Goal

To ensure university administration and faculty for a major Midwestern higher education institution are confident and effective in all media interviews

Execution

Key messages development module—partnered with internal team to capture core messages for the institution, as well as for each individual department

Real practice on real issues—for each of the subject matter experts, created tailored sessions for practice of communications techniques, performed mock interviews on real issues, and captured these interviews on tape to allow participants the subjective experience of being in an interview, as well as an objective critique on their verbal and non verbal communications skills

Regularly update training—to be effective, spokespersons refresh training two to three times a year, delving deeply into issues and practicing techniques until communicating the university’s key messages becomes second nature

Results

Administration and faculty have attained confident, comfortable and smooth delivery of university’s key messages in any kind of forum to positively impact the organization’s reputation

Training has increased the credibility and believability of spokespersons, which reflects positively on the university

Training keeps core messages consistent across disciplines, which highlights and differentiates the university in a positive and measurable manner