This November, ENSTA Bretagne's Engineering and Business Science majors participated in media training workshops.
A professional journalist from Brest's Télégramme newspaper and a gendarmerie captain jointly led a workshop designed to train engineering students in crisis management.
The introductory hour-long presentation was followed by a Q&A during which students quizzed the journalist about his role, his rights and obligations and his sources. The students then took part in a crisis-management role-play activity.
One of the scenarios placed them in a fictional company where a harassment case came to light after they’d been on the job for 3 months. In the role-play, journalists questioned students, who had to decide how to avoid faux pas while responding live on camera.
This activity helped students identify the signs of nervousness or stage fright and gave them an idea of what sort of impression they conveyed. Students also learned to appreciate the impact that employees’ interventions can have on their company: even when speaking in their own name, they represent their employer.
The importance of carefully-chosen wording, argumentation, clarity and precision, tone and the ability to manage emotion were emphasized. Through these workshops, the future engineers learned useful techniques for communicating in crisis situations.
Through these workshops, the future engineers learned useful techniques for communicating in crisis situations.
Journalist Gwendal Hameury of the Télégramme newspaper and Captain Ludovic Pilloud of the Châteaulin gendarmerie teamed up to present this workshop geared towards training engineering students in crisis management.
