Fleur Revell

Media Training Tips You Must Read for Interview Success in 2014

April 19, 2014 by Fleur Revell Leave a Comment

Can Media Training Tips Help Success in Interviews?

TV-Interview-media-training

So, you’ve been asked to do an interview with the media. Whether you’re due to appear on the radio, in print media or on the television, here you’ll find tips and advice from former journalist Fleur Revell on how to successfully manage a media interview.

Knowledge is power

First things first – before you actually agree to being interviewed, you need to feel comfortable about what will happen. Revell says make sure you know when it comes to where the interview will take place; for how long; the primary reason for the interview; any subject matter that could be potentially controversial; who the reporter interviewing you will be; who they work for and their target audiences.

Match Your Delivery to Your Medium

Once you’ve established the key need-to-knows surrounding your interview, you need to think about the medium in which you are going to be interviewed, says Revell. Each media outlet presents its own dynamic and own set of challenges and it is imperative to understand these before you are interviewed.

Live television is very different to a taped radio interview, as is a face-to-face interview with a print journalist.

Here’s a breakdown of the three key media outlets and how to prepare yourself for whichever one you’re facing…

How to Survive a Print Media Interview

An interview with print media will most likely take place either over the telephone or face-to-face.

For a telephone interview, three key pieces of advice include:

Tone of voice – be convincing! Resist adopting a monotone and use inflection in your voice to maintain a sense of interest and persuasiveness. Don’t be afraid to pause either – it can add essential emphasis to the points you want to make.
Get moving – fight the urge to sit in a comfy chair; stand up and move around the room. Not only will it help you speak more clearly as your posture will be improved, but you’ll also feel more uplifted and thereby create more energy and enthusiasm in your answers.
Use your hands – while speaker phones are useful because you are essentially hands-free, they can also be problematic when it comes to being able to be heard clearly, creating a potentially negative situation for you as the interviewee being misheard, and therefore misquoted.

For a face-to-face interview, remember the following:

Preparation – arrive prepared, with written materials where possible to support the facts and messages you want to present.
Relax! Try to be personable – an energised manner will do wonders for your likeability and image.
Dress appropriately – what you would typically wear to work will be just fine for a face-to-face interview with a reporter from the print media.
Speak slowly – assess the pace of the reporter’s note-taking and adjust your speaking accordingly.

Don’t forget where you are – you may be having a seemingly fantastic conversation and getting on famously with the reporter, however loose lips can create the potential for a seed to be planted for a story that you had no intention of being printed. This can often end up as the angle for the story, so be careful says Revell.

Radio Media Training Tips & Techniques

Don’t wing it – never take a call cold from a reporter. Ask everything you wish to know about the interview, including the format of the radio station and the programme itself and schedule a later time for the actual interview to take place.
Clear as mud – before the interview starts, make sure you can say the interviewer’s name correctly and ensure you can hear the questions clearly.
Smile – yes, even though no one can see you, smiling when you speak will animate your voice and make it instantly more appealing to the interviewer and listeners alike. Avoid a monotone at all costs!
Get to the point – this is radio, which means you need to get your key points across in seconds, not minutes! However, if the interview is a pre-record, you have the luxury of being able to ask to be taped again if you feel you didn’t make your points succinctly enough. On the flipside, it can work to your advantage if you treat all interviews as if they are indeed live, thereby not allowing yourself the indulgence of making mistakes, says Fleur Revell.
Be ready – have your facts and key messages readily available – even think about using note cards, they’re an excellent way to jog your memory if you find yourself having a temporary mind blank.

