Today’s executives are expected to show up everywhere. They’re appearing in virtual town halls, LinkedIn videos, investor updates, media interviews, and more, and traditional prep isn’t cutting it. Scripted talking points can actually make spokespeople less prepared, not more.
So how can PR and comms pros help leaders speak on their feet with confidence?
Katie Suiters is a media trainer and Emmy-winning former journalist who coaches C-suite leaders at Fortune 100 companies through Brighton Media. She’ll break down:
• One question you should ask before media training begins
• Why traditional media training doesn’t work for today’s formats
• How to build trust with your audiences: not just survive the interview
Show summary:
In this episode of PR Explored, host Michelle Garrett, a PR consultant, author, and writer talks with her guest Katie Suiters, of Brighton Media about updating media training for today’s executive spokespeople.
Suiters, a former journalist, argues training should move beyond memorized talking points and robotic delivery to a hyper-custom approach that strengthens an individual’s authentic style across interviews, internal all-staffs, social media, and events.
She recommends starting with intention setting—defining the business objective, target audience, and desired perception—then practicing on camera, reviewing recordings, and preparing for difficult questions.
The conversation covers misconceptions that journalists are “out to get you,” why jargon and acronyms erode trust and attention, and why ongoing monthly or quarterly prep functions like insurance.
Suiters shares feedback techniques for communicators, suggests third-party trainers can provide candid guidance, and notes AI is increasing the premium on human, credible delivery.
00:00 Welcome and Introductions
01:02 Rethinking Media Training
02:05 Beyond Broadcast Scenarios
03:33 Effort and Practice Payoff
05:20 Evolving Past Talking Points
06:14 Set Goals and Perception
08:45 Debrief and Say No
11:50 Misconceptions About Training
14:46 Journalists Are Not Enemies
19:40 Pause and Speak Clearly
22:29 Avoid Jargon and Acronyms
28:38 Ongoing Prep Sessions
29:26 Always Be Ready
30:53 PR As Insurance
31:51 Short Tailored Sessions
33:59 Handling Training Resistance
36:14 Introverts And Authenticity
37:46 Giving Executive Feedback
41:56 One On One Vs Group
43:31 Assume Everything Leaks
47:14 Difficult Questions And Bridging
50:03 AI And The Human Premium
53:42 When To Hire A Trainer
56:59 Media Training Wrap Up
Show notes:
Follow Katie Suiters on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katiesuiters/
Full transcript:
Modern media training: Rethinking how we prep executives
Michelle Garrett: [00:00:00] Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of PR Explored. Pr. Explored is the PR podcast where we delve into trends and topics related to public relations. I’m your host, Michelle Garrett, a PR consultant and writer, and my guest today is Katie Suiters of Brighton Media. Thank you so much for being here, Katie.
Yay. Well,
Katie Suiters: I, I cannot wait, um, to dive in today. Yes.
Michelle Garrett: I’m so happy to have you. I’ve been following you, um, on LinkedIn and I know we spoke at, at the same event, you know, last summer for PR news. And so I’m really, um, excited to have the chance to talk to you today and for everybody listening and watching to, um, benefit from all of your wisdom because I think you share some really great, uh.
Things on LinkedIn about media training, and I think you and I, um, believe that maybe, you know, there, maybe we need to freshen it up a little bit. So [00:01:00]
Katie Suiters: that’s a, that’s a polite way of saying it. And I truthfully never thought I would be sitting here talking about media training in a positive way. Um, I, you know, my background is as a journalist, so I covered, we covered.
Capitol Hill, the White House, Congress, federal agencies and I associated media training with a consultant coming in, really robotic scripted talking points. And you know, this cookie cutter, um, situation. And I’m sure there are trainers with different philosophies out there, but the way that we approach it.
Now is so hyper custom and so about bringing out the best in the individual. Mm-hmm. So it’s such a different approach than what I thought. My perception. I’m happy that, that I’m past that now. Um, but it’s, it’s a funny. Real 180 for me to be on the other side of it and also really passionate about [00:02:00] it. And I still get to play producer every day with this work.
So it’s very fun.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah. I think your background is perfect for this, right? Because you’ve kind of been in the trenches as a reporter and you know, you understand what reporters are looking for. Um, and also we’re gonna talk about how. Preparing executives is not just for on air, broadcast media or soundbites in, um, you know, digital media.
It’s actually across just a gamut of different scenarios and things where they have to speak on their feet.
Katie Suiters: When I started this work, I assumed it would be 90% broadcast and. What we do is we do internal all staffs, you know, and what’s funny too is those skit leaks sometimes, right? So it does end up in the news, unfortunately, but we, yeah, internal communication is a huge part of what we do.
Um, social media, LinkedIn reels, there’s so many opportunities now. [00:03:00] But really any verbal communication opportunity panels at a conference, you name it. Executives are expected to just be able to talk about what they do, but really there’s so many skills, and that’s one of the main things I do want to get across today is this.
These are all skills that can be taught. These are, these are inherently, sure, some people are born with more of, more abilities than others, but there are so many things that we can teach, um, and really anyone can get better at this work. And they do when they, when they put in the time.
Michelle Garrett: Right. It takes effort.
And I think that’s always, um, a question of, you know, how much time and effort do people really wanna put into things? ’cause I feel like we’re living in a society now that doesn’t really wanna invest any time or effort into getting better. They just, you know, think they can maybe, you know, figure out some shortcut and I’m like, no, it doesn’t always work that way, you know, so it
Katie Suiters: doesn’t.
If you dedicate two to three hours [00:04:00] to this work, you will notice a massive difference. And I know we’ll talk later about continuing the work on an ongoing basis, but you would be so surprised at how quickly you can get. Just practicing watching yourself back and, and doing a couple exercises that I’m happy to talk about as well today.
Michelle Garrett: Yes. So, um, I will, I will be asking you some questions and I would love if people listening are watching, have questions, if they would share those questions, we’d be happy to try to get to those. Um, we’ve kind of set the stage, um, about, uh, you know, how executive spokespeople are expected to speak on their feet, and we see examples, um, you know, almost every week of some CEO putting their foot in their mouth.
And I see why they’d be anxious to, uh, do any public speaking. But there, it’s just part of the, um, really the, the job. So they have to figure out a way that. You know, to make this work for them and to just, I think, feel more confident [00:05:00] and, um, comfortable in that scenario. So we’re gonna talk all about how to evolve the preparation process to kind of fit the needs, um, of executive spokespeople today.
