National Spokesperson Training - by Martha Coleman

In June 2012 I received the application letter to apply for a place on the National Media Spokesperson training at CHQ. Realising what an amazing opportunity it was I worked straight away on filling in the two page application form, which ended up being three pages long after I finished writing in all the amazing opportunities Girlguiding had given me over the 11 years I’ve been in this wonderful organisation!

At the end of July I received conformation from the PR Office at CHQ that I had gained a place I was really excited but nervous, I didn’t have a clue what this training had in store for me!

Sunday 12th August came around quickly and I arrived 45 minutes early! I wondered down to CHQ, stopping off at Buckingham Palace to see the crowds already arriving for the Men’s Marathon. The training started at 10am with 4 of us from different areas of London in attendance.

Our first task was to choose a category at random and then talk about it for roughly a minute in front of a camera. I was unlucky enough to pick the category of Rugby League- something I know nothing about and with myself picking the piece of paper with number 1 on it; this was going to be a disaster! I spoke for all of 20 seconds. Not exactly a minute but it would have to do!

We then spent a while discussing different ways of describing the four key values of Girlguiding UK: equality and diversity, a girl only space, giving girls and young women a voice and GGUK’s relevance to today’s girls, whilst also relating the key terms to our own personal experiences. Practising interviews was next on the agenda and learning the different styles and how to respond to difficult questions. We were then filmed doing a practice interview, including the difficult questions, for Kim Sanders and Jim Ranger to assess whether what we had learnt that morning was being put into practice. When we watched them back (the worst part of the day…but then who likes watching themselves on TV!) the only thing our trainers picked up on was some use of Guiding jargon…oops!

Jim then spoke to us about the new media campaign “Real Role Models” and what media we may be invited to do if the campaign takes off in the media. We were then filmed again talking about our role models…but luckily we didn’t have to watch it back this time! By the end of the day both our trainers were very impressed with our progress and natural flair at stopping when needed rather than waffling on! (This, according to my Mum, is a major miracle!)

Thank you to Girlguiding UK for such an amazing opportunity and to Kim Sanders and Jim Ranger for an insightful training session.