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Your spokespeople will face awkward and uncomfortable questions in their media interviews. Even those who have done their preparation and had recent media training can find themselves facing questions they don’t want to answer, or that are unexpected.

The World Cup later this year will put Qatar under the most intense of spotlights. Hundreds of thousands of football fans will travel to the Gulf state. Millions more will watch it from home on television.

Many politicians have faced questions about the price of milk and bread. It is an entirely predictable line of questioning. But it is also one many spokespeople have stumbled over.

The relationship between PRs and journalists has often been a bit strained. Journalists have often complained about being spammed by emails and inundated with calls.

The Bank of England Governor is having a month to forget. Andrew Bailey produced a PR clanger at the start of February by telling workers to moderate their pay demands despite spiralling prices - the wealthy telling others not to ask for more rarely works out well.

Social media can be a tricky place for corporate accounts to navigate. How do you stand out in such as crowded arena? The answer for some, such as Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream and Nike, is to try and raise awareness of social issues.

It hasn’t felt like there have been many good news stories lately. But the decision by the chief executive of the Co-op to take time out to help her children with their exams has won the company plenty of praise.

Should you try to change the way you talk for a media interview? Perhaps you have a regional accent, or you tend to drop your Gs. Would that annoy the audience when you are in front of a microphone or TV camera? Maybe you just have a perception of what sounds ‘right’.

Did you know the average radio interview is about two and a half minutes long? That’s not much time to get what you want to say across or to ensure it stands out from everything else that is being covered.

Many brands are grappling with sustainability and purpose. They are topics that regularly come up in conversation with our clients who are increasingly wanting help telling sustainability stories.

Have you played Wordle yet? If you haven’t, you’ve probably noticed some of your friends posting cryptic grids of different coloured squares on social media and either lamenting or boasting about their vocabulary skills.

Did you know most BlackBerry phones will stop working this week? The once ‘must-have’ gadget was not that long ago being touted by the rich and famous and was the device of the working professional – boasting 20 per cent of the smartphone market at its peak.

We’ve already brought you our guide through the worst interviews of the year. But what about those that went well? And the people who have proved to be excellent communicators over the past 12 months?

It is the most wonderful time of the year. No, not Christmas. Our look back at the interviews of the past year that have stuck in the memory for all the wrong reasons.

Get your earphones ready – we have launched a podcast. The Media Landscape, presented by Julia Belle, combines a guide to the stories you need to know about with predictions and insight on those likely to be coming up on the news agenda.

MI6 bosses tend to avoid the spotlight. So, when Richard Moore – known as ‘C’ – gave his first live broadcast interview, we knew it was one we could not miss.

Let’s say your business was closing some of its offices or shops, shutting down a service or discontinuing a product? How would you communicate the bad news?

What do two statements made almost 50 years apart have in common? The answer is they both serve as painful reminders of the danger of negative language.

A local council meeting may seem like an unlikely source of a story that has captured the attention of the nation’s media. But then, not many council meetings discuss something so stomach-churningly bizarre.

Feedback was a crucial feature of our latest webinar. If you watched it, you will have heard us argue it should be a part of the media briefing process, enabling spokespeople to develop and improve their skills.

Everyone in our team is talking about Squid Game. And we are not alone. The Korean drama seems to have quickly taken the world by storm.

It has been a time of both celebration and controversy for followers of football in Newcastle. The Saudi Arabian-backed £305m takeover of Newcastle United has been met with scenes of fan jubilation outside the stadium.

When the Government announced its plans to give 30 million people a covid booster jab to prevent another wave of the virus, we didn’t expect to hear a comparison to a wet and windy night on the side of the mountain. But that is exactly what we got.

Trade publications may not have the glamour of mainstream newspapers or appearing on TV or radio. In fact, some publications like Potato Storage International, Drain Trader and Poultry World have been the subject of jokes on Have I Got News For You.

There’s often much to be learnt from the way others perform in media interviews. Highlighting both the good and the not so good performances can help others prepare for their time in the spotlight and understand what to expect.

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson's A-level memory lapse offers critical media training lessons on personal storytelling, preparation, and responding to questions effectively. Learn how to avoid similar pitfalls.

It’s that time of year where much of the news coverage is filled by exam results. Students across the country have been receiving their A-level, GCSE and BTEC grades. TV screens, radio airwaves and newspapers have been full of students and teachers reacting to the results.

If you’ve been on one of our media training courses before, you’ll know journalists love to speculate about the future.

We’ve got a webinar coming up soon about the science behind making messages memorable – you may have received one or two emails about it… Having listened to our expert panellists discuss some of the topics they will cover during the event, I know it is going to be one you won’t want to miss.

Imagine being a new start-up and almost immediately finding yourself trending on social media. Not only that, but you generate coverage in the Financial Times and Daily Mail. Sounds great, right?