And of course Katie does this work every day. So, um, she has a lot of great. Insight to share. So, um, we will start, and I always read the question, I will show it as well on the screen. So, in the past, media training was often viewed as memorizing your key talking points. How and why should that evolve?
Katie Suiters: When you sit down for a media interview, you do not get to control what the person on the other side of the table asks you.
So. Even if you get questions in advance, depending on the news cycle, depending on what’s going on. A question could come your way. That is in some way a difficult question for you to answer. So all you can control on your [00:06:00] side is what you say. So if you just have these memorized talking points where you sound like a robot and you’re repeating yourself over and over again, you could be exposed The second.
It goes off script. So what we always start with, the first thing I do, you know, when I sit down with an executive, is this intention setting exercise. And really this is if you are in corporate or executive comms, this can really help position you if you ask these questions to your CEO or your C-suite to just make you look like a business-minded partner.
But it’s the first question is what are you trying to accomplish with this opportunity? So if you have a traditional broadcast hit, let’s say, what is the audience that you’re trying to reach with this hit, and what is the outcome you want from this opportunity? Is it to increase buy-in for a new announcement?
You know, [00:07:00] is it to just save your reputation in a, in a, in a really bad time, but getting as granular as possible? Right. I worked with a. Woman recently who wanted, really wanted to attract the certain, um, potential customer so we had them in mind for a media hit. So you have that business objective, right?
Mm-hmm. And if, and if you can’t think of a good one, maybe you don’t do the hit right. Or maybe the opportunity doesn’t make sense, right? Right. But if you don’t have that business objective, it’s hard to tie. A goal or an outcome to that.
Michelle Garrett: Mm-hmm.
Katie Suiters: The second part of that is how do you wanna be perceived, and we talk about perception as an individual, a personal brand, and also as a company overall.
Mm-hmm. Or an organization. So if it’s a serious urgent matter as you’re practicing, we’re gonna make sure that your delivery reflects that, that seriousness and urgency.
Michelle Garrett: Mm-hmm.
Katie Suiters: Or if it’s [00:08:00] excitement, whatever the making sure that. The delivery matches how you wanna be perceived. Once we have the answers to those two questions, that gives us the ammo and the really the goals to measure success on the other side.
Did you say what did what you wanted to say, right? You wanted to accomplish this, did you do this? And. You don’t have to be the bad guy too, right. As the comms person ask them directly, they, they set the goal.
Michelle Garrett: Mm-hmm.
Katie Suiters: Was that accomplished? So that gives it just a completely different frame as opposed to we have to get this messaging out.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah.
Katie Suiters: Well, why, let’s take a step back and really define those goals before we even get into what we wanna say.
Michelle Garrett: I just feel like that is great advice for all kinds of things, uh, regarding communications and pr. ’cause I often even, you know, so I, I use the example of writing a press release and like they’ll just, it’s like an order.
Go write this, press release. And I’m like, well, [00:09:00] okay, well why are we writing it? And like, what do you know? Is this really the right vehicle? And you know, what are the key things that we wanna get across? What’s the goal? So I think these are just. To me, they, they make a lot of sense in, in just kind of stepping back and thinking through it.
I feel like sometimes people just rush through things, check it off, you know, we got that done. Like, and they go on to the next thing. They don’t prepare, they don’t debrief. They don’t, you know, how do you expect to improve? If you are not, you know, putting that time and effort in. And I do think, you know, you said even a few hours, I think if you did that, you know, a few times, uh, with interviews, you would notice a big change and a big improvement just by even just going over.
And I know they don’t like to wash themselves or, or you know, maybe, you know, listen or whatever, but it helps them, uh, get better.
Katie Suiters: It’s one of the most effective things you can do to immediately improve. No one’s favorite part of the process. [00:10:00] It’s something that we, I wouldn’t say we require, but we strongly recommend.
I don’t, I think one time I worked with someone who, who chose not to do the practice part, but it is. No one’s favorite part. No one loves that part, but it’s so effective. And once you rip the bandaid there and do the first, first hit or the first round, it gets so much easier. And then we do a couple more reps and then they’re noticing this massive change from the first to the fourth or fifth time we, we practice.
But completely wanna echo what you’re saying around, um, doing things because you’re supposed to do them or this is the way we’ve always done them, so. Why are we doing this right? Why are we writing a press release? Why are we doing this opportunity? And that’s, that’s how we should all be thinking about these things, especially now with AI and technology and, and, you know, vetting so [00:11:00] many media outlets and so many opportunities.
Is it, is it really what we, how we wanna be positioned? Does this match the goal that we’re trying to achieve?
Michelle Garrett: Yeah. And sometimes it is the right answer to say no, to turn things down. It can be yes, it can be not a fit or not the right, you know, opportunity or whatever. So I think, you know, you made that point.
I think that’s another good point because, uh, I think we are just, you know, programmed to just say yes to everything, not think it through. Okay. Another, again, check it off the list and go on, instead of really thinking about why are we doing it? What was the outcome? Was it what we wanted? Did it drive the, you know, the business objective that we were try, you know, so yeah.
I don’t think that we think enough about that.
Katie Suiters: No, it’s autopilot sometimes. Yes.
Michelle Garrett: So what is the biggest misconception that you would say communicators have about media training?
Katie Suiters: Well, and I can [00:12:00] speak from my background, but I. As, as I mentioned, when I used to think of media training, it was this scripted robotic memorizing talking points, almost like an insult.
Oh, they’re media trained. They’re buttoned up and boring and beige and not exciting to listen to. So I would say it’s almost the opposite approach is what we take versus that misconception of the memorization. It’s really learning how to be. Yourself more effectively. So once we get the, those business objectives all defined, right, it’s really bringing out the best version of you.
We talk about personal style a lot in our training. So if you are someone that’s naturally really warm or you’re naturally, um, more serious, we’re not trying to change that, right? I would not want to tell you to [00:13:00] smile more if you have an urgent thing to say and you end and you tend to be a serious person.
But that’s also why we never show videos in our trainings, is I don’t want you to try to be like. Spoke spokesperson X from X company. Mm-hmm. I want you to be the best you.
Michelle Garrett: Mm-hmm.
