 About the International Executive Media and TV
Workshops
Introduction
In today's fast-paced media environment, what you say can be conveyed around the world instantly. CNN, the BBC World Service, TV 5, and a growing number of regional media outlets mean that thousands -- even millions of people will form an impression of you -- and your agency or business -- just as quickly. Are you ready to face the microphones and cameras?
Even under the best of circumstances, the ability to frame and deliver an appropriate message can mean the difference between success and failure for your organization, your business, your agency -- or your career. What you say, how you say it, and to whom can determine -- from the outset -- your success in communicating your message. In a world where advocacy is growing in importance, you need to make sure that your message stands out. During a time of crisis, your preparedness means everything.
Today, stakeholders at all levels of society increasingly rely on the media as their major source of information. For international development agency representatives, business officials, and civil society organizations, this means that leaders must learn to think strategically about the media and engage it in a way that effectively gets their message across.
The number of local, regional and worldwide media outlets continues to grow. As these outlets proliferate, news organizations frequently feel compelled to seek out controversy. How should decision makers and spokespersons deal with this?
Is your organization prepared?
Are you ready for an interview?
Avoiding the media is no longer a viable strategy. Simply refusing to be interviewed will only result in a missed opportunity to communicate your message effectively. Or, even worse, this will result in a negative and unflattering portrayal.
The IEMTW (International Executive Media and Television Workshop) is the Center’s flagship course. It is an intensive three day course which was developed by CDC as a companion to our tailored workshops for UN leaders in more than 25 agencies. Over the last 10 years, the IEMTW has established a successful track record in training UN and other international agency personnel and private sector representatives in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and the United States. CDC’s methodology has been used to train diplomats, new UN Representatives, NGO leaders, and private sector managers.
The IEMTW will empower agency representatives, government officials and business and community leaders to:
- Guidelines to better prepare you for a media encounter (interviews, press briefings, press conferences, etc).
- Advice on using the media strategically to build credibility and visibility for your organization, issue or argument.
- New trends in the media, and how organizations can take advantage of them.
- Improving your organization’s management to make it more media friendly and effective.
- Individual coaching to improve your ability to deliver the organization’s message effectively.
Here’s what they have had to say:
“Workshops that lead to quick/immediate changes are very rare. This is one of them. I learnt a lot in a very short time” ILO Participant, Beirut, Lebanon
“ [During a Crisis] we were suddenly confronted with hundreds of demands for TV & radio interviews. I can assure you that I quickly went back to my workshop notes to try to get organized and devise some sort of emergency media strategy to avoid journalistic traps. “UNICEF Official, West Africa
“I learnt a lot and since my return to work I've had two major media events and both were very well covered... One even made the front page of one of two top dailies!” UNFPA official, The Caribbean
“This is the best training I have ever attended” UN official, Bangkok Thailand
“The workshop has definitely helped me to face the camera with confidence and conviction” UN official East Asia
“Very lively and timely: throughout the workshop I was thinking how I will make my work different as soon as i finish the training workshop “ . UNDP Official Moldova
“The workshop was fun , thought provoking , and it allowed me to learn some things about myself in front of the camera” IFAD official, Rome, Italy
“Loved It!” UNAIDS Country Coordinator, Southern Africa
“[The workshop] taught an old dog many new tricks!” UN Mine Action Country Director, Asia
“Very helpful in identifying useful tools for media interviews that will also apply to other communication activities” UN Mine Action Director, South America
“I used to avoid having interviews, but I feel now that I am prepared.” Ministry of Health Official, Cairo Egypt
“Confidence building” – WFP Deputy Country Director, Asia and the Pacific
Anticipated Workshop Results:
The IEMTW will provide hands-on learning in four vital areas:
Develop Winning Messages: Think more strategically. Using a simple three part process, CDC’s workshop will help you develop winning messages for your issue or organization.
Crisis/ Reputation Management: How to react to negative press that can harm your agency’s or your business’s credibility. CDC emphasizes a pro-active systems approach based on participant’s own cases and needs.
Camera/ Microphone Readiness: How to be camera ready and camera smart when being interviewed. How to get your message out.
Engaging the Media: Working with the media to effectively advocate your organization’s position, mobilize resources, promote an emerging issue or publish latest findings.
Learning Approach
CDC mixes “serious” learning with fun so that participants are comfortable with the learning process. The more they like what they are taught, the more likely they will internalize it and eventually apply it, which is the goal of any learning event.
CDC combines the extensive professional experience of its staff with hands-on experiential learning and individualized professional coaching. The courses prepare you for a video-taped interview with an experienced journalist. You will evaluate your performance with your professional coach and learn techniques for improvement. Realistic but “fictitious” case studies and problem based learning are utilized from participants own professional experience. You work on real issues and get responses to your questions. We don’t claim to always have “the” answer but with our vast experience we can always share “an” answer.
Who should enroll in the International Executive Media Training Workshop?
