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Comments on
the course from previous participants:
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“The thing I liked most about the workshop was the chance to get
on the other side of the camera/microphone for the first time
with real journos!”
Grant Drummond
post-doctoral fellow, Howard Florey Institute
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“I
learnt heaps - as demonstrated by the way our stories developed
throughout the day. Highly recommended to all Fellows.”
Tracey Bessell
PhD candidate, Monash Institute of Health Sciences Research
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“I
was a little skeptical about the course, but I found it very
useful. It was practical, and I gave it the highest scores in
the assessment at the end.”
Professor Graham Farquhar
Deputy CEO Greenhouse Accounting CRC
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Our next courses
are:
- Thursday 23 October
- Thursday 20 November
Our Media Training Workshop will help you feel
comfortable with the media and have more control over your media appearances.
Working journalists from television, radio and newspapers will interview you and
will also answer your questions.
The course will help you with all your non-scientific
communication with stakeholders, customers and the media. And it will give your
media advisers confidence that you will be a good performer when media
opportunities arise.
Our course is offered in collaboration with
Econnect Communication. It
features two experienced science communicators as presenters and three working
journalists from TV, print and radio who will interview you during the course of
the day.
Science in Public’s Niall Byrne will present the course together with Tim
Thwaites, freelance science communicator.
The journalists for each course are
confirmed a few days before the course. Journalists who have been involved include
Gerard Scholten and Martine
Griffiths from Channel Ten News, Dina Rosendorff from The Herald Sun, Chee Chee
Leung from The Age and Donna de Maio from 3AW radio news.
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Courses start at 9.30 am and
finish by 5 pm
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Held in
the upstairs function room at The Redback Brewery Hotel
75
Flemington Road, North Melbourne
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Refreshments and lunch provided
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Cost is $650 + GST per person
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Numbers are limited to 12 people
Reserve a place by emailing
niall@scienceinpublic.com.au
or
calling 03 9398 1416.
More about the workshop
We ask each workshop participant to bring along one
potential media story idea.The only preparation we ask is that
you provide a few bullet points about one or two possible media stories.
This could be a story you’ve already issued, one that will come up in the next
year, or it could be speculative. This will be useful to the journalists who
will be conducting practice interviews with you over the course of the workshop
(the journalists know this information is off-the-record unless you state
clearly to the contrary).
We supply participants with details of the venue and
any other arrangements. Please note the outline below is indicative only as we
tailor each workshop according to the needs of participants, as determined at
the beginning of the workshop.
We will invoice prior to the course.
The fee is payable in advance and will be forfeited if you cancel less than
seven days prior.
This practical workshop will help you:
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know what to expect when the media does a story
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practise your interview techniques with working journalists
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get your message out as accurately as possible
Specific topics include:
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What makes a good TV, radio or print story
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How to take control of the media agenda
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Making the big announcement
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What to do when a journalist knocks on your door
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Handling difficult questions
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Organising a good media release
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In the hot seat – interview practice with working journalists
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To understand the media and how it operates
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To develop some skills and confidence in dealing with media interviews
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To apply principles of message-design to media management
Workshop evaluation
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Reaction based – workshop feedback sheet provided at
end of workshop by Econnect and results collated
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Learning – assessment of learning on an individual basis is provided
throughout the workshop by both oral and written feedback
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Behavioural - individual feedback provided as skills are practiced in the
workshop, plus individual feedback forms from Econnect
1. Introduction, objectives of workshop
2. TV news
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TV news journalist - presentation and discussion about what makes
TV news stories work
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Demo interview with one participant on video
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Individual interviews on video while rest of group looks at:
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Packaging TV news story
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Preparing the 'grab'
3. Print media
journalist – presentation and discussion about what major metro newspapers
require to make a story work
4. Media releases and shaping your story
5. Radio
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Radio journalist discusses the various formats of radio and what
is required from radio to make a story work
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Demonstration interviews of news, program and current affairs
interviews
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Individual interviews with radio journalist while rest of group
looks at:
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their TV interviews
- controlling agenda with radio
- dealing with more controversial/difficult
interviews
- what to do when the media comes unexpectedly to
you
6. Evaluation of workshop
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Niall
Byrne |
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Niall
Byrne’s nine years with CSIRO Animal Health gave him practical experience
dealing with media issues ranging from worms, to the deadly equine mobillivirus
that killed a horse trainer and his horses. He managed the media crisis
triggered by the escape of rabbit calicivirus in 1995.
Today he runs Science in Public,
putting science and scientists in public space. His clients include the Prime
Ministers Prizes for Science; Fresh Science, Nature and a host of science
organisations. |
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Sarah Brooker |
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It was during her honours year that Sarah Brooker
discovered she preferred talking about science more than doing it. She ran away
with the Shell Questacon Science Circus and into the world of science
communication.
She honed her communication skills
by presenting general science to school students, then moved onto responding to
enquiries about gene technology and biotechnology for the Federal Government's
Biotechnology Australia. Sarah has presented widely on biotechnology in
Australia and attitudes and perception to gene technology.
She now works
with Science in Public helping scientists communicate their work through writing
and presenting, the media, exhibitions and events. |
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Jenni Metcalfe |
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Jenni
Metcalfe combined her passion for journalism and science when she became
Communication Manager for CSIRO’s Tropical Crops and Pastures in 1989.
While working at CSIRO, Jenni
recognised the need to help scientists handle the media more effectively and
with more confidence. She developed her first media and presentation skills
course for local CSIRO scientists, and soon other divisions (and later other
research organisations) were requesting her workshops.
Jenni has now been running these
specialist workshops for more than 12 years right across Australia. Jenni joined Econnect in 1995. She has
expertise in media publicity and liaison, communication strategy development and
implementation, and community liaison and consultation.
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Tim Thwaites |
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Tim Thwaites is a freelance science writer and
broadcaster who specialises in putting science, medicine and engineering
into everyday language. He has more than 25 years experience of writing,
editing, sub-editing, teaching and broadcasting in Australia and
overseas.
After a degree and graduate work in zoology,
including several years overseas, he trained and worked as a journalist
at The Age. He has since written and subedited for newspapers,
newsletters and magazines both nationally and internationally.
Tim has
worked for universities, government departments, research
institutes, private companies and professional organisations producing
background material, writing press releases, editing publications, and
organising publicity. He is a member of the executive committee
for Fresh Science, a national
competition for early career researchers and also teaches non-fiction
writing at La Trobe University.
Tim is a foundation member of Australian Science
Communicators and the first editor of its newsletter. He was co-chair of
the program committee for the 5th World Conference of Science
Journalists held in Melbourne in April 2007 and is currently the
President of the Australian Science Communicators.
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Science in Public
365 Esplanade Altona Victoria 3018 Australia
Ph: +61 3 9398 1416
www.scienceinpublic.com
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