Spokespeople Training
Having trained spokespeople ready to respond is not just important – it's critical for your business to survive
Bad news breaks instantly - and globally - in today's fast-paced media environment, and crises can escalate within minutes across social and traditional media platforms. So having trained spokespeople ready to respond is not just important – it's critical for your business to survive. These individuals serve as the human face of the organisation during its most challenging moments, requiring them to demonstrate composure, credibility and clear communication under intense pressure. Well-trained spokespeople can make or break your business – they can effectively manage the narrative, maintain stakeholder confidence and protect personal and corporate reputations through their ability to deliver clear, consistent messages while at the same showing appropriate empathy and authority. Professional training enables them to handle hostile questioning, avoid common communication pitfalls and convey key messages while maintaining authenticity – skills that are impossible to develop in the heat of a crisis.
The absence of trained spokespeople during a crisis can lead to catastrophic consequences for both corporate and personal reputations.
When unprepared individuals face media scrutiny, they often make critical mistakes such as appearing defensive, using "no comment” - which always suggests something to hide, speculating beyond known facts, or displaying inappropriate body language that can worsen the crisis. These ‘missteps’ can transform a manageable situation into a full-blown reputational disaster leading to lost trust, damaged stakeholder relationships and significant financial impact through decreased share value, lost business and costly recovery efforts. And in this digital age, poor crisis communication performances live forever online, creating long-lasting damage that can take years to repair. The evidence is clear across numerous case studies: organisations that invest in spokesperson training and preparation consistently achieve better outcomes during crises than those who rely on untrained representatives.