You do not need a media trainer to practice. The fundamentals, giving a short answer, bridging cleanly, holding a line under repeated questioning, and not talking into a silence, are skills you build through reps, and you can get most of those reps with a timer, a phone that records, and occasionally one willing colleague. Save a professional trainer or a realistic mock for the interviews where the stakes justify it.
The 20-second answer
Alone, 10 minutes. Write out ten questions you are likely to be asked. Answer each one out loud, timing yourself, aiming for 20 to 30 seconds. Any answer that runs long, do it again, shorter. Compression is the single skill most spokespeople lack: they know the material and cannot deliver it in a quotable length. This drill fixes that faster than anything else.
The hostile-question gauntlet
With a partner, 10 minutes. Hand a colleague your five worst questions, the ones from your interview prep that you hope will not come up. Ask them to fire the questions at you rapidly, interrupt your answers, and follow up on anything vague. Run the whole set twice. You are not trying to produce perfect answers; you are training yourself to stay calm and factually accurate while under pressure, which is a different muscle.
The bridge drill
Alone, 10 minutes. Take five questions you would rather not answer directly. For each, practice the move from bridging: restate the actual concern in specific terms, then connect to your point with “and” or “which is why.” Ban yourself from “what’s really important is” and “let me put that in context.” Say each one aloud until the acknowledgment sounds genuine rather than like a setup.
Record and review
Alone, 15 minutes. Point your phone camera at yourself and answer five likely questions as if in a real interview. Then watch it back twice: once listening only for content (was the answer clear, complete, and on message), once watching only for delivery (filler words, rambling, eye contact, energy, hands). Pick the weakest answer and redo it. Nobody enjoys watching themselves, and it is the fastest feedback you can get.
The cold open
With a partner, 5 minutes. Have someone start recording and immediately ask you the single hardest question, with no small talk or warm-up. Real interviews, especially broadcast hits, often open this way, and a spokesperson who fumbles the first answer spends the rest of the interview recovering. Practice delivering a composed, on-message first answer from a standing start.
A weekly routine
Fifteen minutes, twice a week: alternate the 20-second drill and record-and-review one day, the bridge drill the next. Add the gauntlet and the cold open when you can get a partner. Before an actual interview, do a focused 30-minute session using that interview’s real questions and what you know about the reporter.
Frequently asked questions
Can you really practice media skills without a trainer?
The core skills, yes: short answers, bridging, holding a line under repeated questioning, and not filling silence. What a partner and a recorder cannot fully replicate is a skilled adversarial interviewer, so use these drills to build the fundamentals and save a trainer or a realistic mock for high-stakes interviews.
How often should I do these drills?
Fifteen minutes twice a week keeps the skills warm. Before an actual interview, do a focused 30-minute session on that specific topic and reporter.
What is the single most useful drill?
Record-and-review. Answer five likely questions out loud into your phone, then watch it back. You will spot the rambling, the filler words, and the weak answers immediately, and hearing yourself is what changes the habit.
Do I need a partner?
For two of the drills, yes: the hostile-question gauntlet and the interruption drill need someone to push. A colleague who is willing to be difficult for ten minutes is enough. The rest you can do alone with a timer and a recorder.
How do I know if I am improving?
Your recorded answers get shorter and land more cleanly, you stop saying 'um' and 'you know' as much, you pause before answering instead of during, and you can hold a decline through three follow-ups without getting flustered.
Want a partner that pushes back on demand? Press Prep runs the gauntlet and the cold open for you, at a pressure level you set, on your actual likely questions, and scores the review. See building a media training program or the full preparation checklist.