Sharjah Tourism organizes media training course for employees in association with Al Jazeera Media Training and Development Centre

The course, arranged in association with the Al Jazeera TV Channel - Media Training and Development Centre - and the latter's exclusive agent in the UAE, Arabian Gulf Center, as well as the Britain-based Thompson Foundation, took place between 30 March and 3 April 2008.

The course was attended by SCTDA Chairman, Sheikh Sultan Bin Ahmed Al Qassimi, H.E Marwan Al Serkal, CEO of the Al Qasba Development Authority, and a number of SCTDA's managers and employees.

The training course was aimed at familiarizing participants with the principles of and skills required for dealing with different media resources, namely TV and radio talks and the basics of press interviews.

The course attempted to broaden trainees' access to different media approaches, and was directly supervised by British media expert Mr. Orwell Owen, trainer to political and business leaders and celebrities, who is considered one of the world's most renowned lecturers in media skills.

SCTDA Chairman, Sheikh Sultan Bin Ahmed Al Qassimi emphasized the importance of training courses for the improvement of media skills, saying that dealing with media in a professional manner being well prepared for media interviews and for delivering media statements before audiences, especially during conferences, are vital tools that enable employees to participate in these interviews in a manner that serves the objectives, missions and strategies of their firms.

'The organization of training courses of the caliber suited to ministers, ambassadors, leaders and media spokespeople is a part of the SCTDA's strategy to develop the human resources in the governmental tourism sector in a manner befitting the tremendous growth we're seeing in the emirate. Media trained staffs are a prime asset and will contribute immensely to the emirate's rapidly growing reputation as an up and coming world class tourist destination that occupies a prominent position on the world tourism map'.

The course was conducted at Ajman studios and included detailed explanations of the various media interview genres, such as informative interviews, opinion interviews and feature interviews, as well as best practices for each of these types interview.

The trainees were provided with interview skills, information on the differences between radio, TV and print interviews, and presentations on the ins and outs of live interviews, media ethics and how to address frequent problems.

Practical TV interviews were scheduled on the last day of the course, and were supervised by Mr. Jamal Rayan, a well known presenter on the Al Jazeera Satellite Channel, who interviewed the trainees in the presence of Mr. Orwell Owen, in order to test their skills and responses to different types of question, such as offensive, embarrassing and simple questions.

The international expert, Owen, then provided the trainees with his comments and reviews of their performances.

At the end of the course period, the course delegates were presented with Certificates of Appreciation from the Al Jazeera TV Channel - Media Training and Management Centre - by Mr. Owen, Mr. Jamal Rayan, Mr. Ahmed Al Shaibah, CEO of Arabian Gulf Center Educational Consultations, Mr. Ahmed Kamel the manager of the center and H.E Abdulla Murad, Chairman of Ajman TV.