The Ten Top Media Training Tips for Television

First impressions count – How you look has as much influence as what you say, so it is hugely important to look your best when it comes to live television. If make-up artists are offered, say yes. In the lead-up to the interview you could also consider making a trip to your hairdresser for a blow wave or cut. Don’t be afraid to ask for face powder, water for a dry throat etc.
Dress for success – this is another significant decision when it comes to live television. Block colours, soft shades and pastels work well, whereas busy patterns, horizontal stripes and big, chunky jewellery won’t do you or your physique any favours. If you’re wearing pants, ensure your socks are long enough to avoid the dreaded bare leg gap between your pant legs and the top of your socks when you sit down or cross your legs.
Be nice! While it may seem that the television programme you are on is a one-man show, television is in essence a team effort, so it’s important to be friendly and courteous to everyone you encounter, whether it’s the floor manager, camera crew or boom boy.
Say thank you – it is also important to be gracious. If you’re the subject of a live interview, thank the interviewer for the opportunity to appear on their show. Always smile – unless you are speaking about a terrible tragedy, an upbeat, smiley appearance will work to your advantage.
Where to look? Concentrate on the interviewer, not the camera! Never look directly at the camera, always focus on the person who is interviewing you. Look them in the eye and don’t allow yourself to shift your focus to anything else going on around you. If your eyes dart around you you’ll give off a deceptive vibe or appear dishonest – a huge no-no!
Watch your body language – whether you are sitting or standing, always maintain straight posture and if you’re sitting, lean forward slightly. Never fold your arms and if there’s time, before you go to air, do some exercises or move around the room a bit to relax your body.
Talk the talk – it’s important to use memorable words and talk in sound bites. Similar to radio, you need to get your key points across quickly and succinctly. Project an energetic vibe and think of interesting and innovative ways to deliver you key points.
Different strokes – if you’re conducting a live television interview remotely, don’t be shy about telling the camera operator about any issues you may have. Ensure that the volume is checked in your earpiece – being able to hear the interviewer is essential! And don’t forget, the interview is never over until it’s over – so at the end of your interview, wait for the all-clear signal from the camera operator.
And for next time – a constructive way to evaluate your performance is to tape your interview and spend some time reviewing how you appear, your body language, words and how effectively you feel you got your message across.
Good luck!

The 2014 Essential Media Interview Guide

April 8, 2014 by Fleur Revell Leave a Comment

Fleur Revell’s Essential Media Interview Guide

In this article media training specialist Fleur Revell details her essential guide to ensuring your success in almost any media interview…

According to former journalist Fleur Revell, the lure of a bit of free publicity can see business executives or owners excitedly jump at a media opportunity only to realise later they were ill-prepared and have either missed the chance to promote their products or services in the best way possible, or worse still impacted negatively on their brand.

It is for this reason Fleur always suggest to clients they consider a number of criteria to evaluate where or not participating in an interview is in their best interests and what key messages they wish to convey as part of the process.

What the journalist wants

A journalist has a goal in mind, he or she needs your comment to complete a story in a timely manner so they can get it filed first and make the paper, online or television or radio broadcast before one of their peer’s stories beats them to it.

Once you know this, it makes your job a lot easier. You can use this knowledge to establish yourself as a key contact for this reporter, one who knows they can rely on you to give them a witty, acerbic, entertaining or well-informed quote in a timely manner.

In most cases journalists are in a hurry as outlined above, they need to get their story filed quickly and if you are not available they will simply move onto the next person in their contact books to get an appropriate quote.

There is a temptation here to immediately respond (usually on the phone) and do the interview at once. Don’t. This is where businesses fall into the land of missed opportunity, where you simply respond to the journalists questions and do not present your key messages which have been developed as part of your public relations plan.

Ask the journalist for the angle of the story and whom else they are seeking commentary from, is this a business rival, an industry spokesperson with an opposing viewpoint to your own etc.

Tell the journalist you are in the middle of something right now but you will call them back in ten to fifteen minutes with your comments.

Revell recommends that clients then do the following:

1) If they have PR representation call them and discuss the opportunity

2) Prepare the key messages they wish to communicate as part of the interview

Before you say “Yes!”

Ask yourself why has this opportunity come my way? What has already gone out into the media, or is currently a talking point for this journalist to be contacting me? What do I think the interviewer hopes to achieve from this interview? What will he or she want to focus on? What don’t I want to talk about? Can I tell the truth?

Before you hear yourself saying yes to the chance of a bit of free publicity make sure you have considered the above points, and better still if you have PR counsel talk to them.

Once you have established you are willing to go ahead with the interview, you have clearly in your head the key messages you wish to communicate, and are confident you can respond appropriately to the questions you are less keen on responding too and you know who your audience you may be ready to do an interview.

Media Interviews Are Not Created Equal

It pays also to be aware of the type of media outlet where your interview will be posted. For example is it a radio interview, is it live or pre-recorded? Live means there is no editing, so you’d better be sure you know your subject well.

It’s also important to check how long the interview will be, if the interviewer wants a quick comment (usually around 30 seconds) then there is no sense in giving them a rambling two minute answer.

It is essential when embarking on any interview you know who your audience will be and you’re able to target your responses in a way that will resonate and seem relevant to them. This means a regional newspaper, radio or television interview will have a local audience so content must be targeted and emphasis placed on what is relevant to them; for example what this means to the people in Cambridge is…

Seniority does not always make for the best interviewee

Another fateful move that many business owners/ executives make says Revell is to think that they are the best person to appear on camera, on air or in a media interview. Just because you are the area manager, owner, most experienced technical person doesn’t mean you are the best person to tell the rest of the country about your product or service.

You can know the subject inside out but if you can’t convey that information in an interesting and entertaining way, then you are not the person to deliver it. Fleur Revell says its important to make sure that whomever is the public face of the company is well media trained and can talk about the interview topic in an informed, insightful and importantly entertaining way. If they are boring the audience will be turned off and the journalist is unlikely to come back for further commentary at a later date.