Katie Suiters: And the more that you are leaning into, okay, what makes me an effective communicator? What am I passionate about getting into those things.
Mm-hmm. That’s gonna make. You more compelling and, and al and also confident on camera as well. We see that piece of it really grow.
Michelle Garrett: I think preparation increases your confidence. I mean, I, I am not a professional speaker, but I have spoken at events and just feeling prepared makes a huge difference. So that means rehearsing but not reading a script.
It means kind of it. To a degree you’re memorizing, but you’re also, every time it’s different because it’s, [00:14:00] uh, every time you give the same presentation, I find it’s a little bit different. It’s never gonna be the same thing twice. ’cause I’m not a robot and I’m not, you know, reading my slides hopefully, uh, you know, so I feel like.
I love that about bringing out the ve best version of you, uh, because that’s, that just feels more real to me. And I think, you know, authenticity is a big deal. Uh, it’s always been a big deal, but I think it’s now more than ever because of AI and, and, you know, deep fakes. I mean, you know, so you wanna sound like yourself when you’re out there, so that if somebody does try.
To put something past, you know, your audience, they’re gonna know right away. Well, that’s not the CEO of that company. ’cause I’ve heard him speak and he does not sound like that, so.
Katie Suiters: Mm-hmm. That’s a good point. The other one misconception I wanna touch on as well with my journalism background is there tends to be a misconception that I see that.
Journalists are out to get you [00:15:00] or that there’s some sort of hostility or there’s some Gotcha. That they’re always trying to get and speaking from experience here, unless there was some big negative, um, headline or, you know, something to dig into If it’s a story about your company because you’re doing something great.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah.
Katie Suiters: I wanna tell that story.
Michelle Garrett: Mm-hmm.
Katie Suiters: But if you come in. You’re saying no comments and you’re dodging and you’re not making eye contact.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah.
Katie Suiters: I’m then assuming there’s something shady going on. So you’re setting yourself up for failure, assuming that hostility in advance. Um, and of course there’s exceptions and if your company’s going through something, there’s different scenarios, right?
Mm-hmm. But overall that out to get you mentality, I don’t think that serves anyone.
Michelle Garrett: No, I always say it’s not 60 minutes. You know, it’s not, they’re not gonna ask a gotcha [00:16:00] question if you’re just talking to the local business journal or a trade publication or, you know, I, I really don’t think that a, you know, a good reporter is, is that’s not really helping their story.
They’re just trying to tell the story, and they want you to be, you know, honest with your input, but there’s no agenda there beyond. Getting the story, hopefully getting it accurately conveyed. That’s, that’s what I hope they’re doing. And as I have a journalism degree. So I think that’s, um, that’s, yeah, that, I don’t, I don’t like that perception of journalists either.
Katie Suiters: No. And that also reminds me of pr. People always used to ask me, what’s your angle for the story? Don’t ask that. Uh, don’t ask that. It’s, it’s, it’s like, I don’t have an angle. I wanna tell a story about x. Right. And or at least that’s the way that we, or I try to think about it as a journalist, is I’m not trying to have the X outcome.
I’m gonna ask you [00:17:00] questions and see where it goes. Right,
Michelle Garrett: right.
Katie Suiters: But overall, just understanding that, that it’s typically not a contentious environment.
Michelle Garrett: Mm-hmm.
Katie Suiters: Unless you kind of know you’re signing up for that.
Michelle Garrett: Well, if you’re prepared to speak and think on your feet, this is another thing that I see that.
Bugs me is that sometimes, uh, I see reporters complaining because pr people want the list of questions. They’re gonna be the, the spokesperson is gonna be asked. Well, I mean, I have had reporters offer that without asking, but if they don’t offer, I wouldn’t ask. And I don’t think you can really expect that because you don’t know where the.
Uh, interview is gonna go, you don’t know. You know, maybe you’ll think of questions while you’re talking to the board, which would be really better anyway if it were more, um, authentic. But I just think people get nervous and they, they just have this immediate like idea that it’s gonna be this contentious situation, and that’s not.
True.
Katie Suiters: So it sets everyone up to [00:18:00] fail. It makes the spokesperson not perform their best. And then the journalist isn’t getting a great story either. Right? So there’s nobody wins in those situations.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah. And a lot of times too, um, and I work with, uh, clients in B2B manufacturing and things like that, and trade pubs will email questions and so.
I really prefer when we are able to get on the phone with them or on a, you know, a Zoom call or whatever. I just, and I feel like more journalists are moving in that direction too, to make sure they’re not getting AI generated answers, but. A
Katie Suiters: hundred percent.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah. I mean, if you’re, if you’re just sending answers into questions they sent you, I think you, you really need to try to be original and not just, you know, repeat the same things over.
That’s even harder to get across a sense of personality and originality in that scenario, but. Anyway,
Katie Suiters: it’s, I personally never sent questions in advance as a journalist, um, [00:19:00] but would say themes we’re gonna ask about X
Michelle Garrett: right,
Katie Suiters: about y, and enough to really hopefully give them enough to understand what the story was.
Essentially about, and then exactly your point, leaving room for breaking news or news of the day. Right. It never made sense. Es especially when I would interview members of Congress or, or those sort sorts of people, it would, you have to throw a question about, you know, news de jour. So yeah, it’s, it’s, but it really is all about that preparation piece.
And then you, no matter what you’re asked, you’re. Easy breezy.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah. You’re confident, you know, you can answer. That’s what I think is the most important. Um, one of the most important aspects of this is just getting them to feel like, okay, I can do this and I’m prepared, you know, and, and whatever they ask, I’m gonna be able, and it’s also, I mean, we’ll probably get into this, but it’s also fine to kind of, you know, take a breath or take a moment and kind of collect your thoughts.
You don’t need to just. ’cause I, I was, we were [00:20:00] talking before we went on, I used to work with startups and a lot of the founders are younger and less experienced perhaps in some situations. And they, I feel like there was just this tendency to just immediately, like, you know, they, they felt like they couldn’t take a pause.
You kind of had to help them understand it’s okay. Like, just like a person would answer a question in any situation, you’re not immediately gonna know what. You want to say, you kind of need to collect your thoughts for just a minute, then it doesn’t need to be, you know, a long time. But just taking that moment to even like, okay.
Katie Suiters: Particularly with tv, we see this because it moves so quickly.
Michelle Garrett: Mm-hmm.
