Media training for senior leaders, spokespeople and crisis teams.

Sugar PR's bespoke media and crisis media training programmes start from £4,500 + VAT.

This isn't an off-the-shelf course. A typical programme brings together three experienced Sugar PR specialists: a senior crisis communications lead, an experienced journalist and a skilled editor/producer. Together, we create a highly engaging session built around your organisation, your spokespeople and the real risks you face.

Before the session, we'll review your communications priorities and the major scenarios identified within your risk register, crisis management and business continuity plans. We'll then develop realistic interviews, difficult questions and a live crisis exercise tailored specifically to your organisation.

During crisis simulation training, media enquiries arrive, social media posts appear, comments and engagement escalate and new information changes the story. Your senior team has to respond while under increasing pressure.

You won't simply learn the theory of handling a media crisis – we'll put you in one.

The £4,500 + VAT starting price includes preparation and scenario development before the training as well as delivery by the Sugar PR team. Larger or more complex programmes are quoted separately, with costs agreed in advance.

Media and crisis preparedness training may also be covered by crisis containment insurance, depending on your policy and insurer approval. Sugar PR has experience working with insurers on crisis communications support and we'll liaise with your insurer or broker where appropriate.

Media training isn't just for the chief executive.

We prepare CEOs and managing directors, board members, senior executives, communications directors, clinical leaders, senior public-sector officers, charity leaders and subject-matter experts who may need to represent their organisation publicly.

We'll also help determine who should speak, when they should speak and on which subjects. The most senior person isn't automatically the best spokesperson.

A technical, operational or clinical leader may carry greater authority on a specialist issue, while the chief executive may need to take the lead when an incident raises questions about leadership, accountability or organisational culture.

We recommend identifying and preparing those people before a crisis happens. The first time a senior leader experiences aggressive questioning shouldn't be when there's a camera outside the building, social media is escalating and the organisation is under genuine pressure.

We are regularly engaged by HR, People, Learning & Development and communications teams looking for specialist media training for senior leaders and potential spokespeople.

We'll work with the person commissioning the training before the session to understand who is participating, what they need to learn and the situations they need to be prepared for.

For larger organisations, we'll structure programmes across different groups or responsibilities. That could mean preparing a chief executive for corporate and reputational questions while operational, technical or clinical specialists are prepared for questions within their own areas of expertise.

The aim isn't simply to say that somebody has completed media training. It's to create a stronger, better-prepared group of credible spokespeople who know how to respond when scrutiny arrives.

Our media training is practical, realistic and deliberately challenging. You will be interviewed. You will be put under pressure. And we will take you outside your comfort zone.

Pete Davies works with your team from the communications and reputation perspective, while an experienced journalist challenges participants from the other side of the interview. A skilled editor/producer helps create the media content and evolving scenarios that bring the exercise to life.

We'll film interviews, play them back and give direct, constructive feedback on the content of your answers, delivery, body language, pace, clarity and credibility. Then you'll go again and put that advice into practice.

We're here to stretch you, not trip you up. The training is serious and realistic, but it's also supportive, engaging and enjoyable. People make mistakes – that's exactly what the training environment is for. We analyse what happened, learn from it and go again.

For crisis media training, we use simulation tools to make the situation evolve around you in real time. New information emerges. Social media posts appear and gain traction. Comments, reactions and likes escalate. Journalists pursue new angles. Stakeholders respond.

You won't simply discuss how you would handle a crisis. You will experience one.

If an issue is already live, see our crisis PR and communications support.

Yes. This is fundamental to the way we work.

We'll build the exercise around credible scenarios identified within your organisation's risk planning, crisis management and business continuity plans.

Depending on the organisation, that could involve a serious workplace incident, safeguarding, cyberattack, regulatory intervention, product failure, allegations against a senior executive, a fatality, service disruption or an incident involving a customer or member of the public.

We'll work confidentially with the appropriate members of your team to understand where the genuine risks lie and create a scenario that feels uncomfortably close to something that could actually happen.

