Leveraging Media Training Roleplays: 9 Must-Try Scenarios

Interacting with members of the media isn’t always easy, but media training roleplays can make those interactions easier and more meaningful for your team. 

In our thorough overview, we’ll tell you everything you need to know about this type of roleplay, including must-try scenarios, what makes effective roleplays, common challenges to anticipate, and how you can start training your team. 

How Media Training Roleplays Prepare Teams  

For folks who routinely deal with the media — from researchers to corporate executives and folks working in public relations — media training is an immensely helpful tool that helps people prepare for meaningful interactions with members of the media. But introducing roleplay scenarios that emulate the kinds of situations you might face when interacting with the media can help you better prepare.

Although media interactions are often unpredictable in nature, roleplays can simulate those kinds of situations in a controlled environment. This means teams are free to experiment, practice, and make mistakes without any risk. 

Practicing interacting with the media in a risk-free environment has a ton of benefits, including:

• Increased confidence in future interactions
• Better ability to stay “on-brand” when communicating
• Enhanced adaptability skills, especially when it comes to adapting communication styles with different types of reporters
• Finding it easier to handle the “tough” questions

What Makes Media Training Roleplays Effective?

Not all roleplays are created equally, and teams need to design their roleplays in a way that makes them effective for their needs. Here are some factors that can affect the effectiveness of your team’s media training roleplays.

Using media training roleplays for different formats

The type of media training roleplays your team uses will depend on your team’s needs. For example, interviews for print (like interviews for a magazine, newspaper, or online article) are different from live TV interviews. 

Although you should always be prepared, interviews for print are often “easier” in that you have ample time to prepare and plan out what you want to say. Some publishers even allow sources to edit their quotes after the fact (although that’s less common). However, live TV interviews require you to answer questions live in real time. That means you can’t ask the producer to cut something you said if you misspeak. Leveraging AI roleplays can help folks prepare for live interviews by emulating that real-time question-and-answer format. 

Understanding the difference between hypothetical and realistic scenarios

In the world of roleplay enablement, there are two main types of roleplay: hypothetical and realistic. Both kinds can be useful in media training roleplay. With hypothetical roleplay, the scenarios might not be common, but they can be a helpful creative exercise used to keep teams on their toes. 

Realistic scenarios, on the other hand, represent the typical situations teams are likely to face when they interact with the media. These could be scenarios like TV interviews, podcast episodes, interviews for print magazines, news conferences, or other everyday scenarios. 

9 Dynamic Media Training Roleplays to Try

If you don’t know quite where to start, you’re in the right place. To best prepare your team for interactions with members of the media, here are nine dynamic media roleplays to try. 

1. Press conference simulations

One of the unique challenges of press conferences is that you’re usually dealing with multiple journalists. Depending on the exact situation, they might also be shouting questions at the same time, trying to get answers. It’s a complex situation to practice but makes for a great media training roleplay.

In this scenario, assign your team roles: one person can be the spokesperson and the others can be journalists. Have the “journalists” ask rapidfire questions about a topic while the spokesperson remains focused on their message. This kind of roleplay helps folks maintain a sense of authority without getting overwhelmed. Make sure your team practices handling follow-up questions and interruptions without getting too flustered.

2. Media or PR disasters

No matter what industry your team works in, be it research, retail, sales, or something else entirely, media and PR scandals are a possibility. Things like crisis management roleplays can be a great tool to prepare your team.  

Imagine a scenario where your brand faces negative press. True or untrue, this media training roleplay scenario hones in on the importance of maintaining a positive brand identity without alienating your audience. Folks can practice challenging misleading headlines or stories, and redirecting questions and conversation that paint the brand in a negative light.

3. Public speaking

Many times, people who work with the media will be asked to give press statements or speeches. Although it seems like a pretty straightforward situation where teams can use a pre-prepared script, it can be challenging for some due to the element of public speaking. Folks who aren’t used to speaking to a crowd or large audience can feel especially anxious or nervous. 

In this scenario, have your team practice using clear, concise speech and appropriate body language, like eye contact and hand gestures, to give their statement. This is a great opportunity to practice pacing, tone, and effective delivery in a controlled environment.

4. Responding to difficult or tricky questions under pressure

Knowing how to respond to difficult questions from journalists is tricky to begin with, but it’s even more challenging when you’re in a high-pressure situation. Although these situations are tough to practice, media training roleplays provide the perfect opportunity for teams to engage in these simulations. 

For example, have your team field questions around an internal scandal or controversy around the brand. You can work with your team on not panicking when faced with hard questions and pivoting or redirecting without seeming like they’re dodging questions entirely. It’s a tricky balance to maintain, but all the more reason to practice. 

5. Confrontational interviews and appearances

Similarly, confrontational interviews and TV appearances can be a true challenge. If you know the interview will be a confrontational one, you can prepare a little bit better with this kind of media training roleplay.