Katie Suiters: People that they just have to get out really quickly and mm-hmm. And just super fast. And you actually do wanna do the opposite. You wanna take up space and time.
Michelle Garrett: Mm-hmm.
Katie Suiters: Taking a breath. A lot of times the less you say is actually better too.
Letting, letting whatever you say, breathe and [00:21:00] land and be absorbed by your audience.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah,
Katie Suiters: really slow
Michelle Garrett: talk too fast, talk too much. Those are other things. And I also talking over reporter or just not even taking a breath, a pause to let the reporter ask a question or clarify a point that you made. I work a, I’ve worked a lot with technology companies.
A lot of times there are terms that maybe there reporter isn’t as familiar with as the spokesperson that you know, of course that makes sense and, but they might need to ask a question to clarify what you said. So you need to take a breath. It’s just really. I mean, a lot of it is common sense, I feel like, and just being tuned in to the other person, it’s a conversation.
So yeah,
Katie Suiters: it’s, it’s, and I also remember a lot of times speaking of, of tech executives and other people that are used to, I know we’re all talk about jargon a little later, but
Michelle Garrett: Yep.
Katie Suiters: The, I would try as a softball warmup sometimes to just say, so tell me about your company or, so what do you do? Right? [00:22:00]
Michelle Garrett: Mm-hmm.
Katie Suiters: And. That would be a two to three minute word salad. And you gotta be able to succinctly,
Michelle Garrett: yeah. Say
Katie Suiters: in a sentence or two why you’re here, what you do, the impact you’re having, why do I care?
Michelle Garrett: Yeah.
Katie Suiters: The question to answer, but it’s those, those, even those really simple ones that you. You’ve gotta be able to nail those.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah, absolutely. So let’s, let’s do, talk about jargon. That’s really the next question. So why should spokespeople avoid using jargon when they speak?
Katie Suiters: Where do I start? Jargon. There are numerous studies. The jargon erodes trust. You think that you’re sounding smarter. The second your audience doesn’t understand.
A certain phrase that you say, mm-hmm. They’re, they’re tuned out. They, you’ve lost them. [00:23:00] So people also forget that not everyone lives in your industry. So, so if you are trying to target people in your industry, that’s a different conversation potentially. But if you wanna hit a more general audience, depending on who that audience is really thinking about, is there a simpler way that I can say this?
Michelle Garrett: Okay,
Katie Suiters: that nine a hundred times out of a hundred that will be more effective. It as a communication tool, the simpler you can say things, and I’ll never forget. I wanna tell a quick story. When I started as a producer, um, at NBC four here in DC I worked for a reporter named Liz Crenshaw, and she was very um, uh.
Like famous, right? And so I was very intimidated by her, and I wrote her a script and I had some bigger words in there, and that this is before ai, but she would, she asked me, well, what, what does this mean? And I couldn’t tell her exactly [00:24:00] what the words meant in a simple way. So that was my first lesson of like, oh, I, if I can’t say it super simply.
Michelle Garrett: Mm-hmm.
Katie Suiters: Put it on tv.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah.
Katie Suiters: So that applies to any company, any situation. You really have to say it as simple as possible. Even we would change necessary to, you don’t need to, it’s not necessary that that level of simplification, practicing getting that simple. It is such a more effective way of communicating.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah, because I would say even from, I, I have a pet peeve about this in written communications, and I run into this probably every day in some realm of my, you know, my life. I’m like. Do you think everybody knows what that means? And if I have to go look that up, you’ve lost me. You know, you’ve, you’ve lost the moment.
Like, people are not gonna, especially now, people are not gonna take time to look up what that acronym means. And often acronyms mean more than one thing a MA. That means, I mean, I don’t know, probably [00:25:00] 10 things. So you just can’t assume, uh, you know, at least spell it out on the first reference. That’s like AP style.
That’s just like, you know, so if we’re writing something, we’re. Definitely gonna be doing that. But I see this all the time and they just make this assumption that everybody knows what they’re talking about. And I’m like, you know, they really don’t. So
Katie Suiters: we leverage the synergy of our team to like, and, and I would ask that as a, you know, when you’re getting those sorts of jargon.
When you’re saying that to a reporter or a journalist, they may very well say, can you say that in a different way? Or, I’m not sure what that means. And they’re not afraid to look or sound stupid. So you have to be prepared then to, to dumb it down anyway, or to say it in a simpler way.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah,
Katie Suiters: you might as well just get it right the first time.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah. I, I just, I don’t know, I think it’s just a habit. People fall. I don’t think they mean [00:26:00] to, to do that, but, um, but yeah, I know I have to remind clients a lot and, um, if I’m writing something for them, I’m always gonna spell it out, even if it’s something that everybody just takes for granted. ’cause it’s, it’s, um, we don’t know who’s gonna be reading it.
And again, for search, I’d say, you know, if you’re doing. Communicating online, you want it to be, you want searched to be able to pull out, you know, and find the terminology. So I wouldn’t be assuming that, uh, the acronym is always the best. So
Katie Suiters: it’s a total peeve. It’s a total pet peeve. And we work with tech companies.
Startups, energy companies all the time on really simplifying that language to reach the audiences that they wanna hit. Right? It’s if they have investors, they’re not all in, in that space potentially. Right? So there are so many business objectives, um, that we work with all the time that it makes sense to be able to say it in plain English.
It it’s, and it’s, it’s just so funny. It is. It is that counterintuitive piece though, [00:27:00] right? You think you’re sounding smart. It’s being received in the opposite way.
Michelle Garrett: No, I don’t think a day goes by where I’m not reading an email or looking at a story online and I’m see, I see an acronym, but I’m just like.
What is this like? I mean, and then I feel bad like, first of all, I don’t know what it means and then I think, oh no, because I do what I do. I’m like Uhoh now their whole audience, you know, the people that we’re trying to reach are gonna be lost. ’cause no one is gonna take time to go and look up that term.
Katie Suiters: No, they’re not. Our attention spans are decreasing by the second, so
Michelle Garrett: yeah.
Katie Suiters: If you have someone’s attention, you wanna keep it. Don’t give them a reason to tune out or to look away.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah. And I know, um, hi Jen. So she says, uh, love this. So true. No jargon, everything in layman’s terms. I know she works with a lot of, I think, healthcare organizations and things, and that’s another industry where it’s just rampant.