When to say No to an interview

You should always say no to an interview if you are not well versed in the topic, do not want to be part of an on-air debate, know the interviewer has a particular axe to grind with your business or you cannot tell the truth.

Revell says there is nothing worse than listening to an interview as the subject bumbles through responses, and does not have a full grasp of the subject he is being questioned on.

This often happens when it comes to a new piece of technology, so an engineer who has spent years developing a piece of equipment is going to be able to answer a tricky question about a product specification over the media trained marketing manager who has been put forward for the opportunity. It is for that reason Revell recommends several key personnel receive media training so the appropriate person can be put forward for each particular opportunity. This also means there is less likelihood of media fatigue, that is there is a fresh-face presenting new material as your business continues to grow and innovate.

What is a key message?

Revell says a key message is simply that, a key message. It is not pages of paragraphs and sentences which contain every nuance of your business.

A key message is a statement about your company, product or service that you wish to convey to your key audiences, these messages need to be succinct so that they are easy for you to communicate and easy for your viewers, readers or listeners to understand.

Before any interview it is worth ensuring you have distilled the main points you wish to make into several key messages. Revell says you must also prioritise there into the most important message you wish to convey first, incase you get cut-off and the interview ends abruptly before you’ve had the chance to leverage the interview to your advantage.

When to Make Notes

Revell says notes can be a welcome safety net for novice interviewees but only if conducting radio or print phone interviews. Again these should be limited to two or three key messages and must not ever be read, rather they are a guide to help you stay on track and remember to at least try and weave them into the interview.

What Not to Do!

Over preparation is the killer of an interesting, engaging and informative interview.

Revell says if the journalist wanted to interview a robot they would have, they do not want to be lectured at or be forced to listen to the complexities of a particular new piece of manufacturing equipment (unless it’s for a technology feature!).

Revell says business owners need to use the interview to communicate their product benefits in a lively and interesting way.

They need to be excited about what their product or service has to offer the New Zealand consumer, that is why it’s imperative they do not try and work out exactly what questions they will be asked before the interview. When this happens the interview can sound rehearsed, but worse still the subject could be thrown off guard by a question they weren’t expecting and hadn’t prepared for. Revell says interviewees should also make sure that they use simple language that is easy to understand and refrain from using too many industry or technological terms that the average New Zealander is unlikely to understand.

Radio and Television Interviews

Revell says in her experience television interviews, closely followed by life radio interviews are those her clients fear most. It is largely due to the fact in television you are seen as well as heard and this can make the interview subjects feel doubly exposed.

It is important for that reason she says that interviewees feel well-prepared because with television and radio interviews there is an element of performance required to ensure that their messages receive cut through. Television and radio interview subjects need to remember to keep their key messages short and their answers direct and to the point, there simply isn’t the time in broadcast interviews to waffle on at length and this makes it even harder for the editors to get an appropriate sound bite or grab from your interview.

Fleur Revell says the most important thing to remember when filming a television interview is not to look at the camera! This is the case for both live and pre-recorded interviews, your attention should always be on the reporter or interviewer and to try and imagine you are having a regular conversation. Revell says its important to also bring the viewer into this conversation and this can be done through injecting humour, parochialism or anecdotes that the audience may relate to.

Revell says in both radio and television interviews adrenaline is likely to kick in and there is a propensity for the interviewee to race through their answers and viewers/ listeners will find it hard to follow what they are saying. It is important they they remember to slow down and deliver their information in a considered authoritative tone, rather than sounding, rushed, panicked and overwhelmed.

Revell says some media training agencies will offer voice training to interviewees and says this is well worth investing in to ensure a smooth delivery of information during broadcast interviews. She says at a minimum interviewees should be taught basic mouth, jaw exercises and breathing techniques to ensure they get the best from their media opportunity and that their voices do not sound nervous or light, which makes them lack authority and credibility.

What to wear?

If conducting an interview outside always take off sunglasses, caps, hats or anything that creates a barrier between you and the people you are talking to at home, your audience.

Revell says for women bright patterned clothing, dangly distracting earrings and harsh bright lipsticks should all be avoided. She says if the interview is being conducted outside and it is a relatively windy day then hair should be tied back, it is hard to take what someone is saying seriously when they’re frantically trying to keep their hair under control.

In most cases men can opt for smart casual but should avoid white shirts, thinly striped shirts and quirky ties that could undermine the seriousness of the subject matter they are discussing.

And remember

This is your chance to help your company shine, every interview should be approached as if its the most important thing you’ll do that day says Revell. Media coverage provides the credible, third party endorsement that adds value to your brand that no amount of advertising spend could buy you.

