Strat Comm Instructor Confronts Hackneyed Interviews

What makes Jane Praeger, media trainer and Strategic Communications instructor, cringe? Listening to unflattering comments from journalists who know when they've interviewed a graduate of the Stepford Wives School of Talking to Reporters. These alumni have typically been so over educated and so hyper-coached by their well-meaning communications reps that they often come across to reporters (and to shrewd viewers at home), as "robotic," "overly-policed," and "dull." By training their clients to handle any press situation with grace many communications professionals are "unwittingly steering their clients away from opportunities to build relationships with journalists, create ongoing dialogues, and make meaningful contributions to stories." What's a PR person to do? In her piece The Lost Art of Conversation: What to Do When Execs Become Message "Jackhammers" Jane offers her colleagues some tips to help them redirect their clients off the treacherous road of triteness. With a "certificate in charisma " in hand, not only might these SWSTR alums have more success getting their message across, but journalists will have to find something else to gripe about to Jane!