So
Katie Suiters: It [00:28:00] is, it is, and it’s so different, again, depending on the audience who you’re talking to.
Michelle Garrett: Mm-hmm.
Katie Suiters: Just really wanna focus on making sure that you’re being as clear as possible with the people that you’re trying to reach.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah. And again, I don’t think like, again, spelling it out one time on the first reference that that should cover you.
You don’t need to do it every time, but there has to be something. And I, I see like, too, like with events, um, I think like, you know, if it’s a little like ad or something for an event, they maybe feel like they don’t have the room to spell it out. I’m like, oh no. Like I don’t know what this is.
Katie Suiters: Figure it out.
Right. Do it. If you can do it, if you can.
Michelle Garrett: I just wanna remind people we’re about halfway through. If you have questions for Katie about media training, um, please feel free to post those and we’ll do our best to get to those. Um, so the next question is, why might a monthly or quarterly prep session be a better process than just a one-time media training session, which I think is kind [00:29:00] of what we are used to Maybe.
Katie Suiters: I would say any training is better than no training. Right. You know, one time or no times, of course, one time. But I think of that ongoing prep the same way I would think about ongoing PR or any ongoing situation where it just means you’re ready for anything, right? So. A hit comes up, but an opportunity comes up or a crisis happens, or an announcement happens, and because you’ve been continuously practicing, you’re ready for anything.
You’re ready for that, that call from that journalist, you’re ready to. Nail that town hall because you have these skills that you continue to develop over time. So we do typically start with that, you know, three hour executive session where we lay the ground rules, we give them the best practices, some of those universal truths, start the skills building [00:30:00] process, do some mock opportunities, but that ongoing piece you can really tailor to.
What you know is coming, but then also you’re prepared for essentially anything.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah. Yeah. I love that idea because you, you know, every quarter they have something different that, you know, there might be, they might be speaking at a conference, they might be doing a, a town health or employees. They might be doing a media interview or two, or three or four, or, you know, they’re just, and sometimes they just get caught.
At an event or something. I’ve seen that happen too, where they just, you know, our reporters there and they’re, you know, they’re there and they’re just, you know, so then it ends up, we see a soundbite across social media, uh, that, you know, they probably didn’t necessarily, um, know they were gonna be, uh, you know, they didn’t think that was gonna happen.
So it’s,
Katie Suiters: and Michelle, I’m curious if you think about PR like this, but almost as insurance.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah, yeah, [00:31:00] absolutely. Because if you’re not prepared ahead of time and something happens, uh, you know you’re gonna regret it now. Now you hope that it doesn’t happen and it probably won’t happen maybe. But, um, but yeah, it’s, uh, what do they say?
Um, preparation is the best. I don’t. I can’t think of the quote right now, but, um, but yeah, I think it’s better to be prepared. And again, I just think it’s, you just feel better walking around in your shoes on your day as a CEO. Um, you know, you would just feel more. Comfortable, more confident, more ready to just, you know, face anything that comes your way.
’cause obviously you’re talking to people all the time, whether it’s public or not in meetings and, you know, so I just feel like it’s, you know, it can’t hurt anything. I mean, it definitely is gonna make you a better communicator. So,
Katie Suiters: and speaking of that time piece, so once we do lay the foundation. These can be 30, 15, or 30 minutes.
Yeah.
Michelle Garrett: Yep.
Katie Suiters: [00:32:00] These are not big time commitments and it’s all tailored to real opportunities. I’m to the, we’re not doing 60 minutes unless you are doing 60 minutes. Right. If it’s that conference panel, that’s exactly what we’re gonna practice.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah.
Katie Suiters: Really getting it true to true to life.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah,
Katie Suiters: what the, what we expect to, to come down.
Michelle Garrett: And I think sometimes just having it on their calendar because they might think they have good intentions. Oh, I’m gonna do some prep for this. I’m gonna, you know, do some research and prep. But I think just making sure, like making it a priority by putting it on your calendar and setting aside that time with your trainer or your, you know, your.
Your PR council or whoever it is, that just makes it more intentional and you’re more apt to honor that than just saying, oh yeah, I meant to do this, and then it’s 15 minutes ahead of the thing and you’re like, oh, no, like
Katie Suiters: Right. Practice really is the, the best way, the best way [00:33:00] to get better is to just to continue to practice.
Yeah. If, if they will tolerate the recorded feedback piece, and I know we’ll talk about delivering feedback, which I, yeah. I am happy to, to give people some tips around as well, the best way to deliver feedback to your C-Suite. Anything you can get in that realm is gonna set everybody’s up for success.
Michelle Garrett: They have to have respect, I think for, for you, for the process, for what the goal is. And, um, that is just makes a huge difference always, again, across anything that we’re doing in PR or comms. I think it makes just a big difference if they’re executives. Respect and understand, you know, what the stakes are.
Because again, we could pull out, you know, we could send them a list of, uh, CEOs from big companies or C-suite execs make, putting their foot in their mouth. So, um, you don’t wanna be, you know, you don’t wanna be that guy. Um, what if, what if [00:34:00] an executive says, I don’t need BD training. I, I’ve done this for years.
I’m good enough. I, no thanks.
Katie Suiters: We get this all the time, and these are some of my favorite executives to work with because it’s, I, I’ve never left a training with someone not saying, oh, wow, I totally see the value of what I just did. But typically if someone says, I don’t need this, sometimes they end up being the ones that need it the most.
Right. So maybe because no one’s been super honest with them about where their current verbal communication skills are or mm-hmm. How effective they are as a communicator, that could be part of it, but sometimes in, and that’s where it’s so nice. What we do on my end, because it’s not cookie cutter, because it’s not this formula, right?
Oh, you don’t need training. All right, let’s sit down. I’m gonna set up my [00:35:00] camera and my lights and put a loud mic on you and let’s go. Right. So depending on what we’re walking into, we can customize it for the person, the exec, of course, that that tactic wouldn’t work for everyone and we wouldn’t wanna scare most people.
But if there is that chip on that shoulder, we can, we can bring it down pretty quickly. Um,
Michelle Garrett: scare,
Katie Suiters: I mean, a little healthy scare might, might not be the worst thing sometimes, but I do think that. Everyone can get better with this work. This is sometimes we also, um, come in and call it professional development or
Michelle Garrett: mm-hmm.
