FAQ

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Media Training Questions

Q :

Has Gordon Brown had media training?

A :

Yes, but he clearly didn't pay attention during his media training, did he?

Q :

Is it OK to have a 'sharpener' - a quick drink - before my interview, just to calm my nerves?

A :

No, no and again no!

You don't drink alcohol before you drive a car do you? Well, though not as physically dangerous, the combination of alcohol and being interviewed on camera do not mix.

Although Alan Clark MP got away with having simultaneous affairs with a mother and both her daughters, even he, a brilliant presenter, did not get away with being drunk at the despatch box of the House Of Commons. In 1983 while at Employment he was making a reading of a bill in the Commons after a wine-tasting dinner with his friend of many years standing, Christopher Selmes. The complexities of the bill were too unclear for him to answer questions, and the opposition MP, Clare Short, stood up and accused him of being drunk. Although the Government benches were furious at the accusation, Clark later admitted in his diaries that the wine-tasting had affected him.

No, no and again no! Resist this temptation.

Q :

Is it possible to become a better presenter by being trained?

A :

Well, here's the honest answer:-

40% you're either born with it or you're not

60% is about how well prepared you are, how well you know your

subject and whether or not you've been trained by a training

company as good as One To One Communications

So, Tony Blair, for example, clearly is a natural. Love him or hate him, you can't dispute - and neither can we - that he scores very highly in the 40% section of innate talent under fire that he was just simply born with.

So, no, we can't make you into a presenter as good as Tony Blair. We're here to try and get you as close to '60% as good as Tony Blair' as you're capable of being!

Q :

Is my physical appearance important?

A :

Last time we looked, the Pope was still hanging about the Vatican a lot and showing strong signs of Catholicism!

Yes, your appearance is important!  It is the congruence of your appearance to the image and message that you want to deliver that is important.  You have to 'fit' the part that you are 'playing' in a given interview of presentation.

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg wears beach sandals at Facebook headquarters in downtown Palo Alto, California and also when presenting in New York to Wall Street's finest, but then Zuckerberg's only in his mid-twenties, he's worth well over £1b, and he no longer needs to try that hard sartorially?

Or is he trying? For Mark Zuckerberg are beach sandals every bit as much 'corporate uniform' as the black suit and tie worn by an undertaker?

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