A senior municipal leader in Alberta did not sleep the night before a scheduled television interview. When the segment fell through, the relief was obvious. The interview would have gone fine. He knew the file and had good instincts. None of that mattered at 2 a.m.
We hear versions of this story from municipalities across the province. It usually has little to do with competence. The anxiety sits in the space between knowing your file and knowing how to perform in front of a camera.
The Training Gap
New councils in Alberta go through orientation, where they learn about governance and codes of conduct. Media training is not typically part of that process. Some municipalities invest in formal media preparation on their own, and we have been brought in to facilitate those sessions. Many do not, and the gap shows up when it matters most.
Elected officials are expected to represent their municipality publicly from day one. They face cameras and reporters in settings they did not choose, on timelines they do not control. Some municipalities build a good working relationship with a local reporter who sends questions in advance. That is a gift when it happens. Most media encounters come with far less warning.
The gap becomes obvious when the stakes rise suddenly: a provincial policy announced on a Friday afternoon, or an issue that puts the municipality in the provincial spotlight overnight. These situations come with a camera crew in the lobby and a deadline measured in hours.
Why the Anxiety Makes Sense
The discomfort municipal leaders feel before an interview often comes from pattern recognition. They have watched enough interviews go sideways to know what is at stake, and the stakes depend on which side of the municipal table they sit on.
Mayors, reeves and councillors typically speak to vision and the rationale behind decisions. A reeve in front of a camera is speaking on behalf of every ratepayer in the municipality.
The CAO and operational leads typically speak to process and timelines: what is being done and when. A question about whether a policy was the right decision generally belongs to council.
Knowing where that line sits, and holding it under pressure, is a skill that takes practice. The line is easier to maintain in larger municipalities with staff to enforce it. In a smaller operation, the CAO and the reeve may be fielding calls from the same reporter on the same afternoon. Someone fills in as spokesperson on short notice, and the person answering the reporter's call may have spent the morning reviewing a gravel contract.
In our experience, municipalities with 15 or 20 staff rarely have a communications team ready to draft talking points and prepare spokespeople, so preparation tends to be ad hoc. Our monthly communications packages give smaller teams that support on an ongoing basis.
We deliver customized media training for municipal councils, administration and public sector spokespeople across Alberta.
Explore Media TrainingWhat Helps: Thought and Theatre
Media training works when it addresses both sides of the problem. We think of them as thought and theatre.
- Understanding what a reporter is looking for in the interview.
- Knowing how to bridge from the question asked back to the message you came to deliver.
- We have seen municipal leaders prepare differently once they learn this, and the dread usually drops.
- Playing a role on behalf of the organization and delivering lines that represent collective decisions.
- Physical skills, such as where to look and how to hold yourself when a tough question lands.
- Like any professional skill, these improve with practice.
What Success Looks Like
When we talk with municipalities about the results they want from media training, two things come up consistently. The first is less anxiety. People want to stop losing sleep and feel prepared enough that an interview request does not trigger dread. A clear framework for what to say and how to say it makes that achievable.
The second is consistent messages across both sides of the table. The reeve and the CAO will answer different questions, and the underlying message about the municipality's direction and priorities should still line up. When a reporter hears the reeve explain the why and then calls the CAO for the how, the two conversations should sound like they came from the same organization. In our experience, that alignment develops when council and administration train together and hear what the other will say publicly.
Preparing Before You Need It
Many municipalities reach out about media training after something goes sideways, such as an interview that got away from them or a quote that read differently in print. Others decide they would rather be ready when the call comes. A session built around your actual media environment and the scenarios your spokespeople face tends to land with weight, because it mirrors what they will encounter on the job. A discovery conversation before training means the session reflects your council dynamics and the media encounters that show up in your community.
- Who speaks to policy questions, and who speaks to operations?
- Who is the backup if either spokesperson is unavailable?
- Have council and administration ever prepared for media together?
- Do we have key messages on the issues most likely to draw coverage this year?
- How quickly could we prepare a spokesperson if a provincial announcement landed this afternoon?
Preparing council or staff for media interviews?
Our media training is led by Glenn Kubish, former Director of News and Public Affairs at CTV Edmonton, and every session is shaped by a discovery conversation with your team.