Katie Suiters: Prep for an event, or we’ll even do cohort trainings where, okay. VP and above, everybody’s getting the exact same training and is expected to, to complete it so that you’re not singling anybody out, and so that you’re on the same page about messaging or. Whatever the opportunity is.
Michelle Garrett: Mm-hmm.
Katie Suiters: So there’s [00:36:00] a lot of different ways to approach it, but it’s work that’s, that benefits everyone.
And again, I’ve never had a training where someone didn’t improve it and on the other side say, I get it.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah. And we were talking before too about, you know, I think some people are just naturally good at public speaking and others are very. You know, maybe they’re shy, they’re introverts, they’re, you know, and so it’s tough.
Like, I mean, it’s, it’s not that we don’t empathize, but also again, this is just something that is really good practice for them and it’s gonna benefit them pretty much throughout everything that they do day to day.
Katie Suiters: And in those cases, I totally get it. If you are more introverted, I’m not trying to make, I wouldn’t come in there trying to make you an extrovert or try to make you someone you’re not.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah. I think
Katie Suiters: showing, okay, but look at all these strengths that you have, and you do have this presence when you come on camera, or I really like the way you did [00:37:00] this. And having them lean into those strengths that maybe they don’t even see for themselves. Right? So how can we tailor it and customize it to bring out your best.
Again, versus that cookie cutter, you have to perform this robotics certain way and have these talking points perfectly memorized. Right? The AI robots. Nobody wants that right now. No.
Michelle Garrett: No. It’s more important than ever to lean into your humanity. And that’s what people want, you know, they don’t want the robot, the polished, the perfect, the, you know, um, so I, because I feel like this is, um, the natural next question.
So, so when you’re giving them feedback, I liked what you were just saying there about how you kind of, uh, accentuate the positives and try to emphasize what they did. Right. Um, maybe just talk about this a little [00:38:00] bit.
Katie Suiters: Yes. There are a lot of specific ways to give really good feedback, and I do think. As a communicator, as someone on the communications team, this is such a great way to build trust and to build credibility with your C-Suite if you can do this right and effectively, the first thing I always think about when giving feedback is throwing it to them first.
How do you think you did? So if there was a stumble or there was a a lot of ums. They wanna call themselves on, on it. Great. You don’t have to be the bad guy there.
Michelle Garrett: Mm-hmm.
Katie Suiters: Let them pontificate a little bit on how they did before you jump in with your feedback. Let that planned, let that sit. Then you wanna start with something positive, something great that you want them to continue doing.
And then [00:39:00] anything, any other constructive feedback that you’re giving. Mm-hmm. Make sure that it’s something that can be applied to the next time they have an opportunity. So if they had something in their teeth, we’re not talking about that, that’s not helpful. Moving forward, we wanna talk about ways to get better for the next interview.
So they jump right into the answer to the question. They don’t pause and breathe. We can talk about that He, and really phrasing it all is here’s what’s landed, here’s what you know, we can sharpen for next time. But this is also really where, you know, your executive, it is so important to be really hyper aware of dynamics.
Of course, you never wanna do this in front of anyone else in an elevator, anything like that. Unless you’re doing some a media tour and you really need to give. Feedback quickly in that moment to prevent, [00:40:00]
Michelle Garrett: mm-hmm. Happening,
Katie Suiters: right? There’s different scenarios, but overall just being very mindful and then, but typically some sort of constructive feedback helps also build trust and credibility that you are helping them get better if you can deliver it in an effective way to them.
But start with them, throw it to them first. Start with a positive. Piece of feedback and then go into, here’s what we might wanna work on this time. Next time.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah. What’s, can you give us, uh, maybe tell us a story about like a really challenging
Katie Suiters: piece of feedback executive, um, I’m. Eye contact tends to be challenging sometimes with founders that are very in, in the tech space or the energy space, or the health space.
So, and we say about 80% eye [00:41:00] contact is what we’re shooting for. We don’t want you, you know, staring into someone’s eyes the whole time. Yeah. But we also want it to be, so we talk about, okay, your eyes are darting all over the place in this interview. Let’s focus on if, because if you really wanna nail a soundbite, effectively a tactic can be slowing down at the end of a sentence and then looking up and making eye contact.
Okay, let’s try that. But there’s, I’m like, delivery. I’m, I’m just thinking through recent examples. It, it’s a, it, it’s a dance. It’s a dance. And you really have to know. Some executives really want you to shoot it to them straight. Some.
Michelle Garrett: Mm-hmm.
Katie Suiters: Aren’t, you know, it’s, it’s vulnerable work too.
Michelle Garrett: Ego. There’s the egos involved sometimes too.
Especially if you’re doing it in a group, I would say. Do you usually, I mean, do you do both where you do one-on-one in [00:42:00] groups or,
Katie Suiters: we typically only work, so we have our, the two main ways that we work are that. Signature one-on-one session with an executive. And then if we’re doing a group, we’ll typically do best practices as a group altogether and then one-on-one for Okay.
Rock opportunities. It is, I’ve done group feedback. It is hard to be really direct when they’re with their peers. Yeah. And when there’s different dynamics at play, so, and it’s also hard for them to open up, talk about, Hey, I used to stutter as a kid, so I’m really self-conscious about this. Okay. We can work through that in a one-on-one session versus in a group.
Mm-hmm. MA big proponent of that one-on-one training whenever possible.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah. That’s good. Yeah, because I do think, again, you know, it, it’s human nature and then this, the, the egos at that [00:43:00] C-suite level that sometimes it’s great when you have execs that are, you know, self, self-aware and they don’t let their ego get in the way.
But we know that that’s not always the case.
Katie Suiters: Yeah. And yeah. Yeah, it is. It is such vulnerable work. It really, and get better quickly. You’re going to make so much more progress. Working one-on-one with someone versus a group setting, in my opinion.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah. Yeah. So, um, why is getting comfortable when speaking to any group, whatever, whoever it may be, why is that a bad idea?
Katie Suiters: I want, so there’s a couple things here. Getting com too comfortable. You wanna assume everything is always on the record.
Michelle Garrett: Yes,
Katie Suiters: I talked about that example of a, an all staff that was leaked to the press. [00:44:00] So if you assume what you’re saying behind closed doors isn’t getting screenshotted by your employees and put on slack or sent over text.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah.
