Raleigh County, WV (WOAY) – Leadership Beckley spent Thursday afternoon on a skill most community leaders end up needing sooner or later: talking to the news.
Leadership Beckley runs through the Beckley-Raleigh County Chamber of Commerce, bringing together leaders from local businesses, nonprofits and organizations across the region to learn about local issues and to build the relationships and skills they need to advance their organizations and careers.
Members of this year’s class said the program has given them connections across the community.
“One, connecting the different generations within the community is always a great thing. And then also finding those young leaders that are going to foster a good atmosphere for the community to push forward into what is best for the community. I think Leadership Beckley is great at putting people in positions to do that,” said Michael Cercey, consumer rehabilitation provider at Donnahkey LLC.
“We’re also having the chance to learn about what’s going on in the community, how to get more engaged, reaching these connections, making those relationships that can help us with maybe other events that we have going on,” said Abby Lester, communication specialist at WVU Princeton Community Hospital.
Thursday’s session, called Newsworthy, brought in local media, including Newswatch, to give the class tips on how to convey information in a news interview. The people seen in news stories can make it look easy, but a good interview takes some practice.
For some in the class, the session meant switching roles.
“As a director, I interview employees all the time. I don’t have that on my side, people interviewing me. So this is a way for me to know how my interviewees feel,” said Dianna Norman, laboratory director at Beckley ARH.
“Some of the tips and tricks that we learn to, you know, kind of ignore the camera and just have this type of conversation and kind of makes it a lot easier,” said Blake Miller, director of nursing at Beckley ARH.
“And even the lengths of to give an answer or things like that will definitely help me and the people around me give a better interview to the people we bring in, I’d say,” Cercey said.
