A media training session will set you straight on the dos and don’ts of interviews.
What to say, what to avoid and how to make sure you’re not led by the nose towards a juicy news line you never wanted to mention.
But where you do an interview is, arguably, as important as what you say - for both good and bad reasons.
Imagine you're the boss of a big rail operator. None of your trains run on time. Some of them might not run at all. Your drivers are going on strike. Your customers hate you and their fares have just gone up. What’s more, you've just posted record profits.
After months of persuasion, you've agreed to do an interview.
You’ve refused to be interviewed on the station concourse because you don't want to be ambushed by a commuter.
So you instruct the news crew to head to a spot outside the main railway station. It's busy and the camera crew are in a rush. They position you in a hurry - right in front of the entrance to the local theatre, which just so happens to be showing Wicked.
The journalist and crew quietly debate whether to completely stitch you up. Ultimately, they decide against it but you and your comms team have unwittingly had a lucky escape.
Journalists don’t care about what you look like, where you stand or whether your background makes you come across well. We have a deadline to make and a story to tell. And the story often must be told using pictures.
It is all too easy for a reporter to position themselves by or near a sign that could make an interviewee look foolish.
The former Prime Minister Gordon Brown hired a former BBC producer to help him avoid "visual gaffes," only to join the ranks of politicians, being photographed in embarrassing locations during the 2010 General Election campaign.
But you don’t need to be in a constant state of nerves about coming across as foolish. First, a session of media skills training will make sure you know what to expect from an interview. Secondly make sure you do your location preparation.
Your interview is only as interesting as your background.
A plain cream wall or an empty office won’t do.
Take the reporter somewhere where there’s a bit of life, such as a busy office, or a production line. Make sure there is movement in the back of the shot. Warn your staff in advance that they may be filmed, so that anyone who’s not keen can leave, and those who do can remove anything that they don’t want shown on TV.
This includes Skype and FaceTime interviews. It’s so easy for your professional image to be wrecked because your study is a tip... or worse.
Take a look at this for a glaring example of not realising that even though you’re at home, the whole world gets to see inside your privacy:
If a journalist is short of time, they may ask to do the filming outside. The reporter is less likely to hang around to ask awkward questions and if you have had a session of media skills training then you should be well equipped.
What you have less control of here is what’s happening around you. Make sure you’re not in a place where your surroundings directly contradict what you want to say.
Also make sure you are dressed appropriately. If it’s pouring, wear a coat. If it’s sweltering, don’t wear a suit. No-one will think any less of you.
And position yourself comfortably too. Media skills training sessions will help with your posture and body language. Take even more control by not squinting into bright sunlight orstanding by a puddle. A journalist really doesn’t care if you’re comfortable, so take charge.
How do we prepare your media training course?
It’s often suggested that if you’re being interviewed as part of crisis media management incident, not to stand too close to the scene. Your company will suffer, with a negative image perpetually associated with the brand.
Sometimes, however, being in the thick of it shows you’re prepared to roll your sleeves up and help. When a Virgin train crashed in Cumbria in 2007, Richard Branson was straight on the scene. Reporters asked how he could stand in front of one of his own, crumpled carriages and say how proud he was.
Branson, an expert in the highly prepared, yet off-the-cuff remarks, used the crashed train as an example of the heroics of his driver.
This is a risk you only take when you are an expert in communications and can hold your own in a crisis.
So as well as preparing what to say, and anticipating what questions come your way, it’s arguably just as important to have a list of great places where you can hold an interview at short notice.
Whoever’s being interviewed will feel at ease, the journalist won’t have to struggle to find a decent location and, as a result, the job will get done quickly and everyone will be happy.
Where is the best location for media training to take place?
Media First are media and communications training specialists with over 30 years of experience. We have a team of trainers, each with decades of experience working as journalists, presenters, communications coaches and media trainers.
Click here to find out more about our bespoke journalist-led media training courses. Or book a place on our next media training open course.
