Media interview techniques and mastering corporate messaging matter but they are not the whole story, they are just one element of effective media training. 

The strongest results come when experienced PR professionals and strategic communicators work together to help a senior spokesperson understand how to best deliver an answer, but also what they need to say, why it matters, who needs to hear it and how it supports the organisation’s broader priorities. 

Some would say that getting this balance right is an art form. 

Our tailored, three-stage Primary Presentation Program brings all these elements together.  

“Effective media, presentation and panel training is about giving leaders the judgement, structure and practical techniques they need to respond clearly and to give them the tools to deliver their corporate messages confidently,” says Frank Coletta, Senior Executive, Strategy & Public Affairs at Primary Comms Group. 

“This is especially the case when the questions are difficult, unexpected or high stakes. The goal is not to simply memorise the ‘right’ answer but to understand what needs to be communicated and how to respond in a way that is clear and authentic.” 

Stage One: Building the strategic foundation 

The process begins well before the first practice interview. 

We work with the client’s team to understand the organisation’s priorities, audiences, risks and any issues a senior spokesperson could reasonably be asked to address. 

Our extensive experience working on issues-rich projects gives us deep expertise in developing clear messaging frameworks, supported by relevant proof points, likely questions and what accessible, easily understood language, looks like. 

Only then do we move into media fundamentals and interview techniques. Our approach helps participants better understand the media (new and legacy) and stakeholder landscapes, how they are evolving in response to changing news consumption habits, and what this means for how organisations communicate and engage with their audiences. 

Stage Two: Putting preparation into practice 

The next stage brings the preparation together through realistic interview scenarios developed around the issues, risks and situations identified through our research. 

We put participants through their paces in a supportive environment, providing guidance, redirecting where needed and helping establish the practical habits required to respond effectively under pressure. Sessions are often conducted in a professional recording studio to replicate a genuine interview setting. 

Each scenario reflects the organisation’s operating environment, likely pressure points and the scrutiny a spokesperson may face. The exercises test concise media grabs, longer-form responses and the ability to remain calm, clear and authentic when questions become difficult, unexpected or persistent. 

Each interview is recorded and reviewed, with detailed feedback from experienced media and communication professionals. 

“Realistic interview practice is where preparation becomes instinctive. Reviewing a recording allows clients to see what the audience sees, whether the message is clear, if the answer goes on too long and how tone and body language can change under pressure,” he added. 

Reviewing yourself can be uncomfortable, we are all our harshest critics, but it a fundamental part of the process. It reveals where messages were unclear, answers became too complicated, or the tone, pace and body language weakened the delivery. 

This reflection is a great help in refining performance, addressing unhelpful habits and build genuine confidence. 

Stage Three: Reinforcing the learning 

Our training does not end when the formal session concludes. 

Primary’s approach is not “train and forget”. The program is reinforced through follow-up coaching designed to consolidate the learning and help participants continue developing their skills. 

The result is stronger judgement, clearer communication and greater confidence across media, stakeholder, presentation and other public-facing situations. 

A practical exercise  

Before your next interview or public appearance, ask yourself: 

1. What is the most important thing I want a specific audience to understand and who is that audience? 
2. What evidence, example or proof point makes that message credible? 
3. What is the most difficult question I may be asked? 
4. How can I answer it directly before returning naturally to my central message? 
5. Then practise your response aloud in no more than 30 seconds. 

We like to provide so-called “hot tips” to the people we work with – for instance, an easy exercise is to record yourself and listen back. Yes, confronting it can be and uncomfortable talking to yourself, but it’s worth it, it works. 

When reviewing, is your main point immediately clear? Do you sound natural? Would someone outside your organisation understand what you mean? It will help you consider what changes you might make when the phone rings unexpectedly and a journalist is on the other end. 

There’s a lot to think about to ensure you are best prepared for that moment, when it comes.

If you are preparing for an upcoming interview, announcement or now find yourself in a high-end public-facing role, contact our team to discuss how our Primary Presentations Program can help. 

In media interviews, words count, but their delivery often matters more.