Prepare your key messages and enjoy the process, your enthusiasm and passion for your products or services cannot help but be infectious if presented the right way.

“There is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing.”

– ARISTOTLE

Media Training 101 – Your One Stop 2014 Guide to Media Interviews

March 26, 2014 by Fleur Revell Leave a Comment

Fleur Revell : Why You Need Media Training 101

According to reporter and news journalist Fleur Revell, media training is a useful tool for businesses to offer their employees as it provides valuable instruction on how to interact with journalists and potentially help staff secure positive publicity for the organisation or company they work for. Taking suitable staff through a media training 101 course in advance acts as a brand’s insurance against potentially damaging media attention when disaster strikes. It also makes sure they are ready to captilise on media opportunities when they arise.

It is important for any organisation engaging a media trainer to first identify those employees who are best suited for a key spokesperson role. Usually employees given the task of speaking in media interviews are key management personnel or work in the marketing, finance or human resources departments.

Face It – Media Interviews are not for Everyone

It’s important to also note that not everyone, despite their company position, will be suitable to assume the company face for interviews with journalists. If staff are particularly shy, have a light or quiet voice, or other unique traits that may impair their performance these people should not be utilised in a spokespersons role.

Fleur believes that in essence media training is designed to help companies increase the volume and accuracy of publicity or media coverage they receive. Given the right media training company managers are able to communicate the businesses key messages to journalists and ultimately the publics they want to reach.

From the outset a good media trainer should work with the interviewee on the key messages they wish to communicate for any given interview.

They should also provide them with a selection of questions and answers about the given topic they are to be interviewed on and have them practice weaving the key messages into their verbal responses.

According to Fleur Revell, it is important that these questions provide a basis for interview practice but are not memorised. A nervous client will often want to memorise these verbatim, a terrible habit to get into, should the journalist ask them something outside what they have prepared and leave them reeling.

Journalists Don’t Want Your Life Story

There is also a temptation for clients to have a list as long as your arm of key messages they wish to convey during any given interview. This simply will not do. Fleur says – I tell them this is not the time to launch into a soliloquy of Shakespearean proportions, rather it is the chance to tell the journalist and their audiences about their business in a concise way.

“As a former journalist I’m all too familiar with how maddening it can be when you are on a tight deadline, only to have an interviewee veer off topic or worse blatantly try to use the interview as a free advertisement.” – Fleur Revell

A good rule of thumb is to have no more than three key messages (unless there is a crisis situation and more on that in my next blog).

While you may think your business or company or in fact you (if it’s a profile story) is the most interesting event since man walked on the moon, you are wrong.

Yes we want to hear about your business, but space is tight and we have no time and few resources so you need to tell us quickly and succinctly.

Keep It Brief

According to Fleur Revell, there is no room for more than three key messages for the following reasons:

1) Journalists are not writing or broadcasting a free advert – be grateful if you get one key message in, and do cartwheels if you wrangle more than that!

2) You will over-prepare and panic. You will be so focused on presenting the 6 or 7 key messages you do have that you will pay no attention to how you’re actually delivering the material, and often you forget the most basic message as you’re trying to remember the rest.

3) Think about the length of the average radio or television broadcast interviews they want a quick snippet off you, that’s all.

What To Wear for Media Interviews

Fleur says often the first things clients will ask when preparing for an interview (men are actually the worst offenders) is what they should wear!

Fleur will go into detail on this in one of my next blogs, but in essence it’s important that you think about what you’re saying and how you’re saying it, before you worry about the colour of your shirt.

You can have all of the information you need at your fingertips, the perfect response to a reporter’s difficult or technical question, but if you can’t deliver it in a compelling and interesting way, then you are likely to get cut. This is particularly true for broadcast interviews – Fleur Revell

Similarly, says Fleur Revell, if you are conducting a print interview with a newspaper/magazine or online journalist and you do not answer the questions concisely and in layman’s terms you make it difficult for a journalist on deadline to distill your information into a few short quotes.

Providing interesting, up-to-date and honest information to the journalist goes a long way to developing an on-going relationship with a reporter, who may come back to you again to comment on your industry.

Fleur Revell’s Media Training Tips

Here are some of the tips Fleur tells her clients:

1) Do not over prepare, enjoy it. This is a chance for you to tell your customers about your product or service.

2) Don’t get so bogged down in the information you lose the excitement and passion for what you’re talking about, make us want to hear more from you.

3) Be honest, always. If you can’t speak the truth do not do the interview

4) Nothing is off the record, ever.

5) Do not make negative comments about competitors businesses.

“It usually takes more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech.”

– MARK TWAIN