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Coaching

Media training for executives

PIC prepares you for interviews, podcasts, panels and press with a coach who has been the guest expert in the chair. Customized to the appearance you have coming up. A complimentary initial consultation is offered.

An executive being interviewed on camera under soft studio lights during a media training session.
30years
Coaching executives and their teams since the 1990s
15,000+clients
Across biotech, healthcare, finance and technology
3books
Published, the first two translated internationally
Top 15coaches in Boston
Voted by Influence Digest

Laurie reads every inquiry personally and generally replies within one business day.

Media training covers these critical areas:

  • Analyzing your interviewer and your audience
  • Building the two or three messages you need to have said
  • Creating memorable soundbites that survive editing
  • Bridging from the question asked to the point you came to make
  • Handling questions, objections and challenging conversations
  • High-impact oral and nonverbal delivery on camera
  • Controlling nerves and stressful situations
  • Practice and video coaching on recorded mock interviews

Leaders and organizations come to us when:

  • An interview, podcast or press call is already booked
  • Someone is becoming the person the organization puts forward
  • A launch, a result or a difficult period is bringing journalists
  • Several spokespeople need to say compatible things
  • Technical experts need to translate for a general audience

The proof for this particular service is unusual. Oprah and The Today Show have spotlighted Laurie as a guest expert on communication, and she has been featured in over fifty podcasts and publications from Cosmopolitan to the Wall Street Journal — the appearances are listed on our media page. Being coached by someone who has actually done the interview is not a small difference when the subject is what it feels like in the chair. How an engagement runs covers the stages and the prices.

What to expect from your media training program

  • Assessment and goal plan
  • Customized messages built for your appearance
  • Recorded mock interviews with real follow-up questions
  • Video feedback and customized materials
  • A session shortly before the appearance itself
  • Ongoing measurement of progress

Message discipline comes first: the two or three things you need to have said, phrased so they survive being cut to seven seconds. Then bridging — moving from the question you were asked to the point you came to make, without the visible gear change that makes an audience distrust you.

Then the hard part, rehearsed rather than hoped for: the question you cannot answer, the question with a false premise, and the pause that tempts you into saying more than you meant. Laurie has written about what to do when you do not know the answer, which is the single most common fear people bring to this work.

Who this is for

If this is for you

You have an interview, a podcast appearance, a webinar or a press call coming up — or you are becoming the person your organization puts forward, and you would rather be ready before that happens than after. Your program includes:

  • A complimentary, pressure-free consult
  • Assessment and a goal plan before anything is booked
  • Recorded mock interviews with real follow-up questions
  • Your messages, sharpened until they hold under editing
  • On-camera habits: eye line, pace, and what to do with silence
  • A session shortly before the appearance itself
  • Unlimited communication with your coach between sessions

If this is for your team

Several spokespeople who need to say compatible things, or a leadership group heading into a launch, a result, or a period where journalists will be calling.

  • Shared messages so two spokespeople do not contradict each other
  • Group rehearsal plus individual sessions where the exposure is highest
  • Peer and video feedback for every participant
  • Group rates are quoted per coach

What’s included

Building messages that survive editing

Two or three points built to be quoted, in language that still means something when it is lifted out of context.

Bridging and staying in control

Answering the question honestly and still arriving at your point, without the manoeuvre being audible.

Questions and challenges

Three techniques for handling questions, including what to say when you do not know, when the premise is wrong, and when the interviewer leaves a silence for you to fill.

A video camera operator filming an interviewee seated on a studio set.

The Presence26© System behind this work

Proof

Client stories — how two engagements actually ran, with the identifying details removed

Why people choose us for work that matters

  • A named system, published in full

    Twenty-six competencies with names, grouped into five categories. You can read the whole thing before you spend anything — most firms will not show you their method.

    See the Presence26© System
  • Thirty years, and the receipts

    The Today Show, Oprah, the Wall Street Journal and Women’s Health. Three published books, all of them translated. Fifteen thousand clients.

    See the press record
  • Other firms send us their coaches

    The Train the Presentation Coach Certificate Program is one of the few of its kind — organisations pay to have their own HR and L&D people trained and credentialed by us.

    About the Certificate Program
  • The prices are on the website

    No discovery call required to find out what it costs. Both programme structures and the rates are published, along with what happens if those numbers are a problem.

    See how an engagement runs

Investment

Our top priority is adding to your communication and presentation excellence. The investment is designed flexibly around your needs, resources, and the scope of the program.

Group Day Session
$5,900per coach
Group Half-Day Session
$2,900per coach
1:1 Corporate Coaching
$475 / hour20-hour package: $9,500
1:1 Individual Coaching
$375 / hourWhen the cost is not corporate-sponsored

All programs include an assessment and goal plan, materials, follow-up notes and an action plan, and unlimited texts between sessions.

Discuss your program

Common questions

Yes — media appearances are our specialty. We will help you with your messages, delivery, practice and feedback. For a specific appearance we build the preparation around it: messages first, then the interview itself under realistic conditions, then a session shortly before the date.

Both, and virtual is the most frequently requested — deliberately so. The majority of interviews, podcasts and webinars are now recorded remotely, so rehearsing virtually means rehearsing in the actual medium. We are happy to coach on site when requested.

We look forward to your appearance going well

Enjoy a relaxed, complimentary thirty-minute conversation with Coach Laurie — the outlet, the format and the date. She will tell you honestly what preparation it genuinely needs.

Laurie reads every inquiry personally and generally replies within one business day.