The IEMTW has been designed to supplement the often times limited institutional or in-house training your agency may offer. It is a great opportunity in situations where there may be one or a few participants to train. The following would benefit from this training:
- UN Deputy Resident Representatives
- Senior Communication Officers (with a spokesperson role)
- Senior managers of NGOs, private and voluntary organizations and other civil society based organizations
- Senior managers, program staff, communication practitioners working in UN agencies, programs and funds
- Government Communication Officers and Spokespersons
Workshop Faculty
Founder and Director
Moncef M Bouhafa is a strategic communication expert with more than three decades of experience in the field of communication; he is currently director and founder of the Center for Development Communication. Combining strategic planning and training skills, Mr. Bouhafa has worked with international agencies, civil society and governments to advocate on a range of public issues related to governance and civil society, economic reform, violence against women and children’s rights among others. He has special skills in training senior officials to develop communication outreach especially through the media. He has designed and implemented training courses in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Middle East. Mr. Bouhafa has special expertise working with the Private Sector through social marketing and communication interventions.
Mr. Bouhafa is the lead facilitator for many of CDC’s learning events and is also a senior coach to executives including heads of UN agencies, heads of state & government, and resident coordinators of the UN System. He designs and implements learning programmes in the field of communication and development and has worked to design learning events with the United Nations System Staff College including pioneering the “Communication as a reform tool for the UN” series of workshops for senior UN staff. Mr. Bouhafa also developed ground-breaking programmes for the UN in the field of rapid public information response in peace keeping, humanitarian programmes, and reputation management for the UN in the Middle East and in Africa. He also has extensive experience in designing and developing learning packages. While a Middle East and Africa specialist, Mr. Bouhafa has worked in more than 30 countries worldwide in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America and the Caribbean.
Prior to the founding of CDC, he was a long-serving UN official in UNICEF and a senior specialist with The Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Communication Programmes (CCP) – one of the leading institutions in social marketing and communication for behavior change. While at UNICEF he helped the organization define the concept of Social Mobilization, which has been extensively used as a means of generating support and interest through stakeholders for UNICEF's programmes, and serving as spokesperson for the organization in many situations including emergencies in West Africa. Mr. Bouhafa is fluent in French, English and Arabic.
Team leaders
Jean-Frederic Bernard joined CDC in 2004 and brings 25 years of journalistic experience in Francophone Africa mainly dealing with strategic radio programming. He has experience in setting up and running partnerships between international broadcasters and local radio stations. He has relevant field experience in all of Western and Central Africa, the Caribbean, the Balkans and the Middle East. Mr Bernard is fluent in French, English, Dutch and Italian.
Richard Cooper joined CDC in 2006 bringing with him twenty-five years of expertise as an international trainer and consultant. His work for CDC involves training senior UN Officials on how to conduct effective interviews and manage media relations. His broad background involves providing coaching services for over forty global companies, as well as leading presentations in more than twenty countries on a variety of subjects. He has extensive experience in executive training for major organizations including the International Labor Organization (ILO), Citigroup, and Disney among others. Mr. Cooper has also lectured all over the world on topics such as leadership, mediation, and learning languages. He has previously spoken for the Grande Ecole (Institute of Water Management and Land Resources) about communication skills in English, and for the Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence about power line communications for the development and growth of Ghana.
Osei G Kofi Ghanaian-born he brings his vast experience in Africa and his communication expertise as a Senior Coach for CDC on learning events for diplomats, government officials, international development practitioners and senior managers of the United Nations system. In this role, Mr Kofi has led or co-led strategic communication and media empowerment workshops for decision-makers in Africa, West and Eastern Europe, North America and the Caribbean.
Mr Kofi has advised a number of African governments in their international public information campaigns and has coordinated preparations for donors or fund raising conferences. He is a trainer in social marketing, social mobilization and public information drives to support country and regional development strategies. For years he was a member of UNICEF’s international public affairs team in Sub-Saharan Africa that designed and implemented a series of global initiatives, including the Child Survival and Development Revolution, Convention on the Rights of the Child, Roll Back Malaria, The Girl Child Education, Facts for Life, and Control of the HIV & AIDS pandemic.
Prior to working with the UN, Mr. Kofi was a foreign correspondent and senior editor for a number of media houses including the Reuters News Agency. He has expertise in press liaison, trouble-shooting and information management in situations of armed conflict, natural disasters and other emergencies. He has worked in many of Africa’s hot spots, including Angola, Burundi, the DRC, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Rwanda, Somalia and southern Sudan.
How to Apply
Fee schedule is available upon request from mbouhafa@cendevcom.org
Please note that participants are responsible for their own travel arrangements including airfare as well as any visa arrangements.
Fees must be paid in US dollars and received by CDC at least 2 weeks prior to the training event.
Enrollment in all CDC workshops is subject to availability and approval by CDC staff. All applications will undergo a rigorous review process by CDC.
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