As the exercise progresses, we'll introduce new developments, journalist enquiries, stakeholder reactions and increasing social-media pressure. Participants have to make decisions while the information available to them is changing.

For sensitive assignments, Sugar PR will sign an NDA where required. The purpose isn't to catch your team out. It's to expose weaknesses safely, test the plan and strengthen your response while there's still time to make improvements.

Yes. If you have an important interview approaching, we'll prepare your spokesperson specifically for it.

We'll examine the media outlet, journalist, subject, likely angle and difficult questions they're likely to ask. We'll establish what you need the audience to understand and identify where your spokesperson is most likely to come under pressure.

Then we'll rehearse it.

We'll conduct realistic practice interviews, challenge weak or evasive answers and give immediate feedback. We'll keep going until the spokesperson is clearer, more confident and better able to handle the interview when it moves away from the questions they hoped would be asked.

This works particularly well before television or radio appearances, major newspaper interviews, significant corporate announcements or interviews concerning sensitive issues.

We don't give people a script to memorise. We make sure they understand their position well enough to handle the interview confidently when the unexpected question arrives.

Our PR and media relations team works directly with journalists and newsrooms, giving the training a practical understanding of how modern interviews and stories develop.

That's precisely why we practise. Even highly accomplished chief executives and senior leaders behave differently when a camera is switched on and somebody starts asking difficult questions.

We'll get you outside your comfort zone, but we won't leave you there.

You'll experience the pressure, see your interview played back and receive clear advice about what worked and what needs to change. We'll work on long answers, jargon, pace, eye contact, defensive body language, avoiding the question and the temptation to fill every silence.

Then we'll interview you again.

The difference between the first and later interviews is often significant because participants aren't relying on tricks or scripted responses. They understand what they're trying to communicate and have experienced the pressure of doing it.

Confidence doesn't come from being told you'll be fine. It comes from having done it before.

Standard media training prepares you to perform effectively during planned interviews and normal media activity.

Crisis media training prepares you for the moment when you are no longer in control of the story.

During a genuine crisis, information changes quickly. A journalist may know something you don't. A video can appear online. An employee may post on social media. An allegation can gain traction. Police, regulators, lawyers, insurers or other organisations may become involved.

Our crisis simulation recreates that environment. We'll introduce breaking developments, realistic media enquiries, social-media posts, comments and escalating online engagement while participants are making decisions and preparing for interviews.

As the scenario develops, we'll deliberately push participants beyond rehearsed answers and outside their comfort zone.

That tests more than presentation skills. It tests judgement, leadership, message discipline, decision-making, resilience and the relationship between communications, operational response and legal risk.

The objective is simple: find the weaknesses in a confidential training environment rather than discovering them during the real crisis.

Sugar PR has its own media training studio at 76 King Street in Manchester city centre, where we run bespoke media and crisis media training for senior teams and spokespeople from organisations across the UK.

Our studio provides a private, discreet and spacious environment away from your normal workplace. Participants can make mistakes, try different approaches and be challenged without feeling as though colleagues are watching from the next office.

We film the interviews and use our large media screen to analyse them together as a team. We'll look closely at the answers, delivery, body language, pace, clarity and credibility – including the small details that become much more noticeable on camera.

The analysis is forensic, but the atmosphere isn't intimidating. The training is serious, challenging and highly realistic, but it's also engaging and enjoyable. There will usually be plenty of laughter alongside the difficult questions. People learn more when they feel comfortable enough to experiment, make mistakes and try again.

For crisis media training, we'll transform the session into a developing live scenario. Media enquiries arrive, social posts appear, online engagement escalates and new information changes the story while your team is responding.

The objective is to leave King Street more confident, better prepared and considerably harder to wrong-foot when the real interview happens.

We also deliver media training in London, at client premises throughout the UK and provide focused online interview preparation where speed is important.

Want to discuss your team? Call Sugar PR on 0161 399 4507.