Media training for academics
Our Media Training for Academics equips researchers and subject experts with the skills, confidence and clarity to share their work powerfully in any media interview; from recognising your headline, explaining complex ideas and answering challenging questions.
Turn your research into headlines
Whether you’re sharing groundbreaking research, responding to a news story or positioning yourself as a thought leader, speaking to the media can amplify your impact - but only if you know how.
This practical training course gives academics and researchers the skills and confidence to communicate clearly, stay in control and get your message across.
Led by former BBC journalists, this training is built around real-life media scenarios relevant to your field. From preparing your key messages to handling challenging questions, we’ll help you be ready to deal with any media opportunity.
Full day or half day training
At your location or online
“As real” interview practice with feedback
Designed for researchers and academics
Ideal for up to eight delegates
Course overview
Media interviews can be a powerful way to promote your research, raise your profile and contribute to public debate. But the rules of academic communication don’t always apply in a media setting.
This training helps will help you adapt your language, sharpen your message and tell relatable stories that resonate with journalists and the public. You’ll learn how to structure your points for impact, use bridging techniques and navigate both live and pre-recorded interviews effectively.
At the heart of the course are practical, “as real” interview sessions for both radio and TV - tailored to your subject. You’ll get expert feedback on how to improve your delivery, pitch your story and stay calm under pressure.
Sample course outline
- Today's media landscape
- Making the most of your media opportunity
- Working with your comms or marketing team
- What journalists are looking for and why
- How to get media attention for your research
- Mosaic’s ACES of Effective Communications
- Storytelling and simplified language
- The news pyramid vs academic structure
- Body language
- Relax
- Appearance
- Voice
- Eye contact
- Rehearse
- Quotes and soundbites
- Live v pre-record
- How to handle difficult questions / thinking on your feet
- How to not say the wrong thing
- Questions to ask a journalist before any interview
- Preparing key messages for your topic
- Practical interviews with former journalists
- Expert feedback
- Reflect on learning outcomes
- Actions
- Q&A session
- Closing
Not quite what you’re looking for? We can tailor this training to your exact needs. If you require a shorter session, more delegates or a unique course outline, contact us to discuss bespoke options.
Frequently asked questions
Have any other questions? Get in touch.
We don’t do open courses for individuals. Sorry about that.
We specialise in tailored training that’s created to exactly meet your needs, so our courses will be made uniquely for you and/or your organisation.
If you’re interested in a one to one tailored session or a group course for your organisation, do get in touch!
Our courses are all tailored specifically to you and your organisation’s needs. So usually our training is delivered at your place. We’ll be pleased to come to you, wherever you are.
If you prefer to book a hotel, meeting room or other accommodation that’s fine too.
If it’s hard for you to get everyone in one place we can also do your training online using either Zoom or Teams.
Our pricing depends entirely on your needs – we don’t do “one size fits all”!
Our course development includes working with you to understand your current levels of skills and experience, what you want to achieve from the training and how we can get you there.
We’ll also want to find out how many people you want trained and where you’d like the course delivered.
Once we know all that we can price your course which means you won’t pay for anything you don’t need.
As a guide, most of our full day courses start at £1995+VAT for up to four people, so that’s less than £500+VAT a head.
But speak to us and we’ll make sure we’re within your budget.
Absolutely! And we don’t just think so – our clients keep coming back, which tells us we’re giving them real value. We’re really proud that 40% of our work is with returning clients, so we must be getting it right.
Because we specialise in tailored training, everything we do for you is aligned to your outcomes. We know you don’t want to spend time or money on training that’s not directly going to help your business or organisation.
Apart from our one to one training, our fees are always for group sessions, so the most efficient cost per head is to fill all those places. It’s also really efficient to have two trainers attend if you have a large group size or have consecutive days of training. We’re always happy to explain our pricing – just let us know.
Everything you need!
- Planning meeting(s) with you to develop learning outcomes
- Course programme development
- Course content research and creation
- Scenario research to make your training relevant and “as real as it gets”
- Delivery by our former BBC journalist trainers and marketing experts
- Most courses have our Pre Course Questionnaire so we know what each delegate wants to achieve from their session with us
- Copies of our PDF guides as applicable
- Recordings of the full training session (online training)
- Recordings of radio and TV interviews carried out during the training (in person training)
- Course admin including scoping availability, confirming resources, booking confirmation and invoicing
No problem. The great thing about tailored training is that it’s exactly that. Tailored to you, including your availability. Speak to us and we’ll create a programme that fits your time.
Yes! We like to support charities with a discount, do ask us for more details.
We also offer discounts for multiple bookings. So for example if we create you a tailored course and you book multiple sessions, later ones will be discounted since the groundwork is already done. We’ll go through this once we know what you want.
Yes. We deliver training across the world and it’s nearly always much easier for one or two of us to come to you than all of you to come to us.
As a registered BCorp, we’re committed to using public transport wherever we can. Our travel cost covers our train fare, transfers and overnight accommodation where needed. We also charge a token amount for our travel time. This is because when they’re travelling to you our trainer isn’t available to train someone else.
We’ll cover all this in detail when we send you your proposal.
Lots of organisations come to us in exactly that situation.
By bringing in our expertise your team’s skills will be sharpened even further which helps your organisation and their professional development. For example, you might only deal with a media crisis every few years – we handle them every day for our wide selection of clients!
Our training is also an invaluable external assessment of your skills, capacity and resilience. Think you’ve got all skills covered? Let us confirm that for you by putting them into practice, or help you fill the gaps.
We can also help you address professional development. Our BBC expertise means we can give credible, valued feedback to all your delegates, including conversations you may not feel confident to have.
Why choose Mosaic for your training?
Our outstanding training is unique in the following ways:
- We have more than 25 years’ experience training a wide range of organisations including blue chip companies, schools, universities, charities and government departments.
- Every course we deliver is individually tailored exactly to your needs. We never do “off the shelf” training - your course will be about skills, issues and great practice in the areas relevant to your clients.
- Our media trainers are former BBC or print journalists and communications professionals. They bring insight and expertise to each course based on decades of delivery and success.
- We are a B Corp Certified Company, so we are committed to sustainable and ethical practice to benefit people and planet.
