I would rather a comms team learned the first hour of a crisis than the perfect press release format, because the first hour is where reputations now go wrong. Hold that view up to the question your chief executive is asking: whether to book PR training for the team, and what it should cover.

A good PR course teaches finding stories and pitching them, along with media interviews, the first hour of a crisis, misinformation and credible measurement, and every exercise should use your own stories and issues. Comms teams need it most, followed by the senior leaders who speak for the business and the social media and customer service staff who meet an issue first. PR training for in-house teams works best when it is built around those groups and the problems they face this year.

PR training is structured, practical instruction in how an organisation earns coverage, handles journalists and builds and protects its reputation through the media, its social channels and its own spokespeople. It is for heads of communications deciding whether their own team and the wider organisation need it before they book anything. Social Media Training sells bespoke PR training, so we have an interest in what you decide.

Keepmoat Homes, the national housebuilder, had over 200 team members trained in effective crisis management by Social Media Training, and the company reported that customer satisfaction increased by 23%. We upskilled the internal social media teams across the Keepmoat Group to handle crisis situations, because on social channels the first people to meet an issue are rarely in the press office. The case study sets out the work.

What does PR training cover in 2026?

PR training in 2026 covers how an organisation finds stories, works with journalists, gives interviews and handles a crisis, and the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) says its crisis and reputation courses cover crisis planning, media interviews and risk management. The Reuters Institute’s Digital News Report (June 2026) found that social media and video networks have displaced news organisations’ own websites and apps and TV news as the most widely used way of accessing news, according to Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, University of Oxford’s Reuters Institute digital news report (June 2026). A PR course built around press releases therefore teaches a narrower job than the one in-house comms teams now do.

A woman being filmed in an interview in a studio, with cameras and lights in the foreground
A filmed interview being recorded during a session.

CIPR‘s State of the Profession 2026 found that fake news and disinformation tops practitioners’ list of challenges for the first time, displacing AI, which is now ranked second. The Reuters Institute’s 2026 report adds that trust in news has fallen to its lowest level since measurement began in 2015.

Kian Scott-Loach, Head of Digital at Terrence Higgins Trust, said of our trainers: “We were impressed by their depth of knowledge in a rapidly changing environment.”

Turn down any course that still teaches advertising value equivalent, which nobody credible defends any more. List the last three stories your team pitched and the last issue it handled, then check that the agenda covers pitching, interviews, crisis process and misinformation.

Who needs PR training, and which parts of it?

Comms and PR staff need PR training first, but CIPR‘s State of the Profession 2026 shows that the riskiest gaps sit outside the press office, because fewer than half of practitioners work in organisations with any form of policy or guidance on handling controversial or polarising issues. Practitioners in the CIPR survey also most often asked for senior leadership to take greater responsibility for decisions. In practice four groups need different parts of PR training: comms and PR staff need stories, pitching and crisis process, senior leaders need interviews and sign-off, social media and customer service staff need the first hour of an issue, and marketers asked for coverage need the basics of how journalists work.

Delegates seated in rows watching a trainer present on a screen in a function room
Delegates at a Prohibition training session.

PR training needs by role: what each group should cover and the signal that it is needed now

Role What to cover Format that works Signal they need it now
Comms and PR team Stories, pitching, media relationships, crisis process, measurement Full day Pitches go unanswered
Senior leaders and spokespeople Interviews, sign-off, LinkedIn thought leadership Small group or one to one A leader was quoted off-message
Social media and customer service staff The first hour, escalation, holding lines Half day Complaints escalate in public replies
Marketers with no PR background What journalists want, story angles Half day Asked to “get some PR”

Frontline social and customer service staff often need crisis training before the press office does, because they see an issue first. Mark each row as needed now, next quarter or not needed, and book only the rows marked now.

What does crisis communications training involve?

Crisis communications training rehearses the first hours of an incident, and the Government Communication Service’s crisis operating model (October 2026) describes an advanced crisis curriculum of specialised masterclasses, tabletop simulation exercises and site visits. CIPR‘s handling media interviews course has delegates practise media training techniques on camera in a range of simulated interviews. Social Media Training’s crisis and media programme for Softcat ran two training sessions with 40 practice questions, two bespoke crisis scenarios and an escalated version, and every delegate did a filmed interview and a Teams interview, received individual written feedback and kept a 49-slide key lessons pack.

The Government Communication Service manages a network of 100 trained professionals ready to surge into central cells during Level 2 and 3 emergencies, a sign that a serious incident needs more trained hands than one central team holds. If false claims about your organisation are the bigger risk, look at our AI misinformation training for PR teams.

Write two scenarios from your own risk register plus an escalated version that gets worse halfway through. Insist on a Teams interview as well as a filmed one for each delegate, with written feedback addressed to each by name.

Do senior leaders and managers need PR training?

Senior leaders and managers need PR training, and CIPR‘s State of the Profession 2026 supports that, finding that the support practitioners most commonly request is for senior leadership to take greater responsibility for decisions, ahead of training or guidance. In our trainers’ experience, senior leaders are the named voice a journalist quotes and the person who signs off a holding statement. Edelman and LinkedIn’s 2025 study of nearly 2,000 global professionals concludes that thought leadership builds trust and opens doors where ads and traditional sales methods fall short.

A speaker holding a pen leads a small training session for office colleagues
A small group training session in an office.

ENGIE UK reported increasing its share of voice on social media by 7.9% after a strategic programme to upskill senior stakeholders from across ENGIE UK. Huthwaite International reported 55 Tier 1 leads and more than £100,000 in business lead conversions after its senior personnel were trained in thought leadership content. Both are written up in those case studies.

Choose two leaders who are already asked to speak. Give each a half day on interviews and a half day on LinkedIn thought leadership, and agree one sign-off rule with them first. Our guide on how to improve a LinkedIn profile so it works harder is a sensible place for those leaders to start.

