When the Reporter Calls – How to Prepare for the Media Interview
- 13
- Jun
What you need to KNOW before consenting to the interview and what you need to DO to prepare. This video will present some of the things you need to know and steps you need to take in order to fully prepare for the media interview. First, don’t go blindly into any media interview – ever. Do your research; find out who the reporter is, her area of specialty, what form of media you will be appearing on. Is it for print story? Will it be in-person, over the phone, or conducted by emailing questions and answers back and forth? (This is a highly recommended way to conduct a print interview.) Is it a radio interview? Will it be over the phone, in person (at your site) or in their studio? What type format is the program? How many other guests will be with you. Is it a television interview? Will be it be live or taped? Is it at your location or in the studio? Again, what is the program format? How long will it be? What questions will be asked? Who else are they interviewing? Will you be put “on the spot” and asked to defend your position?
Just as performers and sports figures prepare for the concert or the big game, you also need to prepare.
What are your key messages? Are they succinct, easily understood, and contain a memorable and quotable message point?
How do you deliver those messages? With confidence, credibility and authority? How do you come across? Trustworthy? Believable? Or like a used car salesman?
How do you anticipate the questions? How do you lead the interview and take it where you want it to go?
How do you conclude the interview? Do have the “anything else?” prepared and practiced? (This is where a good number of final soundbites come from. I explain more in the media training workshops.)
Michael Drake has served as a reporter, public affairs host, news anchor for both radio and television news, and as the media spokesperson for various organizations. He has faced the media one-on-one in hundreds of interviews, and in news conference settings. He has handled the crisis event in the media – on more than one occasion. He has developed and delivered the key messages. His training is based on experience on “both” sides of the microphone and has been described as the most comprehensive media training in the marketplace today.
Learn Media Skills from someone who has actually been there and done it and has the track record to prove it!
Learn how to prepare for the media interview from someone who has been in hundreds of them – on both sides of the microphone.
When the Reporter Calls from Media Skills Workshop on Vimeo.
- Michael Drake
- BEFORE the Interview, Style & Content
- Tagged with : media interview, media training, media training 101, tv reporters
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Media Training Courses
Our basic media training course, Media Training 101, is for those who have limited or no experience with print or broadcast media. We can teach you how the media works, what it wants from you (typically just an interesting story with a great soundbite), how to think like a reporter and know what questions the reporter will ask, how to develop your communications agenda, and how to deliver YOUR message with confidence, clarity and credibility. We also teach you how to lose the stage fright and overcome any fear and intimidation of the TV cameras and reporters.
Advanced Media Skills Training goes well beyond the basics and includes intense practical exercises for developing and delivering the media message in a variety of interview situations from handing the hostile reporter in an ambush interview to satellite interviews, as well as delivering your message during a news conference and responding to reporters' tough questions. You will learn how to remain cool and survive under fire, how to control the situation and still deliver your key points – no matter the circumstances.
Crisis Communications Workshops: Our intense two-day Crisis Communications workshop teaches you how to prepare for and survive the crisis in the media. You will learn how to develop the crisis management plan, what to do in the first minutes and hours, how to establish and operate a media center, how to develop and execute the proper media strategies, avoid the fatal blunders, craft the proper messaging, then deliver and reinforce those critical messages in traditional and social media, and then correct any misleading or inaccurate information put out by the media. The second day of our crisis communications workshop includes an series of extremely realistic crisis scenarios developed specifically for you and your organization where you implement your crisis management plan and put your new crisis communications skills to work and face the media with authority, credibility and a new sense of confidence.