Imagine a situation where your team agrees to an interview specifically to clear up some sort of controversy. Have your team members practice staying calm while also reframing the narrative to protect your brand’s reputation. You can specifically instruct your team to deflect an intense line of questioning without seeming elusive or defensive. It’s easier said than done!

6. Translating jargon into plain language

Especially when it comes to research teams or folks who work in medicine, the ability to translate technical jargon into plain language is crucial for successful conversations with the media. In fact, knowing how to simplify complicated topics for a general audience is a skill anyone can use.

For this scenario, have your team explain a complex topic of your choice to an audience who’s completely unfamiliar. If your team has trouble, consider showing them how using analogies and metaphors can help explain nuanced, complicated topics in a simpler manner.

7. Answering unexpected questions

Although it doesn’t happen all the time, sometimes, folks are invited for an interview on one topic that turns into an unexpected barrage of questions on a completely different topic. To best prepare your team for this situation, imagine a media training roleplay scenario where your team can recognize when it’s best to decline to comment (and how to do so).

You can customize this scenario to fit your needs, but in general, help your team pinpoint when they should tactfully decline an answer. It can be difficult to exit gracefully, but it’s an important skill for anyone undergoing media training.

8. Staying on message when you’re live

Live interviews can be a challenge for folks because you usually don’t know what kinds of questions you’ll be asked. You might get some general guidelines or a list of typical questions, but you never truly know what you’ll be asked until it’s happening. As such, staying on message can be difficult.

With this media training roleplay scenario, have your team practice delivering their main message while also dealing with random questions and pivots. Give your team one primary message to get across during the simulated live interview and sprinkling in some unexpected questions and comments. This scenario also provides a good place to practice delivering solid soundbites (although we’ll dive deeper into this in the next scenario).

9. Producing good soundbites

In the world of news, oftentimes, you only have a minute or even just a few seconds to get your message across. If you get caught rambling, chances are, journalists won’t use your quote. As such, it’s important to practice and know how to produce a good soundbite. For example, if you’re part of a research team conducting research on the effects of alcohol on cancer risk, you want a powerful message. Instead of droning on about the research, you might explain in one or two sentences what impact your work will have on the general public.

Task your team with delivering an impactful, powerful message that describes their purpose in just 20 seconds. This forces them to think about how they can get their message across in the most meaningful way. It helps to use plain language that everyone can understand in short, clear sentences instead of long ramblings that over explain.

How to Use Yoodli for Impactful Media Training Roleplays 

When it comes to designing and practicing impactful media training roleplays, there’s no better tool than Yoodli.

Yoodli — an intelligent speech coach and roleplay platform powered by AI — offers next-level, realistic roleplays for anyone undergoing media training. Google, Dale Carnegie, Korn Ferry, and similar companies have already tapped into Yoodli for scalable training and enablement.

Its massive library of pre-existing roleplay scenarios allows teams to practice anything from skills training to performance review simulations, and much more. However, it doesn’t stop there. Teams going through media training can use Yoodli’s Builder tool to ideate, design, and participate in their own media training roleplays. 

After creating a custom roleplay scenario, team members will conversate back-and-forth with an AI-generated partner who’s sure to keep them on their toes. 

Once your team finishes their media training roleplays, they’ll get a detailed evaluation of how they did, including data and insights around their listening, delivery, and speech patterns. Yoodli will offer actionable tips and feedback to help them improve for their next media appearance.

Find out how you can start creating next-level media training roleplays for free at https://yoodli.ai/ to better prepare your team.

Most Common Challenges with Media Training Roleplays

Although media training roleplays are useful, they’re not always easy. Here are some of the most common challenges with media training roleplays to be aware of. 

Sticking to your talking points without sounding disingenuous 

Sometimes, with roleplay, folks tend to have overly scripted responses. This isn’t great because overly scripted responses can lead to sounding disingenuous during actual interactions with the media. 

To avoid this, encourage your team to relax and experiment with their roleplay. You want them to take it seriously of course, but at the same time, it’s a risk-free environment where they’re free to make mistakes and learn from them. 

Managing anxiety and nerves 

Roleplay — especially if it’s new to your team — can be the cause of some anxiety and nerves. New things can feel scary, and if folks have never used roleplay as an enablement and training tool before, they might be hesitant or anxious to try it.

However, promoting a positive, supportive work environment and encouraging everyone to participate can be a good starting place for managing that anxiety. You can even try gamified roleplays to encourage more engagement and excitement around roleplay enablement. Plus, practicing media training roleplays often can lead to desensitization and less anxiety.

The Bottom Line 

Using media training roleplays for your team can translate to better, more meaningful interactions with members of the media. They can practice specific situations based on upcoming appearances or interviews as well as more general skills necessary for interacting with journalists. Whatever the case may be, Yoodli can address any of your media training needs with its intelligent roleplays.