How we prepared the leadership of the University of South Florida’s College of Engineering for reporters, donors, and the camera – in a single day.
Being the smartest person in the room does not make you the most persuasive one. It never has.
I have watched brilliant people give interviews that went nowhere, deliver keynotes nobody remembered, and sit across from a donor with everything on their side except a plan for the conversation. Not because they lacked substance. Because deep expertise does not automatically become a clean soundbite, a compelling ask, or a talk people repeat afterward.
That is a trainable gap; it is also a fixable one. So when USF’s College of Engineering brought in my boutique marketing agency in Tampa, we built the day around it.
Every week, without a script
The dean and his senior team were regularly speaking with reporters, donors, students, faculty candidates, and the community, often on camera or over Zoom, with no formal training behind any of it.
That is the situation at most institutions, and it is worth naming plainly: your leaders are representing your organization whether anyone has prepared them for it or not. There is no version where they are not doing it. The only variable is whether they are equipped.
For a dean, every interview, keynote, and donor conversation either moves the college forward or quietly loses ground. When leaders with real expertise are not prepared to deliver it, the message defaults to jargon, and the college loses the coverage, the faculty candidate, or the gift to someone who simply told the story better.
Not to a better program. To a better-told one. That is what makes it worth fixing.
What a full day of this looks like
We designed and led a full-day intensive built specifically for this college, co-facilitated with Susanne McDonald, a New York City actress and director who ran the performance and voice side.
That pairing is deliberate. Communications strategy tells you what to say. Performance training governs whether anyone feels it. Message and delivery are separate skills and treating them as one is why most media training underdelivers.
The day opened with each leader setting their own goals, then moved into audience engagement and influencer training: LinkedIn presence, conversations with media, students, and peers, plus a dedicated session on Zoom and video call presence, which is now where a startling share of high-stakes conversations happen.
From there we worked through presenting confidence: mindset, breath, inflection, operative words, body language, cold reading, and the relationship between a speaker and the camera. Breath work in a media training sounds unusual right up until you watch what it does to someone’s delivery.
Then we tested it. Each leader was filmed delivering a reading, reviewed immediately, coached on specifics, and sent back to do it again. Three rounds of film and review in a single day. In between, they traded roles in mock conversations, two playing reporters and donors while the other two prepared and delivered presentations, then switched seats.
Playing the reporter teaches you more than being interviewed does. You feel exactly where a vague answer leaves you with nothing to write.
Donor conversations got their own session
For a college dean, a donor conversation carries as much weight as any media interview, and it gets a fraction of the preparation.
We built an approach centered on impact rather than need. Talking points designed to reach both the head and the heart, preparation for the questions donors ask instead of the ones you hope for, and guidance on personalized video messages and follow-up.
The reframe matters. Need-based asks put the institution in a position of asking for rescue. Impact-based ones invite someone into something that is working.
They left with a system, not a good day
The senior leaders walked out with something usable the next morning: sharper messages, a repeatable way to prepare, and the confidence to deliver on camera, at the podium, and across the table from a donor.
Each participant received a custom set of materials written by Bee Young Comms, including Presenting Confidence, Presentation Pro Tips, Pro Tips for Video Calls, and Donor Conversations, plus a post-presentation self-evaluation sheet to complete after every future speech, pitch, or interview.
That last piece is the one I care about most. A training day fades. A self-evaluation habit compounds.
I love working with Michelle on media training projects. Michelle will do anything it takes to support your vision, whether that means answering phone calls at her own dinner party or advising you to make the hard but correct decision. She will go above and beyond while also making sure you are doing your best work. Plus, her thank you notes and networking skills are top notch.
Susanne McDonald, Actress and Director, New York City
What this means for you
Media training is not polish. It is making sure that when the camera is on, the room is full, or the donor is across the table, the person speaking says something worth remembering.
Your experts already have the substance. What most of them have never been given is a system for delivering it, and a way to keep getting better at it after the training ends.
Bee Young Comms is here for You!
See the full USF College of Engineering case study and the rest of our work on our Work page. To learn more about executive media coaching or what Bee Young Comms can do for you or your team, contact us today.