Tweet

Live at 5 – Handling The TV Interview

Written by: Andy Marken

Article Overview: Business or personal, everyone seems to love a great scandal, solid news (as long as it's not their own). As flat as organizations are today any executive, manager can be reached for an interview. The most stressful is when you're sitting/standing with a TV camera facing you and the news person wants information, answers. Few professional newspeople (print, radio, TV, web, blog) are out to dig up dirt just to get the information...honest information. We're fortunate. We've had several years of being the interviewer (early in our career) and four confrontational interview courses. Done right the entire news interview experience can be good for the organization and you. The problem is you always have your best responses right after the interview. There's no retake in an interview...any interview.

Live at 5 – Handling The TV Interview

Whether you go to their studio or the camera crew simply arrives at your front door there is nothing that fully prepares an executive for the TV interview. You're so busy today running the company, planning new products/services and struggling to win sales; it is difficult to perform with grace and poise when a television reporter shoves a microphone in your face to ask about your stock performance, an environmental issue, layoffs or other "news" item.

As transparent as this business has become, every senior manager today should have interview and media training. In the meantime though, here are some easy to remember and follow steps to use to present the company and yourself as favorably as possible.

More Than Talking Head

Study people who are interviewed on TV. They are seldom just talking heads. The camera usually captures the person from the waist up.

The worst thing you can do is let your arms fall straight down to your side. You look stiff, insecure, anxious. Bend your elbows so your hands are waist high. Let them float against your body or loosely clasp them. This may not feel natural but on screen it looks very natural. Or to help you relax, casually grab something with your elbows bent. It does wonders in controlling the jitters.

Just don't cross your arms in front of you. This sends a message that you are going to be confrontational and evasive.

Smile, Relax

This sounds simple but it is easier said than done. Before you step before the camera close your eyes, take 5-10 very deep breaths and focus. The extra oxygen to the brain aids thinking and calms you. People use all sorts of tricks to get past anxiety including looking right thru the camera to mentally picture friends and family on the other side.

If a reporter is interviewing you, give him or her 100% of your attention and ignore the camera. Look into his, her eyes and give the reporter your undivided attention. You'll come off looking natural, confident and credible.

Body Language, Voice

The TV camera does an excellent job of capturing body language. Practice good posture and be expressive with your hands. Being stiff or slumped with the arms at your side sends a totally negative message.

Speak in a strong, measured rhythm and avoid stammering. Mumbling or hesitation makes you come across as weak or indecisive. The person who is practiced and knowledgeable can deliver a powerful, positive message to the audience.

Keep your body language and your vocal presence in tune.

Control Timing

Don't rush the interview and don't let the reporter rush you. Control the situation by speaking slowly, pleasantly, clearly and concisely. People who rush often find they have talked before they thought. What was said (and captured) isn't what was meant.

Think in terms of strong, positive and active sound bytes. Control your timing...don't let the reporter control you.

Time Message

Even if the camera crew and reporter simply show up at your front door you don't have to immediately respond. If this is a scheduled interview then you should have prepared and committed to memory your 2-3 key messages. Covering any more simply means you dilute, confuse or even lose your key message.

When you are asked a question, answer it but keep focusing on your key points.

If the interview is unplanned - an accident, product recall or disaster - you still don't have to respond immediately. Quickly confer with other executives and experts and prepare your key points/messages in real-time. Having the interviewer wait for five-ten minutes while you become properly prepared enables you to ensure that the news crew leaves with the right message.

When you begin, give the camera (and reporter) your undivided attention and remember it isn't over until the mike and camera are safely packed away. Don't think the interview is over and then make an off-the-cuff comment or big sigh of relief. It could come back to haunt you.

Even a little preparation will help you ensure your company and you look good.

Home Court Advantage

Unless you've had exhaustive television training, a TV interview is going to be a little uncomfortable but you should still control the situation.

You can.

It's your offices so you have home court advantage. You can choose the background and seating area that best presents the company and makes you feel most comfortable. Just remember you are in the conference room, your office or your lobby all of the time so don't let them "suggest" the right location.

Own the situation.