Angus Taylor’s turn on Melbourne radio station 3AW last Friday morning was a neat reminder of that brutal truth.

OK, the Federal Opposition Leader has the hardest job in Australian politics. His base is shrivelling like a pappadum in a monocultural microwave oven. Voters are peeling away from the major parties, and One Nation is vacuuming up protest votes.

So off the back of an earlier speech, Taylor came out swinging and turned the blowtorch on One Nation. Host Heidi Taylor pushed back hard. And the more she pressed, the more Taylor sounded irritated.

The giveaway was not any single answer. It was the accumulation. For example, he told the host “look” 17 times. He reached for “well, let’s be clear, let’s be clear here”. He complained: “Heidi, you’ve just verballed me and I’ll push back on this”. And then came the media-training death rattle: “with all due respect”.

That phrase is meant to sound polite. It almost never does. More often, it lands as the verbal equivalent of rolling your eyes.

In another week, it might have cut through, but the media oxygen had already been swallowed by the Prime Minister’s loose-unit podcast performance, criticism of which was drawn-out because his indiscretions took days to register with an inattentive press pack.

Reality is that Taylor’s interview was only a blip in the news cycle, but it made a larger point perfectly; handling hard questions while dragging the conversation back to your message is not instinct. It is craft. And under pressure, command of the craft shows.

Primary Comms Group’s media training builds that craft before the cameras roll. If your next interview needs to go better than Taylor’s did, talk to us about media training.

Craig Regan, Senior Account Director

The 2026 World Cup has just kicked off. It is the largest marketing event in human history. Most of the spend will be wasted.

Hosted across the USA, Canada and Mexico, FIFA has forecast a global audience of around five billion across the tournament. Every major consumer brand will have an activation plan. Most of those plans will fail by any honest measure.

The reason is a confusion that runs through corporate marketing: the idea that being seen at the event is the same as winning the event. It is not. Visibility is the price of entry. The actual contest is for attention and association, and it is won by a small number of brands every cycle while the rest pay for the privilege of being background noise.

Consider the 2022 tournament in Qatar. Argentina won the trophy. Adidas, Argentina’s kit supplier, took home the harder prize. Nike, who outfit Brazil, Portugal, France and most of the elite squads, lost the trophy moment but won the cultural one through player-led campaigns. Budweiser, banned from selling beer inside stadiums two days before kick-off, responded with a campaign that turned the embarrassment into the most discussed brand decision of the tournament. Coca-Cola did what it always does, blanketing the event without saying much, and most viewers couldn’t tell you a single Coca-Cola moment.

Three habits separate the brands that win from the brands that pay.

The first is treating the tournament as something you produce content around for six weeks, not just paying for a logo placement once. This is where a good public relation agency and strong PR strategy come in. Most brands do the opposite and wonder why no one remembers them. The real spend is on storytelling, distribution, and the rights to fast turnaround content during matches. Adidas built campaigns around individual players and moments. The brands that bought billboards did not.

Preparing for unpredictability is the second. The most memorable World Cup brand moments are reactive, not scripted. Snickers responded to Luis Suarez biting an Italian defender in 2014 with a “more satisfying than Italian” line that ran within the hour, generating more attention than the seven-figure tournament campaign it sat alongside. Bud Light turned its 2022 stadium beer ban into the most discussed corporate moment of that World Cup. Brands that turn a moment into content within an hour dominate the conversation.

Picking a single, clear association is the third. The losing brands try to attach themselves to “football” in general. The winners pick a country, a player, a story, or a single recurring idea, and stay with it for the entire tournament. Whilst the tournament twists and turns, they also tell a brand story.

For Australian businesses, the Socceroos qualification is a marketing opportunity almost no one will use well. Two or three brands will run narrowly targeted, well-prepared campaigns. The rest will buy LinkedIn ads with stock photos of footballers and call it activation.

The World Cup is a once in four-year test of whether your communication team can move at the speed of the moment. Most companies will fail it. A few will use it to define their year.

