If there's nothing incriminating on the tape recording of John Key's cuppa with John Banks, the PM must learn a media training lesson and let it be released. Standing on principle will do National no favours in the lead up to the Election, because commentators and opposition parties will only speculate on its content. Many have already heard the recording and are hinting at what the two men are saying. Winston Peters is having a field day. Without allowing its release,...

His mastery of body language was why Prime Minister John Key clearly won the first leaders debate between himself and Labour Leader Phil Goff tonight. Most media training courses highlight the importance of body language, because it has far more impact on viewers than verbal communication. People bond more with people who look relaxed, smile and don't get too confrontational. This was exactly how Key came across, but Goff was less than warm. While there was some confrontation from both men,...

Monday night's TV debate is an opportunity for Labour Leader Phil Goff to put his media training skills and leadership credentials to the test. Part of his failure to connect with voters is that he gets few opportunities to show people how he ticks. An 8 second sound bite on TV is all he usually gets, and he comes across as angry when delivering those most of the time. John Key on the other hand does look like a leader and...

Three incidents across the North Island this week have shown how easily schools can be thrust into the media spotlight. Bus Crash The bus crash with the logging truck bought the Principals of the three schools involved into the news, although they were not at the forefront of the coverage. Mystery Illness The Wellington School with the mystery illness was more focused, but the Ombudsman's report into bullying at Hutt Valley High School must be any Principal's worst nightmare. Hutt Valley...

Successful leaders across New Zealand have one important thing in common. They are all great media communicators. John Key and Bob Parker are two names that spring to mind. John Key Let’s look at John Key. It doesn’t seem to matter what unpopular policies he puts on the table. It has no affect on his popularity or that of the National Party. He remains preferred Prime Minister by unprecedented levels. It’s clearly not all of his policies that make him popular....

Telecom's backdown from it's 'Abstain for the Game' campaign was handled perfectly from a media training perspective. Once the company knew that public opinion was strongly against the whole concept, they pulled the pin immediately and apologised. The media statement the company issued after the decision said it all. “We misjudged public feeling...No excuses. We caused offence to some people, and for that we apologise." The decision was commended by commentators across the country. This shows that people do forgive and...

The Adidas bosses who appeared on Close Up last night could do with a round of media training as they made a number of mistakes. Because they took so long to react to the criticism around the price of the All Blacks jersey, they were on the back foot from the start. Mistake One The first mistake they made with the interview was fronting up with two spokespeople. This made it difficult for those watching at home to identify with their...

Alasdair Thompson made a number of mistakes on TV last night when defending his view that women take more time off work because of period pain. There are a number of media training lessons to learn here. 1st Mistake This was saying it on NewsTalkZB yesterday morning in the first place. There are some things you just don't say, especially if you do not have research to back them up. 2nd Mistake This was even appearing on TV last night. He...

Answering questions from a journalist is NOT like answering questions from any other person, whether it be a boss, friend, colleague or family member. Context A media interview is NOT like a real conversation. In a real conversation, you have context, you understand the context, and usually your audience understands the context. If you are explaining something to an employee, you can reference something you said five minutes ago. If you are giving a speech, you can build one idea on...

How a company deals with the media in a crisis or adverse event can make or break its future success. That’s because public opinion is far more interested in how a company responds to the situation than the crisis itself. Preparedness The problem is that most businesses are unprepared for the media scrutiny, believing they will never face a crisis. But to constitute a crisis for a small or medium business, it doesn’t have to be a massive earthquake or a...