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Free Download – Training And Creative Services Brochure

We’ve taken everything you could possibly want to know about Comsteria’s training and creative services and put it all together in one glossy brochure for you to read right now. You’ll discover how we started, who we work with and how we are able to deliver such outstanding results that keep clients delighted. It’s packed with details of what we include in our courses, how they can be tailored and delivered to you and there’s Read more

By Colin Kelly, ago

Comsteria’s Summer of Training

This summer, we’re offering a series of ‘open’ courses, delivered via live, interactive 2 hour webinar. These have been designed to give you the ‘essentials’ in a highly relevant and efficient format. In short, it’s about maximum impact for minimum time. Perhaps you’re juggling family care responsibilities, taking advantage of a slightly quieter time to pursue some professional development or need to upskill and tackle an area of weakness, quickly. We’ve chosen some of our Read more

By Colin Kelly, ago
Picture of a football pitch.

A lesson in clarity from Scottish football

When a client is struggling with a tricky issue in our media training or presentation skills courses, we’ll often use the phrase ‘the truth will set you free’. By that we mean that if the audience you’re speaking to simply understood what was going on behind the scenes, they’d likely form a better impression of you. This is based on the principle that most of us, most of the time, are doing good things. And Read more

By Colin Kelly, ago
Colin Kelly delivering a media training course.

How much does media training cost?

A media training session with us here at Comsteria costs around £1400+VAT for a full day session with between 3 and 6 participants. All our training is bespoke and the fees we quote include preparation, pre training discussion/planning to get a brief from you and all materials including video camera for interview practice. If your session involves only 1 or 2 participants, you prefer online delivery or don’t need a full day, then that price Read more

By Colin Kelly, ago
Colin Kelly delivers a media training workshop. Relaxed and smiling.

Schedule Some Media Training Practice

Last week a client sent us a clip of one of their team appearing on a major TV news programme. Another participant on a recent course was back for a refresher. It had been about a year since the last time we’d seen him and he spoke enthusiastically about some opportunities he’d had to give interviews and put into practice what he’d learned. It always makes us happy to see our media training put to Read more

By Colin Kelly, ago
Woman taking a group photo of colleagues on a smartphone in an office setting

How we helped a team create better workplace photo and video content

From community events and volunteering to day-to-day work, here’s how we helped a team move from snapshots to content that tells real stories. This team were doing really important work. They were out in schools, running careers events, supporting apprenticeships, leading volunteer projects and promoting sustainability initiatives across the organisation. The kind of work that should be shared through strong photo and video content. But when it came to capturing it, they were frustrated. The Read more

By Emma Baker, ago

5 Practical Tips for Comms Teams Filming an Event on Their Phones

Capturing great video at an event doesn’t have to mean big cameras, long lenses and broadcast-level audio. Most comms teams only need two things: a clear plan and a well-used smartphone. You won’t get a clean recording of the keynote speeches without specialist kit, so don’t try. Focus instead on what the phone is brilliant at: capturing the flavour of the day through strong b-roll and short, engaging interviews. Here are five simple, practical tips Read more

By Emma Baker, ago
Colin Kelly delivers a media training workshop. Relaxed and smiling.

What happens in a media training session?

Welcome to Part 1 of our look inside a media training session delivered by Comsteria’s Colin Kelly. All our courses are tailored to you, and we’ll make sure you’re both encouraged and challenged, with the intensity of the experience varying according to your experience and what you need. Our media training courses can be delivered in person or remotely, at your premises, or at a venue sourced by us. Half day or full day sessions Read more

By Colin Kelly, ago
Close-up image of computer screen displaying Descript Video Editor Transcript and Timeline.

Unlocking Pro-Level Editing with Descript

When I started learning video editing nearly 15 years ago, it was anything but easy. I bought Final Cut Pro X for £200, which felt like a huge investment at the time. The software was powerful, but the learning curve was steep. I struggled my way through menus, timelines, and endless tutorials. Sound familiar? It wasn’t until I left teaching and started working in video full-time that I really got the hang of it. Now, Read more

By Emma Baker, ago
Video Editor Conducting Descript AI Video Training for Communications Teams.

Create Professional AI-Powered Video Content with Descript – Training for Communications Teams and Academics

When video feels overwhelming A client leading an academic network came to me with a familiar problem.They had hours of valuable video content on their YouTube channel: webinars, research discussions, and interviews. But none of it was reaching people. The videos were long, unedited, and inconsistent. Watch time was low. They didn’t have a budget for an editor or marketing team. They just wanted to share their research and their mission clearly and professionally.They asked: Read more

By Emma Baker, ago
Media training advice - how to say sorry.

Mass Internet Outages

One of the reasons I’m a keen defender of the legacy mainstream media is that it’s been designed to be much more robust and reliable than internet based news and entertainment platforms. We saw another example of this yesterday when issues with Amazon Web Services took out huge swathes of web based businesses for much of the day. More than a thousand services were affected according to the BBC. It’s all very well having resilience Read more

By Colin Kelly, ago