TV, radio and podcast interview training from the East Midlands media experts
Welcome!
We’re an East Midlands-based media training company, specialising in helping you prepare for interviews on TV, radio and podcasts.
We know that broadcast interviews can be daunting because we’ve been there ourselves - both as a journalist for a BBC radio station in the East Midlands and representing a national health charity live on BBC East Midlands Today.
Our one day training course will help your charity, business or public sector spokespeople feel more prepared for media opportunities.
And we won’t waste your time with upselling and add-ons - our pricing structure is simple, transparent and competitive. Please get in touch if you’d like to know more!
What is covered in the training course?
We typically run the course from 10am - 4pm and follow a four step structure. We’ve found it to be effective and makes the best use of your time.
The ambition is to build confidence through knowledge and practice.
We don’t aim to terrify participants, as that tends to be counter-productive. Instead, we teach them some of our tried-and-tested techniques and give them a chance to try them out in a supportive environment.
We’ve been on both sides of the microphone - so we know what it’s like to face difficult questions, and we also know how journalists think and operate.
The course focuses on what you will experience from local and regional media, but many of the skills and principles that you’ll learn can be applied to national media.
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A chance to discuss your experiences and (understandable!) fears about broadcast interviews. We’ll also cover the different types of interview and how you should prepare differently.
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Our 10 top tips on preparing for an interview, including how to deal with questions you don’t know the answer to – or would rather not answer!
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Radio interview practice based around a real life media opportunity for your business, charity or local authority. We will work with you ahead of the training day to make it as relevant as possible. Each person is given individual feedback - in a supportive and constructive environment.
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TV interview practice building on what we've learnt from the radio interviews, along with some advice on how to approach TV opportunities.
How much does the media training cost?
We charge a fixed price per group of £796 + VAT for a one day course. The price is the same regardless of how many people are on the course - but we recommend a group of 3 - 5 people.
For a group of four, our price works out as £199 + VAT per delegate. We can tweak the course for smaller and larger groups, but we’ve found that 3 - 5 people creates the best learning environment.
Our price is considerably lower than many other broadcast interview training courses – many of whom charge several hundred pounds per person.
To keep our prices affordable we ask you to provide the venue, such as a meeting room - and we don’t provide lunch (although we will bring some snacks and allow time for a lunch break). We provide unedited recordings of the day’s interviews for free.
Where do you hold the training?
Our training is held in your office - or you can arrange an alternative venue. We’ll bring our professional recording equipment to you and can run the course from any room that is large enough for about six people.
We don’t charge any travel expenses if you are based in the East Midlands, including Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire or Rutland.
If you’ve stumbled across this page and are outside of the East Midlands - please get in touch. We do travel outside of the region but we charge a one off extra fee for travel expenses.
Guru Media Training is run by Robbie Lane and Hannah Lane.
Robbie is a former radio journalist who has worked in commercial radio and for the BBC, including at BBC Radio Derby in the East Midlands. He also spent a decade working in public relations for environmental and health charities in the East Midlands - based in Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire but covering the rest of the region.
During this time he represented the charities on radio and TV programmes on stations including BBC Radio Leicester, BBC Radio Nottingham, BBC Radio Derby, BBC Radio Northampton, BBC Radio Lincolnshire, BBC East Midlands Today and ITV Central - as well as several community and commercial stations.
Hannah is an experienced administrator, HR professional and former revenue analyst in the hospitality sector. She is skilled at keeping everything running smoothly!
Our experience
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I (Robbie) have worked as a newsreader and local radio reporter for commercial radio stations and BBC local radio. I was breakfast show editor on BBC Radio Derby, during which time the station was named Station of the Year at the main industry awards.
During that time I interviewed two Prime Ministers, one Chancellor of the Exchequer and five members of Girls Aloud.
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I was media manager for a large national charity and created a broadcast media training course for our team of regional media officers. I worked with staff in our Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire offices, as well as other locations.
I also regularly appeared on TV and radio to represent the charity, including on BBC East Midlands Today and BBC Radio Lincolnshire. My interview experience tackled positive stories about new research and fundraising events, as well as reputational risk interviews about service closures.
Other charity public relations work has included my time with a national environmental charity. I worked on communications for their corporate partnerships team. -
In the last few years, I have been running my own media company with a focus on tourism – my sites include Isle of Wight Guru, as well as Dutch, German and French language travel sites.
I regularly appear on local BBC radio to promote this work.
I am also the founder of the Brown Flag Awards, which is a campaign for cleaner beaches that has featured in the the Nottingham Post, Daily Mail, The Sun, The Express, The Mirror and on the BBC.
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Robbie Lane
MEDIA TRAINER AND COMPANY DIRECTOR
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Hannah Lane
ADMINISTRATOR AND COMPANY DIRECTOR
Contact us
We would love to hear from you if you are interested in our media training course. Please get in touch via the form or you can email hello (at) guru-media.co.uk.