A Media Training event was held on Wednesday 15th November 2017 for all COMPARE staff at both the Universities of Birmingham and Nottingham, facilitated by MediaWoman (http://www.mediawoman.co.uk/).

This was an interactive training day led by 3 highly experienced media trainers with backgrounds in journalism and TV programme production. The aim of the day was to introduce scientists to the world of media and to equip them with the basic skills to enable them to convey their science to a wide audience, often in a restricted amount of time. There were 16 delegates attending from both Birmingham and Nottingham.

Following an information session containing advice on how to prepare and structure a presentation, each of the delegates had the opportunity to participate in practical sessions: being interviewed on camera on their area of expertise and delivering a pre-prepared one minute presentation on a subject of their choice. Everyone received individual feedback from their peers and from the experienced trainers. Further information and tips and tricks on how to get involved in media, how to prepare yourself for an interview, relaxation techniques and what (not) to wear were also delivered at the end of the day.

The day was a great success with all participants saying that they had come away from it feeling more prepared if they were ever asked to talk about their work with the media.

Feedback comments from participants include;

“I found the advice on presentation structure tips the organisers gave us were extremely useful and something that I will take forward with me. The people running the course were extremely knowledgeable and helpful and gave excellent feedback.”

“It was a tough day trying to think on the fly and incorporate the newly learned techniques into our prepared presentations, but the challenge was worth it.”

“Unbiased feedback on presentation skills and great, practical tips on how to improve presentations.”

“Learning how to create 'sound bites' and how to use our body language, were very useful tips that can be used in our day to day life as a scientist and not only when in contact with media.”

“It was a really great workshop, which I recommend everyone to attend.”

“Just making you think about the little details that can make a presentation clearer, or make more of an impact. Especially when time is the limiting factor.”