What should happen in the month before a PR training day?

Spend the month before PR training gathering your own material and settling who signs what, so the trainer can build scenarios from real problems, which CIPR presents as the point of in-house training: upskilling an entire team and solving real business challenges in a confidential space. Settle sign-off first, because the institute’s State of the Profession 2026 found that fewer than half of practitioners work somewhere with any policy on controversial or polarising issues. Split the preparation into four weekly steps with a named owner for each, starting with the head of communications and ending with the trainer.

Delegates in white chairs watching a presenter beside a large projected slide
Delegates at a Prohibition content marketing session.
  1. Week 1, head of communications: write down the outcomes the day must deliver and book a scoping call with your chosen provider.
  2. Week 2, press officers and the social media lead: collect the last three stories pitched, one issue that went badly and the current sign-off chain. List the AI tools in use too, because CIPR’s State of the Profession 2026 says AI usage has raced ahead of governance and training.
  3. Week 3, head of communications with a senior leader: confirm who signs a holding statement. Run a short tabletop dry run on one scenario, a format the Government Communication Service uses in its crisis curriculum.
  4. Week 4, head of communications and the trainer: agree the scenarios and the escalated version, and send delegates nothing to read, so they react on the day as they would to a real incident.
  5. The week after, head of communications: put the one-page crisis process into use within days.

If nobody can say who signs off a holding statement before the day, that decision is the most valuable thing the training will produce.

What does PR training cost for a team?

Social Media Training’s private PR training is priced from £1,200 for half a day, for up to six people and excluding VAT, which is £200 a head for a full group, and a full day for the same six is £1,800. The price includes a scoping call and an agenda written around the team’s brief, and delegates leave with three story angles, a pitch template, a one-page crisis process with named owners and a holding statement, and a measurement view that survives contact with a finance director. The slides, a workbook and a follow-up a month later are also included in the price. For comparison, see our guide to how much B2B marketing training courses cost per seat.

Take your week-one outcomes to the budget holder alongside the price, then book a private PR training half day or send us your brief through our contact page.

Where we are not the right fit

For one person’s own career development, the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) runs its own PR courses. We deliver privately to one organisation at a time and run no public cohorts, so we cannot place a single delegate in a mixed group. If your real question is whether to bring in outside help instead, read our guide on whether to hire a LinkedIn or content agency or train your team.

Training prepares a team before the event, and if a crisis is breaking tonight you need people handling it now. If you want a press release writing course built around print coverage alone, look elsewhere too, because our day gives real time to social channels, AI summaries and misinformation.

Questions to ask before you book PR training

Put these to any provider, including us, and compare the answers.

Questions that separate a strong PR training proposal from a weak one

Question Strong answer Weak answer
Will the course use our own stories and issues? Yes, with a scoping call first and scenarios built from your material A standard deck of famous brand crises
How will the crisis exercise run? Bespoke scenarios from your risk register, plus an escalated version that worsens halfway A discussion of what other brands got wrong
Will every delegate be interviewed? A filmed interview and a Teams interview each, with written feedback One volunteer is interviewed while the group watches
Does it cover misinformation and social channels? The first hour on social, holding lines and how false stories spread Press releases and print coverage only
What will we leave with? A one-page crisis process with named owners, a holding statement and story angles The slides by email
How do you measure PR? Outcomes a finance director will accept, tied to objectives Advertising value equivalent or total reach
Who delivers it? Trainers running live PR campaigns this year Trainers who left PR practice years ago
Does it deal with AI? Where AI helps, where it fails and how the team governs its use AI is not mentioned

Frequently asked questions

Is PR training the same as media training?

Media training is one part of PR training, focused on preparing spokespeople for interviews, and CIPR‘s handling media interviews course has delegates practise on camera in a range of simulated interviews. PR training is wider and adds story finding, pitching, media relationships, crisis process and measurement. Book media training on its own only if your sole gap is a spokesperson who struggles on camera.

What is crisis communications training in the UK?

Crisis communications training in the UK rehearses the first hours of an incident, and the Government Communication Service uses masterclasses, tabletop simulation exercises and site visits in its crisis curriculum. At Keepmoat Homes, over 200 people across the internal social media teams were trained, because complaints reach those channels first, and the company reported a 23% rise in customer satisfaction. For Softcat, every scenario was written for that business alone.

Do managers need PR training?

Managers who speak for the organisation need PR training in interviews, sign-off and thought leadership writing. ENGIE UK built a social media advocacy programme among senior stakeholders and reported a 7.9% increase in share of voice on social media. Huthwaite International’s senior personnel learned strategic social media management and reported 55 Tier 1 leads, more than £100,000 in lead conversions and 2,000+ topline ROI.

How long does a PR training course last?

Our private PR course runs as a half day or a full day, and any module can take the whole day if that is where the need sits. A half day suits one group with one clear gap, such as frontline social staff rehearsing the first hour of an issue. Comms teams wanting stories, pitching and crisis practice together usually need the full day.

Can PR training be run online for a remote team?

Yes, our PR training runs live online as well as at your offices anywhere in the UK or at our Leeds studio. Remote delivery works for crisis practice, and the Softcat programme included a Teams interview for every delegate alongside the filmed one. Keep online groups small so every delegate gets proper interview time.

Who takes the first call when the story turns?

The person who sees an issue first is rarely in the press office, so PR training has to reach the people who meet the story before you do. Huthwaite International reported 55 Tier 1 leads and more than £100,000 in business lead conversions after its senior people were trained in thought leadership content. Our Resources page lists every guide we have written on this and related subjects. Talk to us about a PR course built around your team before the next reporter’s email lands on a Monday.

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