Scott Hamilton Media
Media Training | Communication Skills | Crisis Communications | Presentation, Podcast and Panel Training
Experience
For more than two decades Scott Hamilton Media has provided media training, consultancy, advice and guidance to companies, government and the third sector. Following a successful journalism career, Scott has developed extensive experience as a board level communications specialist. He helps create strong, confident spokespeople and communicators, develops narratives and manages issues. Scott has media trained thousands of spokespeople at all levels, developing long-term relationships with leaders and comms teams. He has become integral to how many client organisations tell their stories.
Client base
Scott Hamilton Media trains and advises at board level, runs sessions for volunteers and students, works with academics on communicating their science and charities on making their voice heard. Our experience covers most business sectors, as well as medical, research, the NHS, military and policing, representative bodies and universities.
Key clients include household names in grocery and retail, automotive, telecoms, energy, professional services, transport and tech, the environment and ecology. We work in medicine for globally recognized research bodies, innovative start-ups, NHS trusts and royal colleges. In climate and the environment we work with government and arms-length bodies, conservation experts, energy providers and utilities. We also work with a range of specialized young people’s and women’s charities.
Because of the sensitivity of some of our clients’ subject matter, and the confidential nature of much of our work, we don’t talk about individual clients here. Get in touch to find out who we work with in your sector and what Scott Hamilton Media can do for you.
Our Locations
We provide media training and communications consultancy both online and face to face to fit the requirement and the circumstance. Face to face provides the quality, immediacy and the personal interaction that gives the best experience. Online provides the convenience that sometimes busy organisations need at short notice. Or the better option for a quick refresher for an experienced operator. A typical Scott Hamilton Media training session will be delivered at a client’s own location, with portable camera kit. We also operate in state-of-the-art broadcast studios in London and Manchester, where we train chief executives and seasoned spokespeople. We’ve travelled across the UK and have delivered sessions in Ireland, France, Africa and the Middle East.
We also deliver crisis comms and major incident exercises and table tops at HQs and regional sites across the UK.
What we do
Media training services
Our services create confident operators across a whole range of communication situations. The modern multi-media world demands short burst down the line live feeds into studios, face-to-face on locations or long form studio interviews. The Scott Hamilton Media approach always starts with media training that creates, skilled, focused, confident spokespeople. We equip them with the tools to deliver in the spotlight, optimising the opportunity and minimising the risk.
Podcast, panel and presentation training
Our intensive sessions can be tailored to train for one or any combination of the communication opportunities our new landscape offers. They all require their own variations in skills and approach. But the best podcast, panel and presentation appearances are about grasping the moment to tell your story. And to be authentic and human, and deliver messages that resonate with your audience.
Exercising your crisis response plans
The best plans are the ones that have been tested, drilled, and sense checked. Scott Hamilton Media create exercises that rigorously test your plans. We bring the story to life with real scenarios, simulating media and public responses to the issues you worry about. And we test your processes while giving your team experience with challenges they can carry into the real world. If you haven’t got fully formed crisis plans (or any at all) we can design and run a workshop that will help you start to formulate one.
Crisis communications support
Crisis comms support can be about about two distinct services. Firstly, applying expertise and insights while the skies are clear and calm to put strong plans and processes in place. And secondly, when the storm breaks, it can be about having someone with the composure, calm, insights and experience to manage the message and defend your reputation. Scott Hamilton Media have the expertise to talk you through what you need before bad things happen, and the insights and savvy to take charge if they already have.
Key message development
Key messages are what get your audience’s attention and make them want to hear more. Your messages are also the phrases that turn into soundbites and create ‘reach’. ‘Reach’ is about a single interview appearance generating clipped answers that travel across news and social media channels and around the world. Your messages should be repeating and resonating long after your spokesperson has left the studio. At Scott Hamilton Media we specialise in tone, pitch and finding the right level of language. We balance the complexity and nuance of your subject matter with the phrasing that will cut through to your audience and keep them engaged. Contact us to talk more about a tailored key message workshop for your campaign, launch or project.
Internal comms and transformation programmes
It’s a sad truth that too many organisations fail to communicate with their own teams, their employees and volunteers, even while engaging enthusiastically with the broader public. Your staff are your biggest asset and your best brand ambassadors. Your colleagues need to hear the right words too, the empathy, the authenticity, the decency and the care. They can’t be assumed. We help organisations communicate with their own people, especially in difficult times. We train executives to have tough conversations, communicating change with empathy and clarity. We’re currently engaged with key global corporate brands and a number of UK universities to help them in communicating challenging situations as they develop. Talk to us about how we could help you.
Interview preparation
A direct development of our media training sessions, our Interview Prep sessions bring a tailored approach to the individual interview your spokesperson will face. We build the confidence, develop the right key messages and rehearse and internalise the approach for specific interviews. This means adapting language and style for different news outlets, and adopting the right approach to nail live or pre-recorded, studio or down-the-line, chatty or challenging interviews. Give us a call or fill out the Scott Hamilton Media contact form to discuss your options.
