Tips to prepare an interview with the press.
Here are some tips I have recently amassed, partly through the excellent
training session given by the UEA press office.
Think before hand about these:
- who, what, when, where, why, how, how much.
- what would someone like to know that they think you ought to know
- work on your explanations before hand
- prepare facts, but not too many
- go to an interview thinking "what do I want to say", have an ambition
- prepare sound bites ("my message today to people who ___ is")
- finally, - prepare a 20 second summary -
- stories are mostly negative, good to find a positive outcome (keep the happiness and despair budget in balance)
- do a mental warm up
In general:
- keep your sense of humour
- relax and be positive
- you are speaking directly to the public (the journalist is transparent)
- asking agressive questions invites dynamic answers (this is why journalists do this)
- be concious of what you are doing and how people might percieve you
During the interview:
- use short answers, it is more difficult to be mis-quoted
- simplify the answers
- use simple words (precipitations -> rain; atmosphere -> air)
- "for example" is good
- say "people" and "you"
- avoid "there are X options (you may get lost)"
- use "the so called ___ (e.g. feedbacks)" when using jargon
- acknowledge the question and make a little bridge "but look" ... and give your message
- do not speak on behalf of a third party. Use instead: "you need to ask the
experts for that, but I can tell you from my experience with ____ that ___."
- use "if you are listening to me now and you want to ____ do ____. "
- on the phone, stand up
- on tv, keep your head still, look at the interviewer, be a bit boring with glothes
Corinne Le Quéré
Last revised, 30 July 2007.