Managing Press Conferences and Interviews with Journalists

Press conferences bring together a group of journalists and representatives of an institution or company. Being interviewed by a journalist is typically more personal but as potentially stressful. Managing and monitoring one’s performance is frequently experienced as a demanding, high-pressure task for organizational leaders in both public insitutions and ministries and private companies. A press conference that includes journalists affiliated with Western news media can be especially challenging because they are trained to be skeptical and expected to ask tough questions. Similarly, journalists often refuse to share questions in advance and frequently push for answers to pointed questions.  In some press conferences, citizens are invited to ask questions, as well, adding an additional layer of complexity. Press conferences and interviews with journalists involve high-stakes interactions with outcomes that can have significant consequences and implications for the organization. Learning to successfully manage these situations is a priority competence for senior managers and top advisors with leadership roles.

Press conferences and interviews provide strategically important opportunities for organizations to communicate their views on issues and deliver messages with the goal of developing shared understandings and affecting attitudes and perspectives.  Communicating effectively requires preparation to ensure high clarity about the goals and parameters, knowledge of how journalists and the news outlets that employ them work, deep thought about the key stakeholders and their priority interests, and a strategy for managing the interaction effectively while avoid common pitfalls. Senior managers and their close advisors are often called upon to represent their organizations in press conferences and interviews with journalists, but most have not received the training needed to manage these situations effectively – an especially important need in periods of significant change or organizational crisis.  Participants learn to assess risks and recognize opportuntiies in an interview request, how to establish ground rules for the interview, how to prepare, how to behave during an interview, how to stay on message, and how to follow up.  

This masterclass provides essential training for senior managers and top advisors. The instructor is an experienced journalist and university professor who has been engaged in press conferences and interiews on both sides of that relationship, as a journalist asking questions and as a representative answering questions.  The course provides essential knowledge and provides guidelines that are helpful for developing leadership skills for successfully navigating these complex and often complicated situations.  Coursework involves practical participatory exercises and feedback under conditions that approximate the actual experience of preparing for and participating in a press conference or interview. Participants consider the importance of locations and venues, proper preparation, crafting clear messages and working to ensure they are communicated impactfully, presenting and interacting during the press conference, and following up to strengthen impact.  The course considers similarities and differences in conferences and interviews done live and in person, by telephone, and using online platforms such as Zoom, Teams and WebX.