Who is this service for?

Often working alongside public relations agencies, we help executives up to and including the C-suite prepare for media interviews to ensure they are productive and the executive's voice is heard. We also help executives preparing to deliver keynote speeches and our value goes beyond this as many of the skills are transferrable to other stakeholders.

What actually happens?

A team often including an experienced journalist and a camera expert will offer input and advice on what journalists, podcasters and other media professionals will need. The core of the sessions, however, is a practical interview session under lights and playback/feedback on the spot. We do this at least twice.

How long does it take?

A basic half-day session will take three and a half hours for up to three delegates.

How much does it cost?

Costs vary but a three-person half-day session will cost £2320 plus VAT. This excludes travel. Extras can include the hire of premises or indeed a full-blown TV studio if required.

What is your catchment area?

We are based in London but over the last couple of years we've worked in Greece, Bahrain and elsewhere. Just ask – we can probably make it work!

Guy Clapperton, Author at Clapperton Media

Clapperton Media Training ran filmed presentation training for eight LEAP Enterprise spokespeople ahead of the CEO’s Legal Geek talk.

The Client and the Challenge

LEAP Enterprise is a new division of LEAP Legal Software, created to serve mid-sized and large legal firms. Its leadership team is drawn largely from existing senior figures at LEAP — so the division combines an experienced team with a new go-to-market strategy aimed at a new tier of client.

Incoming marketing director Dani Pisciottano wanted that leadership team proactive and interview-ready, comfortable taking the stage and speaking to press on behalf of the new venture. She brought in specialist external help to get them there.

Enter Clapperton Media Training

Paul Angell, Martine Croxall and Guy Clapperton at a client's site in 2026 — Paul, Martine and Guy

Dani spoke to three companies before selecting Clapperton Media Training, because, as she explained:

“Clapperton Media Training came highly recommended and showed true professionalism from the very first engagement.

“We needed someone who would understand the technology involved, so Guy Clapperton’s experience as a tech journalist and podcaster was essential — and his connections, including an award-winning camera expert, were exactly what we needed.”

Dani put forward eight spokespeople, including herself. Guy proposed splitting them into two sessions of four. He built a three-person delivery team:

Guy Clapperton — tech journalist, podcaster and media trainer, leading content and delivery
Paul Angell — award-winning camera expert and long-time Clapperton collaborator, filming each practice session with full kit and lighting, bringing his own expertise as a documentary maker in getting the best out of interviewees
Martine Croxall — long-serving BBC newsreader, brought in for her expertise presenting both on stage and on screen

Once terms were agreed and diaries co-ordinated, Dani and Guy held an in-depth briefing call to map out each delegate’s individual strengths and weaknesses.

“It’s important to know who you’re going to be working with and what they need,” said Guy. “Otherwise you could go in thinking ‘let’s build this person’s confidence up’ when actually they’re fine with that — they just need help with storytelling, or removing jargon.”

The Session

Guy and the team built a structured programme for each group:

Foundations — Guy presented on the fundamentals of presenting: avoiding overreliance on slides, stage positioning, structuring a talk, sourcing appropriate images, and more.
Practice, filmed — each delegate delivered the same six-minute presentation, filmed by Paul.
Feedback, on playback — Paul, Martine and Guy reviewed the footage together with each delegate, offering pointers on repetition, body language and pacing.
Warm-up — the session closed with a video led by opera singer and vocal trainer Charlotte Clapperton, taking the whole group through vocal warm-up exercises.

“The session exceeded our expectations,” said Pisciottano. “All of the delegates have had notes on the pace of their delivery, how to avoid moving around on stage too much, and ensuring they engage with the audience.”

The Result

A few weeks after the session, LEAP Enterprise chief executive Joe Sanderson gave a talk at Legal Geek and had great feedback from the audience. He commented:

“Guy and his team equipped us with all the tools we need to successfully communicate in a manner that is consistent, concise and authoritative in both small settings, like roundtables and client meetings, and larger ones, for instance on stage at Legal Geek, one of the largest legal tech conferences in Europe.”

Photo: LEAP Enterprise. For more information on our presentation training, check this link.

During my media training sessions I sometimes get told by someone pretty senior that they’ve “done” this sort of training in the past and are there to support their juniors (because CEOs aren’t busy people, they have plenty of time to spectate while other people work).

All too frequently when I ask them a question during their practice interviews they freeze. Or smile and say “come on, ask a question a journalist would actually ask” – slightly overlooking the fact that I’ve been precisely that since 1989.

The reason is often simple. They did some training in 2022 or whatever and they’ve ticked the box, think it’s done. How many of your clients are like that – and more importantly would you actually know if thery were?

I’d love a chat in the comments section – meanwhile here’s a quick video.

Why do people use external media and presentation trainers like us, for example last week when lead trainer Guy Clapperton was joined by Paul Angell on camera duty and Martine Croxall on presenting skills in the afternoon?

Guy’s summary of what happened is here but there are a number of reasons to get outsiders to help with sessions like this. The first is that if you want a full-time current BBC presenter like Martine, you’re just not going to be able to stroll in and hire them. Likewise an award-winning documentary maker like Paul to help with your skill set. If you want their help, it’s going to be on an engagement-by-engagement basis.

The other reason is even simpler. If you’re in PR either internally or externally and the chief exec or whoever needs to hear some hard truths about their skills with the media. If you tell them and they don’t like it, you still have to see them the next day – we, on the other hand, can say what they need to hear and vanish – making your job easier!

If you want to know how else we can make life simpler for you, just get in touch.