We know that facts alone don’t help us win. To move people to action, our campaigns rely on telling compelling stories to a variety of audiences and winning the public narrative.
Since 2020, the Economic Media Centre has been delivering media training to over 1,200 activists and advocates with lived experience. They have distilled their learnings and adapted their expertise to present the Media Spokesperson Masterclass.
In this training, you will get an opportunity to learn how to hone your campaign messages, clearly articulate your vision and learn effective approaches to avoid repeating the opposition’s frame.
From an overview of the Australian media landscape in 2026 and top tips to craft compelling campaign messages, to hands-on pitching skills and interview practice, you will come out of this masterclass with the essential skills to navigate media and messaging best practice.
OUTCOMES AND SKILLS
An overview of the Australian media landscape in 2027
Navigating bias and risk in the media
Developing compelling campaign messages
How to pitch your campaign to media
Preparing for media interviews and developing interview skills
Conducting post-interview debriefs
Post interview clipping and reposting
How to maintain self-care in media
DateS AND FORMAT
The Media Spokesperson Masterclass will be delivered online via Zoom over:
Tuesday, 25 May
Wednesday, 26 May
The training will take place in the following time zones:
11:00AM to 3:00PM AEST
10:30AM to 2:30PM ACST
9:00AM to 1:00PM AWST
1:00PM to 5:00PM NZST
COST
Cost for participation in the training is based in organisation type and revenue:
$350+GST | Small Non-Profit — For non-profits with an annual revenue of less than $500K.
$600+GST | Regular Non-Profit — For non-profits with an annual revenue between $500K-3 million.
$800+GST | Large Non-Profit — For non-profits with an annual revenue of more than $3 million.
$1,000+GST | For-Profit | Education | B-Corp — For government bodies, education, social enterprises and organisations servicing the non-profit sector.
$350+GST | Individual — For individuals and grassroots organisers who are not affiliated by an organisation or movement.
To ensure more equitable access across our trainings and events, a limited number of full and partial scholarships ($170+GST) are available to grassroots advocates, community groups and start-up/small organisations. We welcome and prioritise scholarship applications from First Nations people, people with disability, people of colour, people with lived experience seeking asylum and unwaged changemakers. To apply for a scholarship, please complete an application here or contact Phong at phong@australianprogress.org.au.
TEAM REGISTRATIONS
Please note that due to the cohort-style format and peer-learning in the training, team registrations are limited to up to two people.
LEAD TRAINER
Nick Cassella
Strategic Communications Manager
Nick (he/him) is a political communications professional who has worked for progressive campaigns and organisations in the US and Australia. Nick is in charge of managing the development of the Economic Media Centre's Spokesperson Network and creating messaging guidance on economic policy issues. Nick specialises in digital campaigning and holds an International Relations degree from the University of St Andrews, Scotland.
Alex Leon
Educator, Speaker and Campaigner
Alexander Leon is an internationally recognised educator, speaker and campaigner, with over 10 years experience working in LGBTQ+ equality, focused on LGBTQ+ mental health and intersectionality. His day job is as a social justice educator, delivering workshops on campaign strategy, communication and anti-oppression to activists, politicians and businesses across Europe, Australia and beyond. His writing (fiction and non-fiction) has been featured in The Guardian, BBC, Huffington Post, 14poems, and more.
ACCESSIBILITY
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Zoom - During the masterclass, we will be meeting via Zoom. If you have access to a computer or laptop, we recommend you join the training by computer to make navigating the materials easier. See here for accessibility documentation for Zoom; including a list of keyboard shortcuts here.
Video norms - We allow participants to turn off their cameras / to go off screen during 'teaching from the front content' and encourage you to do so if it is helpful for your wellbeing during the training.
Chat - On Zoom you will be able to use the chat function. Participants will be asked to introduce themselves in chat, and to enter responses in the chat.
Captions - We will have auto captions enabled in Zoom.
Google Docs and Digital Documents - We will be sharing training materials over Google Drive, Google Docs and Google Slides. All documents, forms, and surveys will be provided in accessible formats. During the masterclass we will use the screen share function to share slides, as well as navigating between Zoom and an interactive slide deck.
Early access to slides - A view-only version of the slide deck can be supplied early if this supports your participation. Any copies of the slides provided will include alt-text / image descriptions. We make sure our content is accessible to screenreaders and can make additional changes based on what program you are using e.g. we can adjust any content typically formatted in tables to display in dot points instead, if you use a screen reader that is incompatible with tables in slides or documents.
Post-training resources - We do not supply recordings from our online training as standard, but can record sections of the workshop if needed to facilitate your engagement. You will receive a copy of the presenter slide deck, interactive slide deck, and other resources. Where video or audio content is included during the training or in any of the resources, we will provide audio descriptions, captions or transcripts as needed.
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Setting norms - We build group agreement, established at the start of the training, that includes saying our name before speaking, norms around camera on/off, and other group norms depending on the needs of the cohort.
Breaks - Breaks will be organised regularly throughout the training. We have breaks every 45-55 minutes.
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Other additional support - We build in flexibility in the program, as we go based on the needs of the cohort. In the registration form, we will ask you for your access needs. If you require something in place that is not already arranged, or if you need more information about any part of the workshop, we will work with you to provide this.
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Please read more on the Economic Media Centre’s accessibility practices here.
If you have any questions about accessibility, please contact us at info@australianprogress.org.au