How to Rock Your Media Interview
Tips to help you feel confident when speaking with reporters, on-camera or off.
You landed a media interview! Congratulations! Now the real work begins.
Whether the interview is for TV, radio or print, you’ll most likely have a matter of minutes (at most) to convey your message, brand and values to the reporter. Which means you need to know exactly what you want to say and how to say.
Here are three steps you can take to prepare yourself to speak with a reporter, on-camera or off.
1. Write down your key messages
Write down the 5-7 key points that you want to communicate. The interview will likely move fast and be a lot shorter than you’d think, so you’ll need to get straight to the point and avoid redundancies while still covering all your bases. Much like a media pitch, you have a very short amount of time to convey a lot of important information.
Unless you’re the subject of the interview, there’s no need to introduce yourself. Your name, title and company will be noted by the reporter in their story and likely shown on the screen in the case of TV interviews.
Instead, focus on what you want the audience to know about your company, mission or project. What key information do you want to share? What values do you want to convey? Why should the audience care about what you have to say/how does it impact them?
Remember who your audience is when you’re drafting your key messages. If the interview will be read/seen/heard by the general public, keep it simple. You’ll want to speak as if you were explaining the subject to a child with no familiarly of it. Avoid using complex or insider language that only your peers in the industry would understand, and never use acronyms. You want the audience to feel like they are part of the conversation, not excluded from it.
2. Research the reporter and their stories
You’ll feel more comfortable speaking with the reporter if you know their interview style. Read/watch/listen to their past stories. This can help you to identify questions they might commonly ask and give you an idea of how the interview will flow and how the story will be presented.
Are they simply delivering the information or do they push a certain angle? How in depth do they get with their questioning? Is it mostly surface questions (who, what, where, when) or will they ask you to offer more insight or analysis?
The more you know, the better you can prepare and the more comfortable you’ll be when the moment arrives.
3. Practice, practice, practice
Did I mention practice? Have a friend/partner/coworker/publicist pepper you with questions the reporter may potentially ask. If you don’t like an answer you gave, give it again until you’re satisfied with your response. Then say it again.
It might take several tries before you’re happy with your answers. Don’t beat yourself up if you don’t say them perfectly on the first try. Knowing a subject well doesn’t necessarily prepare you to speak about it in an interview setting. Your nerves can creep up and throw you off your game, no matter how much of an expert you may be on the topic or how many times you’ve spoken about it to your colleagues.
Practice until you’re sick of practicing and confident you can answer any question about the subject.
Learn the hard stop. When we’re nervous, we have a tendency to ramble. Instead of just saying what we want to say, we keep talking to fill the silence. “So…yeah…I think that’s about it…anyways…” The hard stop is exactly what it sounds like. When you’re done talking, stop talking. Get comfortable with the momentary silence. The reporter will keep the conversation going.
A note about on-camera interviews
On-camera interviews are a very different experience from interviews with a print or radio reporter. Here are 4 additional tips to help you deliver a flawless performance.
Stay still. You’ll likely have a camera close up on your face, so its important that you don’t leave the frame. Try not to walk around (unless that’s part of the plan), rock back and forth or turn around, as the camera operator will have to follow you wherever you go.
In the same vein, try to control how much you express yourself with your hands. Movements, gestures and facial expressions are amplified on-camera, significantly. If you’re someone who likes to talk with your hands, try clasping them in front of you or holding them down by your sides while you speak so you don’t look like a wacky waving inflatable tube man. Less is more.
Slow down. You will likely be nervous, which could cause you to speak way too fast. Go into the interview knowing this might happen and intentionally try to speak slower than feels natural. Even if the overly caffeinated morning reporter is buzzing through their intro, try to keep your cool and deliver your key messages in a controlled manner.
What to wear. When it comes to on-camera interviews, opt for solid-colored shirts, blouses or dresses, as they translate well on screen. Avoid wearing the color green in case there's a green screen involved. And steer clear of busy prints or patterns, as they can be distracting and may appear to move on camera. Your goal is to ensure that the audience remembers your message, not your outfit.
If you have any questions about this post, or have some of your own media interview tips to add, I invite you to post them in the comments below. Thanks for reading!