Before the camera crew marches into your lobby do some rehearsal with fellow executives. Your organization (or one of your team) has a camera, camcorder and if nothing else even a camphone will work in a pinch. Set aside a few hours to prepare for the unexpected with all of your senior people and yourself. Do some mock interviews then grab some popcorn and do an informal critique. Three or four sessions like this and the team - and you - are prepared for your few minutes in front of the camera.

With a little practice you'll be prepared for the expected...and the unexpected.

Related Articles
  Knowing Your Rights with the Media and Press
  Ten Survival Strategy Tips For Hostile or Sensitive Interviews From Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach
  One On One with Pierre Omidyar
  Shipping and handling
  Call Handling - What Steps An Answering Service Goes Through To Handle Your Calls

Article Tags: all sorts, anxiety, camera crew, deep breaths, elbows, environmental issue, friends and family, jitters, layoffs, microphone, news item, oxygen, planning new products, poise, smile, stock performance, talking heads, television reporter, tv interview, undivided attention



Related Forum Posts
How Quick is That - Just to let you know that as I'm not as sharp as I might be in the ftp sort of world, I had a problem today with uploading a new site. Hostgator 'Live Chat' fixed this for me in two minutes flat and didn't make me feel I was an idiot at all (at least anymore than I felt myself). As I'm in the UK and ringing early am for me here, I thought that 'Live Chat' might have been EST, so off for me, but no, they were there! BTW I'd spelt my nameservers slightly wrong - duh! Now that's what I call service. Regards.
Re: New forum - online businesses! - Thanks Evan for this great Interview and I will be pleased to be part of the new forum on online businesses!
Just want to say Hi! - Hi all, First time here. Looking to get lots of fantastic business tips from all experienced and budding entrepeneurs. Live in London, hubby, 2 kids, 2 dogs. Manic!! But would love to get going this year with my own business.
Hiring the best people for the job - One of the hardest things I had to do as an entrepreneur was to give up control over a project to someone else. Currently, I am having a professional design my website for me. Sure I can do it myself, or hire someone to do it how I tell them, but what would I learn? Handling the technological side of the business is not my strong suit, so i had to find someone who knew more about the subject than I did and also has done what I want to do before. It has been a learning experience, and the great thing about it is it frees me up to do what I do best in my business, and letting someone else do what they do best. I have been brought up with the mindset that [i:vazquuoz]if you want it done right you [/i:vazquuoz][i:vazquuoz]have to do it yourself[/i:vazquuoz]. I am slowly but surely weening myself away from that mindset and learning how to delegate more effectively. Now I am extremely selective on who I hire, and my goal is to surround myself around people who are smarter than myself in their area of expertise.
The Game Inventor's Guidebook - by Brian Tinsman, 2002 I checked this out of my local library today and its pretty interesting... didn't address what I wanted to know, which was how to actually design an online gaming system (indeed this doesn't cover online games at all), but for board games etc. it's pretty good. Here's the TOC: 1. How they diid it: Trivial Pursuit Magic, the Gathering Dungeons & Dragons Pokemon Trading Card Game Interview with an inventor Interview with a publisher 2. How the industry works 1. What's in it for you 2. How new games happen 3. Anatomy of a publisher 4. Markets for games 3. Games and companies you should know 1. Mass market games you should know 2. Mass market companies you should know 3. Hobby games you should know 4. Hobby companies you should know 5. American specialty games and companies you should know 6. European specialty games and companies you should know 4. Self publishing 1. What am I getting into 2. Before you print 3. After you print 5. Selling a game step by step 1. How to invent a game 2. Game design 3. Game development 4. Targeting publishers 5. Before you submit 6. Eight submission strategies 7. Contacting publishers 8. Protecting your property 9. What to do if they don't say yes 10. What to do if they do say yes! 11. The game industry's dirty little secret 6. Resources and examples Publishers and mnufacturers Distributors Brokers Game conventions and trade shows Industry publications Sample query letter Sample record of disclosure Sample licensing agreement Sample option agreement


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Building a Business From 30,000 Feet

Tips for the Novice Traveler

••••••>SEO Tip Of The Day: HTML Validation

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.