by Global-5 Posted on Feb 05, 2025
Telling its own story is one of the most important communication efforts any organization can undertake. Likewise, empowering its employees to become storytellers in front of the news media is a powerful way to help the organization tell its story to a broad audience. This is why Global-5 is committed to training our clients’ staff in media relations.
Since this summer, Global-5 has been hosting media training sessions for the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) District Five. To date, more than 30 FDOT employees, ranging from engineers to planners, have completed the training and are now certified media spokespeople in addition to highly informed subject matter experts.
Each training session includes a 3-hour class led by Mike Wacht, Global-5’s vice president and director of strategic communications. The class includes background on the media and how journalists report the news, different types of interviews, examples of good and bad interviews, and an overview of how to work with FDOT’s public information office. The training wraps up with mock interviews in which former news reporter and current Globa-5 staffer MK Burgess interviews each participant on camera.
“Employees are already subject matter experts in their practice area,” Mike said. “Empowering them to be comfortable talking about their expertise to a reporter means an organization can tell a more complete, in-depth, and well-rounded story to its audience — whether that’s to the public through the local or national news or to peers in industry media.”
Global-5 customizes training to each organization and works with public information offices to understand processes and preferences. We also create a media kit to prepare employees to talk about subjects that are important and relevant to the organization.
To learn more about Global-5’s training, or to schedule training classes for your organization, contact John Hamill at johnhamill@global-5.com or 407-571-6771.