Senior Presenter of the News Department of Al Jazeera English Sami Zeidan gave on Monday his first lecture titled "The Art of Compelling Interviews" at the AA News Academy. 

Students at the AA News Academy learned interview techniques during the first lesson based on a "military coup scenario" in an imaginary Eastern European country named Krakozhia. 

According to the scenario, General Alexander launched a military intervention in Krakozhia against democratically elected President Demo. Zeidan portrayed General Alexander in a professional way as each student conducted an approximately 3 minute interview with him. 

After the first interviews, Zeydan taught the students professional interviewing techniques, and students conducted their second interviews according to the learned techniques.

Sami Zeidan is an award-winning journalist who has anchored, reported and executively produced for over a decade with some of the biggest names in television. 

Prior to joining Al Jazeera International, Sami hosted a number of shows broadcast on CNBC Arabia, CNBC Europe and CNBC Asia. He also presented and wrote news shows while working with CNN International in the US.