For Immediate Release
Monday, March 26, 2007

Contact:
Ed Barks
(540) 955-0600
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Best Practice Standards for Media Training Revealed in Free White Paper

Preparing for a media training workshop just got easier, thanks to a new white paper published by Barks Communications President Ed Barks.

“Maximize Your Next Media Training: Best Practice Standards” serves as an expert resource for corporations, associations, public relations and public affairs agencies, and non-profit groups planning to offer media training to their top executives, elected officers, directors, and managers. The new publication provides a set of best practice standards and outlines the basic steps organizations should follow if they want to achieve a positive learning experience.

The new resource is available as a free download at www.barkscomm.com.

The white paper’s purpose, Barks writes: “(I)s to make life easier for organizations that call on expert media trainers to coach their spokespeople. The intent is to provide a set of easy-to-follow best practice standards, offering organizations that pursue media training a peek behind the curtain and a clearer picture of what needs to happen and why.”

He writes that there are five main categories organizations should heed “in order to achieve a media training experience that is as smooth and headache-free as possible:”
1. Preparing the trainees
2. Preparing your trainer
3. Preparing other internal staff
4. Preparing the training facility
5. Preparing the training agenda

“So much of an organization’s success depends upon the well-being of its media outreach efforts and the skills of its spokespeople,” he said. “A strong media relations presence revolves around the success of the media training workshop. And the success of the workshop, in turn, depends upon careful and diligent preparation.

“Following each of the five steps outlined in ‘Maximize Your Next Media Training: Best Practice Standards’ will help ensure that an organization’s preparation efforts follow an organized set of best practice standards, resulting in a superior learning experience,” Barks added.

“Maximize Your Next Media Training: Best Practice Standards” serves as a companion to an earlier Barks white paper, “A Buyer’s Guide to Communications Trainers.” That publication is also available as a free download at www.barkscomm.com.

Ed Barks, author of The Truth About Public Speaking: The Three Keys to Great Presentations, is a trainer, author, and speaker who teaches today’s leaders how to deliver dynamic, message-packed presentations and how to work with the media. He has served as President of Barks Communications since its inception in 1997, guiding more than 2900 business leaders, government officials, non-profit leaders, physicians, athletes, association executives, entertainers, and public relations staff toward a sharper message and enhanced communications skills.