Learning from the pros...?: Media Interviews 101

Oral presentations? Not a problem. 20 page campaign proposals? No sweat.

But this week, when me and my fellow PR majors were asked to write a good key message and prep for our first on-camera media interview the room went suddenly quiet, oozing nervous tension.

And rightly so. Media interviews are no small undertaking – what with handling nerves, using appropriate body language, speaking clearly, remembering your key messages, and fielding difficult questions.

I went online to see how the professionals do it, and on top of the good ones, there are some really stellar bad ones too!

Lesson #1:

Where to start? I suspect the Managing Director of BT Retail knew that this was going to be a tough interview, but he made it worse with his a) poor eye contact, b) interruption, and c) nervous fidgeting (watch his feet!)

TIP: For seated interviews, try the BIBS (bums in back of seat) method mentioned in this blog which discusses the interview.

Lesson #2:

Don’t get emotional. In this clip, André Visagie, secretary general of AWB, a political group in South Africa, forgets two of the most important rules in media relations: stay calm, and remember you’re always speaking to your audience first through the reporter. Instead of politely refuting the allegations against him and then going on to deliver his key messages, he argues with the interviewer and gets pretty hostile.

Lesson #3:

Definitely something us regularly sleep-deprived CreComms should keep in mind: before an interview, get adequate sleep! (I’d really like to know, however, if the former Israeli president answered the questions correctly while nodding off! Now that would be talent.)

Managing the Da Vinci crisis

Let’s go back to 2003-2006.

Those of you who remember the Da Vinci Code phenomenon will recall the controversy it created, particularly its portrayal of certain aspects of Christianity.

Those of you who also read the book or watched the movie will remember the part where Silas, the murderous, albino monk, goes to St. Sulpice church in search of the Holy Grail.

Today, you can walk inside St. Sulpice in Paris (like I did this summer) and see that which was made famous by the novel and subsequent movie: the Rose Line; where Silas smashed a hole in the floor; the place where the nun may have been standing in the balcony... if a balcony existed in real life.

You can also see evidence of the church’s attempts to separate fiction from fact, but avoiding one of the principles of crisis comm - “tell it all”: Recent best selling novel? Do you mean The Book That Must Not Be Named?

If I ever go into crisis communications, it will be a shame to have to fix amusing signs like this:

See more of my European experience here.

The CreComm Cave? or Procrastinate - CreComm Style, Part 2

With IPP panels appearing on the horizon for Monday, I’ve been doing some strategic prep on my increasingly frequent breaks between homework.

Rather unintentionally, I found myself looking up past episodes of the CBC program Dragon’s Den on YouTube for some quick entertainment, and learned some valuable lessons for when we all face the CreComm Dragons next week:


#1 Being cute, creative, and funny isn’t enough.



#2 Don’t argue if you get rejected.



#3 Have realistic goals and don’t be creepy/patronizing.



#4 Great ideas fall flat if you can’t convince the panel you have a solid strategy and interested markets.



#5 Be able to explain yourself in plain English, and under a minute.

Procrastinate – CreComm style

Procrastination has never been more entertaining since I discovered chrisd.ca and his collection of newcast/media related bloopers.

As I said earlier, news is all the more entertaining when journalists go off script. It’s even more entertaining when it means I can temporarily delay the college-related task at hand, get a good laugh, and learn some valuable broadcast production lessons along the way.

Lesson #1: A TV broadcast is the product of a team effort. If someone isn’t doing their job, everyone just looks bad (especially those on camera).

Lesson #2: The floor director is important: watch for the floor director’s cues! Or: floor director, give less confusing cues!

Lesson #3: Pronunciation quizzes in radio class? Don’t need ‘em for TV!

Lesson #4: Giggling. And what to do when it happens on-screen.

Finally, the most crucial and hilarious lesson of all:

Lesson #5: Pets and interviewers do not mix. Especially on live television.