Nowadays a ‘Black Swan’ event is an expression often used in crisis communications to describe an event that comes as a major surprise – one that occurs when it was previously thought impossible.

When I’m conducting a media training session black swans often appear at some stage during the workshop because in the real world, unforeseen events are often the most challenging because by their nature they’re not part of your preparation work.

Which is why I include them.

Out of your zone

Depending on the levels of media experience within the group, we usually start the workshop with a relatively easy scenario and then, as the session progresses and individuals gain a bit more confidence, they become more difficult.

Being forced to – cliché alert – “think outside the box” when faced with a mock-news scenario really prepares the team to get in the right mindset when faced with a tv or radio journalist who is briefed and primed to get to the bottom of the story.

When people are forced to think on their feet during training, way out of their comfort zones, my experience is that they inevitably perform much more effectively than would otherwise be the case.

Dealing with a topic they were more or less expecting then becomes much easier as a consequence.

Sound dead simple but it takes a Black Swan or two to get it right.