Katie Suiters: Right now with the way technology is, you just assume everything’s on the record. So that comfortability piece. I don’t want you to not be comfortable, but I want you to be very aware that anything that you say could get leaked, could get published, could get shared somewhere that you maybe didn’t intend for it to be.
It’s something we’re seeing all the time with our clients and, and that, and really blurring that line of truly internal versus external communications. When you have those moments of those leaks, when you have those moments of. Things getting broadcast that they weren’t expecting to be in an article.
Right. Or they weren’t ready to share. If you’re not ready for it to be published, [00:45:00] really think about how you wanna communicate it to your employees. Yeah,
Michelle Garrett: I thought about that. I just now thought about that example. I think it was Wendy’s when the executives shared some numbers on a call, like a, an investor call, and then that became public and he got him in a lot of trouble.
Katie Suiters: You can’t really walk it back either. Once it’s out, right. It’s. It’s a, you’re, it’s just a challenge. Yeah,
Michelle Garrett: yeah. Yeah. And it, and again, it would put people, um, it would make you anxious, uh, if you, you know, I like, I, I do empathize with why they are
Katie Suiters: Sure.
Michelle Garrett: Nervous about. Speaking at all. Like it makes sense. But then again, um, it, there’s, there’s, I don’t know, it’s common sense, but then I also feel like you just get nervous sometimes and you’re just like, and you get in a hurry.
Like just what we talked about. And the, the more you practice these, these, um, you know, follow this advice, the better, you know, [00:46:00] you’ll, you’ll get more comfortable. Um, but, but not too comfortable.
Katie Suiters: And getting back to that intention setting exercise too. If you are talking to your employees as the audience, you know, I think about too with, okay, who are you trying to reach?
Even if you’re talking to a journalist, okay, what’s the audience beyond that? That’s a great vessel, right? But if it is your, your employees, what are you trying to accomplish with this all staff? Is it, is it getting buy-in for this, you know, new announcement? Whatever it is, you can apply it. Those principles in the exact same way and set yourself up for success there.
Mm-hmm.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah. Yeah. Um, I just feel like sometimes people come across as really approachable and again, really authentic. And then other times they just, they just freeze up. Um, and, and I, you know, it makes sense ’cause I am a little bit of an introvert myself and it’s [00:47:00] not, you know, like I understand what they’re, um, you know, how they could feel that way.
But again, it’s good if they can kind of embrace it and, and just practice and, and do more kind of embrace the opportunities. So.
Katie Suiters: When we talk about practicing anticipating difficult questions, we define difficult questions as any question that you personally don’t wanna be asked. So it’s individual, right?
It’s, we could have totally different questions that, oh man, I just really hope they don’t ask me this. Well, then we gotta practice that. Right, right. That’s the ones we definitely need to make sure we nail.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah.
Katie Suiters: So that you don’t freeze. Yeah. So that you don’t feel like you’re clam up, clammed up because whatever comes your way, you, you can handle.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah. And I, a few months ago I talked with, um, somebody about how to bridge and do, you know, redirect. And there are, we’re [00:48:00] not talking about. Specific strategies today, but that is something that you can also, um, work on those techniques to kind of, if that question comes up about a competitor or just something that you don’t want to answer, how do you bring it back to, um, what you do wanna convey?
Um, so,
Katie Suiters: and there are ways. Yeah, there are ways to do that without sounding like a politician too, you can acknowledge, you have to acknowledge the question that you were asked, right? You can’t just go into your, your bridge moment. But absolutely, there’s a a million techniques for, for situations like that to make executives feel more prepared.
Michelle Garrett: You mentioned no comment earlier, and I, I had a client not too long ago that wanted to, to use that if they got asked a specific question and I was like, we don’t really wanna say no comment. We can, we could probably say, you could probably say, um, you know, um, I, I can’t speak to that, but here’s what I can speak to.
And then, you know, go back to your, um, you know, your, your points that you wanted to [00:49:00] make. But, but yeah, just the no comment just kind of shuts down. It’s, it’s not, um. It’s very, it feels very theatrical to me.
Katie Suiters: It’s very one shady. Shady is the one that comes to mind for me. And it invites more questions than you think.
You’re shutting it down. You’re really
Michelle Garrett: mm-hmm. No,
Katie Suiters: and there’s too, too many tools. Now you just mentioned, you know, a great bridging phrase. What, you know, what we’re focused on today is x. I can’t speak to that right now, but, you know, and, and if it’s taped, maybe your comms person can come back to this question or
Michelle Garrett: mm-hmm.
Katie Suiters: In some way, but completely shutting it down and then clamming up, conveys nerves, conveys uneasiness, all the things that you probably don’t want to convey to that journalist.
Michelle Garrett: No, don’t do it.
Katie Suiters: Don’t do it.
Michelle Garrett: Don’t do it. [00:50:00]
Katie Suiters: Totally.
Michelle Garrett: So, um, I, you know, I really am tired of talking about,
Katie Suiters: I know
Michelle Garrett: ai, but I’m gonna ask how is AI changing the media training landscape escape?
Katie Suiters: What I have noticed, particularly in the last few months, is that. A lot of the comms leaders that I work with at companies are, have these beautiful messaging documents, these beautiful, you know, AI helps write these great talking points, and then their CEO gets up. Maybe the delivery isn’t matching this beautiful language that was developed.
So we’re noticing a need to really marry the two better, but there’s that gap that can happen between that verbal communication and this and this, this written language that is great, but [00:51:00] not, maybe not the CEO’s voice, maybe they’re just not comfortable with the content, whatever it is. Um. I completely agree with AI as a, as a concept, being tired of talking about it, but I do think the human premium here is something that I’ve noticed more companies investing in.
I think moving forward people want real, real and human and honesty and, and integrity, and they don’t want these robotic. You can get the robotic, you can get the right. Yeah. So how are you showing up?
Michelle Garrett: Yeah.
Katie Suiters: And delivering your message in a authentic or credible or trustworthy way.
Michelle Garrett: Mm-hmm.
Katie Suiters: That’s human.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah.
Yeah, it’s just not interesting.
Katie Suiters: No.
Michelle Garrett: You know, it’s not different. You sound like everybody else. That’s the, uh, to me that’s one of the biggest, uh, you know, there are, you could make a lot of arguments against why, [00:52:00] you know, about why AI generated, uh, talking points aren’t great. But I mean, I feel like you need to always be bringing out the humanity, telling the story.
