Face the Press
My first reaction was “wow”. This changed to “oh gosh” afterwards. And it was just a practice session. I am referring to the Press conference our team observed today.
Earlier in this month, we were introduced to the Press Conference sessions as part of Presentation & Communication Skills (PCS) course. This is a feature that possibly makes Cranfield distinct from many other schools of management. In this exercise, each team has to face a situation of crisis. The team has to become the board of a company that is facing a crisis – it could be an explosion in the factory with some casualties, issues of ethics for an investment bank or a tour operator board whose tourists are held captive by militants. The situation could be any possible kind we could imagine. In the session, our lecturer Steve Carver showed us a few video clips of similar sessions in the past. He also made a passing reference of the “kill rate” of the journalists as over 90%.
The task – face the press!
The philosophy behind this exercise is that once we restart our careers post Cranfield MBA, we will come across situations where we will have to encounter crisis and face the press / media. This is an area, where generally no one gets formally trained on. Hence, MBA is the best opportunity to experience such a situation and pick up lessons of a lifetime.
There are two parts to this assessment. The first part requires each team to observe another team while the latter are grilled by the journalists. Then we have to write up coverage of this press conference in two distinct kinds – a tabloid and a broadsheet newspaper. However, the coverage’s have to be contrasting to each other. In the second part, we are assessed on how we manage the press conference. This practice session is for the first part. We face the real onslaught of journalists in March.
Today we had to observe another team. The case involved a tour operating company facing a press conference because one their pack of tourists had been held hostages by militants. We as observers had no clue of the context and situation. Some of the journalists are actually journalists by profession. To add oil in fire, Steve Carver also joined in as the fourth journalist to add their firepower. A six member team facing a panel of four journalists! Wow!
The press conference lasted just under fifteen minutes as we watched with dried mouths. Charlie (Britain), Gautam (India), Carlos (Brazil), Tim (Britain), Himanshu (India) and Antonia (Britain) faced the bombardment of questions with courage from the fire spitting journalists. For even fleeting seconds, I never felt it to be a practice session. It was as good (or bad) as real. The classy journalists were picking up every word the board said; twisting it exactly the way we see on television. From being called mercenaries to getting personal on their backgrounds, the journalists left nothing un-stoned. After all, for them it is a story and their profession. They even gave a twist to the press conference when one journalist suddenly went away and brought back the news of all tourists as “dead”. This was completely unbelievable.
After the session, they journalists gave a quick feedback to the “victims” – sharing what they did right and where they need to improve. Even a grin is enough for the journalists to capture as part of the headlines.
As we walked out of the TV studio, I could hear myself speaking “oh gosh!”
Earlier in this month, we were introduced to the Press Conference sessions as part of Presentation & Communication Skills (PCS) course. This is a feature that possibly makes Cranfield distinct from many other schools of management. In this exercise, each team has to face a situation of crisis. The team has to become the board of a company that is facing a crisis – it could be an explosion in the factory with some casualties, issues of ethics for an investment bank or a tour operator board whose tourists are held captive by militants. The situation could be any possible kind we could imagine. In the session, our lecturer Steve Carver showed us a few video clips of similar sessions in the past. He also made a passing reference of the “kill rate” of the journalists as over 90%.
The task – face the press!
The philosophy behind this exercise is that once we restart our careers post Cranfield MBA, we will come across situations where we will have to encounter crisis and face the press / media. This is an area, where generally no one gets formally trained on. Hence, MBA is the best opportunity to experience such a situation and pick up lessons of a lifetime.
There are two parts to this assessment. The first part requires each team to observe another team while the latter are grilled by the journalists. Then we have to write up coverage of this press conference in two distinct kinds – a tabloid and a broadsheet newspaper. However, the coverage’s have to be contrasting to each other. In the second part, we are assessed on how we manage the press conference. This practice session is for the first part. We face the real onslaught of journalists in March.
Today we had to observe another team. The case involved a tour operating company facing a press conference because one their pack of tourists had been held hostages by militants. We as observers had no clue of the context and situation. Some of the journalists are actually journalists by profession. To add oil in fire, Steve Carver also joined in as the fourth journalist to add their firepower. A six member team facing a panel of four journalists! Wow!
The press conference lasted just under fifteen minutes as we watched with dried mouths. Charlie (Britain), Gautam (India), Carlos (Brazil), Tim (Britain), Himanshu (India) and Antonia (Britain) faced the bombardment of questions with courage from the fire spitting journalists. For even fleeting seconds, I never felt it to be a practice session. It was as good (or bad) as real. The classy journalists were picking up every word the board said; twisting it exactly the way we see on television. From being called mercenaries to getting personal on their backgrounds, the journalists left nothing un-stoned. After all, for them it is a story and their profession. They even gave a twist to the press conference when one journalist suddenly went away and brought back the news of all tourists as “dead”. This was completely unbelievable.
After the session, they journalists gave a quick feedback to the “victims” – sharing what they did right and where they need to improve. Even a grin is enough for the journalists to capture as part of the headlines.
As we walked out of the TV studio, I could hear myself speaking “oh gosh!”
posted by Sandeep Gupta at
8:21 pm
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