Chris Hall is CEO, Primary Comms Group, and Chair at Sport NSW

One of the most important lessons in media and presentation training is to avoid qualifiers that weaken your message. In interviews, cut-through comes from being concise, direct and deliberate.

Recent comments from Perth Bears coach Mal Meninga offer a useful example of how easily a message can lose force when it is softened or over-explained. Meninga was responding to criticism around his fledgling team’s inability to sign players of note – “marquees” – among other issues.

Some of his phrasing diluted what were otherwise reasonable points. Here’s what we can learn from his responses.

First response:

“It (the criticism) upsets me and disappoints me in a way.”

The qualifier “in a way” softens the statement unnecessarily. If you’re upset and disappointed, say it clearly and own it.

Another response:

“It’s all about legacy, honestly. I don’t have any other deep reason why.”

Words such as “honestly” are often used unconsciously in interviews, but they can distract from the message. Strong communicators trust the audience to accept what they are saying without verbal padding.

And this:

“I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m really happy with where I am, as far as the club is, certainly regarding the roster management…I firmly believe we have marquees in the making.”

The strongest part of the quote is the final sentence. That’s the message. Everything before it delays the point rather than strengthening it. If you believe it, say it with qualification.

This matters because media interviews are rarely won through volume or explanation. The more a spokesperson explains their position, the easier it becomes for the audience to lose the main message.

There are lots of issues at play for Big Mal. He is reportedly on a million dollars a year without being required to live in Perth (a sweet gig if you can get it) and hasn’t coached a club team since Canberra 25 years ago.

But this is all about the messaging and preparation is critical. Good media interviews are rarely improvised. They are built on clarity and confidence.

Media interviews are 90 percent preparation, the main focus of which is helping you “own” the interaction.

Mal Meninga famously abandoned a political career in 2001 when he announced his candidacy for the ACT Legislative Assembly in a live ABC Radio interview that lasted just 28 seconds. He concluded the interview saying: “I’m buggered. I’m sorry” before walking out.

His abrupt withdrawal from the interview instantly became the story.

The lesson for leaders, executives and spokespeople is simple: say what you mean, keep it clear, and avoid diluting your own message.

If you are in a position where media interaction and presenting are part of your role, Primary Communication is here to help. Get in touch today.

Craig Regan, Senior Account Director

Premier Jacinta Allan has a chance to renew her Ministry ahead of the Victorian State Election, with three members of her executive formally announcing they will not re-contest their seats.

Danny Pearson (Finance Minister), Mary-Anne Thomas (Health) and Gayle Tierney (Water, Skills & TAFE) will call time at the November 2026 poll. They follow the earlier retirement of Natalie Hutchins.

The departures are seen as an opportunity to promote new talent and manage internal factional tensions.

The resulting reshuffle is expected in the coming week, following a process that begins with meetings of Labor MPs to allocate factional positions and decide who will enter Cabinet. Premier Allan will then assign portfolios and make a public announcement.

Speculation is rife about who will step up. Treasurer Jaclyn Symes may absorb Danny Pearson’s Finance responsibilities, or Sonya Kilkenny could be moved from the Attorney-General and Planning roles.

Kilkenny is also considered a contender for the Health portfolio, while the role could alternatively go to Labor Left minister Ingrid Stitt, who currently holds Mental Health, Ageing and Multicultural Affairs.

Deputy Premier Ben Carroll (Education, WorkSafe and TAC) may take on additional responsibilities, such as Transport or Infrastructure, while Energy and Resources Minister Lily D’Ambrosio is seen as a potential candidate for a broader economic role.

Tierney’s Water, Skills and TAFE responsibilities could be reassigned to a mid-tier minister such as Natalie Suleyman or Vicki Ward.

Possible new faces include Labor Left’s Sheena Watt (currently a Parliamentary Secretary) and Labor Right backbencher Ella George.

Primary is monitoring the changes closely. If you’re thinking about engaging government stakeholders ahead of the Victorian State Election, get in touch.

Craig Regan, Senior Account Director

Image: Parliament House, Victoria, via Wikimedia Commons