Get prepared for the spotlight

With the re-start of the LHC, not just the scientific community will have its eyes on CERN. Hundreds of journalists will continue to ensure high media coverage of the Lab’s activities. As the DG stated in his message in issue No.15 of The Bulletin, "we have a greater degree of responsibility in the way we communicate". The Media Training organized by the Press Office gives you the chance to learn how to do it.

If you are a scientist, engineer, computer expert or in any way a person likely to interact with the media, you might get the chance to be involved in the activities of the Press Office, which welcomes over 500 journalists from all over the world every year. "We are looking for enthusiastic scientists, researchers, engineers and IT specialists who are eager to explain their work to journalists", explains Renilde Vanden Broeck, Press Officer. "Last year we dealt with more than 700 media on-site. A regular media visit covers the main activities of CERN, namely accelerator, detector, data handling. Therefore, normally we need 3 to 4 speakers for each visit".

"It is actually not just a matter of dealing with a high number of visits, it is more about providing a high-quality response to the media demand", explains Renilde. As Rolf Heuer stated in his message (see Bulletin No. 15/2009): "Particle physics has always operated in a fully open and transparent way. (…) We must be sure that what we are saying avoids any kind of particle physics ‘shorthand’ that could be misinterpreted, and that results are not communicated until they have passed normal internal peer review procedures".

The course will last half a day and will cover how to work effectively with the media, including print, radio and TV. You’ll get an insight into how journalists and newsrooms operate. You will learn to recognise both soft balls and traps - and develop the techniques for dealing with them. The challenges of explaining CERN to any media outlet will be dealt with too.

Date of training: 1 July (one session in the morning and one in the afternoon).

Maximum number of participants per session: 10.

Please note that candidates will have to first clear attendance with their supervisor, who will have to approve the course in EDH.

All details here