International media training can mean a lot of things to different people. Some might take it to mean “multilingual” in which case services from Clapperton Media Training are not the right place to look – Guy is learning Spanish on Duolingo but unless a small boy walks in eating an apple his vocabulary so far is not going to be much help.
He has. however, been to Germany over the last couple of weeks (and a firm hello to the friends and contacts he made in Stuttgart) training a technology business. He wss in Paris earlier this year doing the same thing and although it was virtual. he was training someone in Hungary yesterday – a country he’d visited for some in-person training in 2023. So why, he asked the clients, did they choose a British media trainer rather than a local and equally skilled journalist and trainer?
International media training for international publications
The first answer was, gratifyingly, that they didn’t just want a British trainer, they wanted one trainer in particular (Guy) because of the amount of time we’ve been around. That’s always good to hear.
The second might resonate with you if your PR company has clients abroad. Our network, our testimonials and our recommendations were invaluable when making the final choice, our German client told us, but there were other factors.
For one thing they were targeting international media. International media training rather than focusing on a single country was therefore imperative. And no matter how we might feel about it, for most of the international media you’re going to need to do the interviews in English. The best way to practice this is with a native English speaker.
That’s not all though. The German contact also commented that the British media is often known to be tougher than the Americans. For this reason and of course for common-sense geographical proximity, engaging an English trainer was thought to be essential.
If you’re in PR this might sound like your client. It might sound like your company if you’re the internal comms person. It certainly sounds like our sort of client; remember, if you’re looking for media training but you’re not in the UK, we’re nonetheless not that far away.
(Image: holiday snap by Guy from Trinity College in Dublin, which we decided was actually livelier than any of the paid-for globe pictures we might be able to find for you!)