You need to be explaining why you’re different, how you’re different, why it matters. These are the things that you should be focused on and not necessarily just. Reading down a list of AI generated talking points. I don’t, I don’t find that that anybody, the reporter, the audience, I mean, nobody’s gonna be interested in it.
So what are you again, what are you achieving? And um, I also see, and I think I mentioned this a little bit ago, that reporters are going, moving away from allowing. Respondents to submit answers via email because of ai. And of course a lot of them check for ai. They can detect AI either. I mean, I think it doesn’t even, you don’t even really need a tool to detect it.
Like you could just tell, uh, and, and so you just, you don’t wanna be that, that spokesperson. So no,
Katie Suiters: you don’t. And, and. [00:53:00] Again, these are all skills. Verbal communication is a skill. These are all skills that you can learn and develop over time, so there isn’t. This isn’t something that you’re born with or you don’t have.
You can get better at this type of work, just like you can get better, become a better writer, right? Become a better verbal communicator. So these are just skills that you can build on. You know, if this is something that you want to get better at, you absolutely can get better.
Michelle Garrett: Um, we have just a couple minutes left. If anyone has a question. This last chance, I’m gonna ask you one more question and then I’m gonna let you just tell us anything else that we missed. So, if you were, um, going to do some training, when is it a good idea to hire a trainer versus handling it yourself in-house?
Katie Suiters: Uh, so this is where comms leaders know, know their leaders best. [00:54:00] We typically come in and deliver the honest feedback. Sometimes there can be a power dynamic or just otherwise uncomfortability being really honest and direct if you need an an expert. We come in and we bring that honest perspective and lens to really make the the executive better.
Uh, we’re brought in for a lot of different reasons though. Um, to prep, prep for specific events, right? Like, we’ve got so much coming up. Let’s get like a schedule and let’s prep for all of these events. A lot of times leadership changes were brought in. But really I like to think of us when we come in as an extension of the comms team or somehow, you know, our, I wanna make the comms people look great.
That’s part of my job is really to make communication, um, show the value in that work. So. Again, it, yeah, it really [00:55:00] depends on the, the person, the situation. But it can be really nice and helpful to have that third party that comes in.
Michelle Garrett: Mm-hmm.
Katie Suiters: We’re gonna be really honest with you. Yeah. We’re gonna leave, oh, they said this right?
We have takeaways and leave behinds and Yeah. Uh, really specific feedback that we can give too, um, to help them work on over time. Yeah,
Michelle Garrett: it’s almost like good cop, bad cop. I’m like, okay.
Katie Suiters: Exactly
Michelle Garrett: holding it against me, but you
Katie Suiters: Right. And I can be the bad cop, right? I can. I can be whatever you need. Yes, totally.
Yes,
Michelle Garrett: that’s right. Because I just feel like an outside resource is gonna be able to maybe be a little bit more direct and honest than maybe the internal team who is more likely to, I mean, you know, let’s be honest. Like sometimes we just kind of, you know, we know that, you know, that’s. That’s the boss, right?
So we, we kind of have to keep that [00:56:00] in mind all the time. Um, and some execs, again, are very approachable and self-aware, and others maybe not so much. So it might be beneficial to have somebody outside the, the team come in and handle some of that, because there might be pushback or there might be egos or the, you know, so I feel like that’s, um, that makes a lot of sense.
Katie Suiters: Yeah, it’s happy to be that that third party outsider that comes in and makes people better and then, and then let’s you continue to do your job right. Ty? Most comms people are great at messaging. Great at, um. Press releases and, and outreach and all these other things. Right. So let then the expert come in on the verbal communication side and help with that piece of it.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah, we’re not all professional media trainers.
Oh dear. Well, is there, what else do you wanna tell us? We have a, just a minute or two left here, if there’s anything else. Did we miss anything? Is there anything else?
Katie Suiters: I have love. [00:57:00] I have loved this conversation. I want to reiterate that media training, in my opinion, should not. Cookie cutter in 2026 should not be the same.
Should not be memorizing talking points or a clicker counting ums or the scripted experience.
Michelle Garrett: Yeah,
Katie Suiters: and really I, that’s why I love this work is because. It, we get to work with individuals and really get into that, how to make them their best. Um, so it’s, it’s just such fun, rewarding work and again, playing producer, getting to still have that part of my job from my journalism background.
Um, but I just think bringing more realness to this space is what’s really important to me. And seeing this media training as a whole as. An opportunity to just be a really compelling, effective spokesperson. That’s what it, how I would define [00:58:00] it.
Michelle Garrett: Mm-hmm.
Katie Suiters: Versus trying to fit somebody into a box
Michelle Garrett: I, you are just, I think that it’s comes through how much you care about what you do and how much you love what you do, and I think that that is always.
The kind of person that you want to, uh, follow for advice and hopefully, you know, hire when they need help. So, yeah, I really appreciate you being here today and I thought this was a great conversation. So thank you so much, Katie.
Katie Suiters: Thank you, Michelle. This was so much fun. Great meeting you after following you for so long on LinkedIn and really admire the work that you do as well.
So, loved it, loved, loved chatting. Could do it for another hour, but really you,
Michelle Garrett: well, there’s probably a lot more, many more pieces of advice we could offer, but, uh, but yeah, no, let’s, we’ll, we’ll wrap it up there. Um, I’ll be back. I think on the 23rd with another episode, we’ll be talking about crisis communications on that episode.
So maybe we’ll talk about spokespeople putting their foot in their mouth again. We’ll, we’ll see. [00:59:00] But I wanna thank you so much Katie, and thanks for everyone who tuned in and uh, we will see you again soon.
Katie Suiters: Thank you.
Michelle Garrett: Bye.
About the host: Michelle Garrett is a B2B PR consultant, media relations consultant, writer and author of B2B PR That Gets Results, an Amazon Best Seller. She helps companies create content, earn media coverage, and position themselves as thought leaders in their industry. Michelle’s articles have been featured by Entrepreneur, Content Marketing Institute, Muck Rack, and Ragan’s PR Daily, among others. She’s a frequent speaker on public relations and content. Michelle has been repeatedly ranked among the top ten most influential PR professionals.
Learn more about Michelle’s freelance PR consulting services here. Book a no-obligation call to talk about your needs here. Buy Michelle’s book here.
