Workshop with Dennis Gastmann

Anyone giving an interview is under pressure. The expectations of the media, the public spotlight and one’s own standards – all of this weighs heavily on those speaking in front of a camera. To handle this particular communication situation with confidence, thorough and precise preparation is essential.

What should you bear in mind when dealing with the media – before the interview, during the interview and afterwards? What pitfalls and faux pas are there? How can I consciously craft and clearly convey my own messages so that they reach a wide audience? And how do I remain objective, focused and confident – even when faced with critical questions?

In this one-day interview training course, participants learn the ‘art of responding’ in a journalistic conversation. To this end, various interview situations are simulated on camera – sometimes friendly and supportive, sometimes critical and confrontational. The one-to-one interviews are recorded on video and analysed together in a group session to derive comprehensive techniques and lessons.

Dennis Gastmann studied politics and journalism in Hamburg, completed a traineeship at Norddeutscher Rundfunk and invented his own dream job: ‘world reporter’. Gastmann worked as a television writer for the programmes ‘extra 3’, ‘ZAPP’ and ‘Panorama’, was awarded the Axel Springer Prize and has been nominated several times for the Grimme Prize. He is a columnist for MERIAN, has published his reports in numerous literary travel books (Rowohlt Berlin Verlag) and has been training young journalists for fifteen years now – including at the ARD.ZDF Media Academy, the electronic media school in Babelsberg and the Academy for Journalism in Hamburg. He is part of the team of trainers for the skills training programme at the WissKomm Academy.

About this workshop series

This workshop is being held in cooperation with the WissKomm Academy and will take place on the premises of the Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur Mainz.

The WissKomm Academy explores and examines the topic of science communication from various angles, through different formats and events, with the aim of establishing a centre of expertise for science communication in Rhineland-Palatinate.

The event is part of a series on science communication organised by the Open Science and Science Communication project (COM Department). If you attend four or more events in the series, you will receive the “WissKomm-Basics” certificate. All events are automatically open to participants from the RMU partner universities.

 Contact: scicom@uni-mainz.de