media questions while a serious incident is still unfolding. It is narrower and more pressured than general media training. The story is moving, the facts are incomplete, people may have been harmed, and every answer is being judged for tone as much as content.
A session usually covers building a holding statement in the first hour, agreeing key messages the whole leadership team can repeat, bridging away from speculation without sounding evasive, and practising on camera until the responses stop feeling scripted. Most Australian providers run it as a half day or full day, in person or online, with recorded mock interviews and playback.
It is a skill, not a document. That is the difference between this and a crisis communication plan, and it is why organisations that already have a plan often discover their spokespeople have never actually practised using it.
Inside the training
What crisis media training covers
Every session is shaped around the incidents your organisation is genuinely exposed to. These are the components that appear in almost all of them.
Key messages under pressure
Three messages the chief executive, the board chair and the front desk can all repeat without contradicting each other. Consistency across spokespeople is what stops a story running for a second week.
Bridging difficult questions
Moving from a question you cannot answer to a message you can deliver, without the verbal tics that read as evasion on camera. Practised until it sounds like you rather than a media handbook.
Television, radio and podcast
Each format punishes different habits. Television reads your face, radio reads your pauses, a podcast will let you talk yourself into trouble over an hour. We train for the formats you are actually likely to face.
Recorded mock interviews
Interviews run by people who used to ask these questions for a living, recorded and played back. Watching yourself is uncomfortable and it is the part of the day that changes behaviour.
Social media pile-ons
The modern crisis often starts in comments rather than a newsroom. When to respond, when to hold, and how a screenshot of your reply becomes tomorrow's news story.
Who it is for
Who needs crisis media training
The people who end up in front of a camera during a crisis are rarely the communications team. They are the chief executive, the principal, the board chair, the head of the association. They are usually competent, senior and completely unpractised at being questioned in public about something that has gone badly wrong.
The training is built for anyone who could reasonably be asked to speak in that moment:
- Chief executives, founders and managing directors of Australian businesses
- School principals, heads of school and business managers, who face parent, media and departmental questions at the same time
- Association and peak body executives who speak on behalf of a membership with competing views
- Not-for-profit and charity leaders, where a reputational hit puts donor income at risk
- Communications and marketing staff who will brief and support the spokesperson on the day
- Board members and deputies, who become the spokesperson when the chief executive is the subject of the story
Format
How a session runs
Sessions are built around your organisation, not a generic case study. Before the day, we work through the incidents you are genuinely exposed to, the spokespeople who would front them, and any live sensitivities we need to work around.
- A short briefing on how Australian newsrooms decide what a story is, and why the second day is usually worse than the first.
- Building your key messages together, against a scenario drawn from your own risk profile rather than a textbook.
- Recorded practice interviews, run in the formats you are most likely to face, with the pressure turned up gradually.
- Playback and direction, which is where most of the actual learning happens.
- A second round of interviews, so the changes are practised rather than just noted.
- A written debrief covering what to fix in your messages, your approvals chain and your spokesperson bench.
Delivery is live, online or in person, for a small group so everyone gets time in the chair. Half day and full day formats are both common. We will recommend the shape that suits your team after the scoping conversation rather than selling a fixed package.
Media training or crisis media training?
General media training prepares you to promote something: a launch, a result, a campaign. You control the timing, you know the questions, and the worst outcome is a dull story. Crisis media training prepares you for the interview you did not schedule, about a subject you would rather not discuss, at a moment when your organisation's reputation is genuinely at stake.
The skills overlap. The pressure does not. If your immediate concern is a serious incident rather than a product launch, this is the session you want.
Where it fits
Training, plans and full crisis capability
Crisis media training is one piece of crisis readiness. It is the most visible piece, because it is the part the public sees, but on its own it will not make an organisation crisis ready.
- Crisis media training builds the skill. Your spokespeople can hold a line under questioning. This page.
- A crisis communication plan builds the process. Who decides, who speaks, who is told and in what order. Our guide to writing a school crisis communication plan walks through the structure, and the template applies well beyond schools.
- The Crisis Masterclass builds the capability. A twelve month online program covering prevention, readiness, response and recovery, built in association with the Crisis Ready Institute.
- A sector program builds it into the year. Twelve months of training, resources and on-call support for schools, businesses and not-for-profits and industry associations, with crisis content shaped for each sector.
Most organisations start with training because something has just happened, or nearly happened, and the gap has become obvious. That is a perfectly reasonable place to start. It is a poor place to stop.
Who delivers it
Trained by people who have sat on both sides of the interview
Practitioners rather than academics. Between them they have worked in newsrooms, run crises for governments and listed companies, and trained executives across the world.
Lyall Mercer
Co-founder, My PR Partner
A former journalist with more than 25 years of front-line public relations experience, advising governments, executives, heads of state, industry associations and schools, and coordinating international media conferences.
Cavill Stone
Radio and broadcast specialist
Former director of clients, people and culture at a PR agency specialising in radio and broadcast communications, with more than ten years in PR and communications.
Melissa Agnes
Founder and CEO, Crisis Ready Institute
A recognised authority on crisis communication, crisis leadership and brand protection, and best-selling author of Crisis Ready: Building an Invincible Brand.
Deborah Hileman
President, Institute for Crisis Management
President of the Institute for Crisis Management in the United States, a recognised leader in crisis communication research and training, having trained executives across the globe.
Your session is matched to the trainer whose background fits your sector and the formats you are most likely to face. You can see the full roster on the expert trainers page.
Common questions
Crisis media training questions
How long does crisis media training take?
Most sessions run as either a half day or a full day. A half day suits a small group refreshing existing skills. A full day is better when spokespeople have never been on camera, because it allows two rounds of recorded interviews with playback in between, which is where the improvement actually happens.
Can crisis media training be delivered online?
Yes. Online delivery works well for crisis media training because most crisis interviews now happen down a video link anyway, so practising in that format is realistic rather than a compromise. In person sessions are also available where a group wants to be in the same room.
How many people should attend?
Small groups work best, usually between four and eight, so everyone gets meaningful time in the interview chair. We strongly recommend training at least two spokespeople, because if an incident involves the chief executive then the chief executive cannot front it.
What is the difference between media training and crisis media training?
General media training prepares you to promote something on your own timetable, where you know roughly what will be asked. Crisis media training prepares you for an interview you did not schedule, about a subject you would rather not discuss, while facts are still incomplete and your reputation is genuinely at stake. The skills overlap but the pressure is different.
We already have a crisis communication plan. Do we still need this?
Usually yes. A plan sets out who decides and who speaks. It does not give the person who speaks any practice at doing it. Organisations with a well written plan and an unpractised spokesperson still perform badly on the day, because holding a line under questioning is a skill that only develops through rehearsal.
How much does crisis media training cost in Australia?
It depends on the format, the group size and how much scenario development the session needs beforehand. We scope it in a short conversation and quote against what you actually need rather than selling a fixed package. Organisations wanting crisis capability across a full year usually find one of the twelve month sector programs better value than a standalone session.
Can you help if we are in the middle of something right now?
Yes. If your organisation is dealing with an active or sensitive matter, contact us rather than booking training. A senior adviser from CRC Public Relations will review the situation in confidence and recommend the fastest sensible next step, with no obligation.
Start the conversation
Find out what your spokespeople would actually do
Tell us who speaks for your organisation and what you are exposed to. A senior adviser will tell you honestly whether a single session will cover it, or whether you would be better served by a full program.