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ROI Community      09/04/11

VITAL INTERVIEWING TIPS


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Categories: Israel, New Media & Tech, ROI Events
In a Media Training Workshop, ROIer Mira Marcus from Headline Media provides professional advice and tips on "how to ace your media interview." This session was live-streamed and, for your benefit, the broadcasted recording is available now below. This recording runs for almost two hours.

NOTE: For about 20 minutes there is "private time" to fill out a worksheet. Here is the worksheet. You can skip from minute 14 to minute 40 to avoid watching participants simply work on their own sheets!

Here are just a few of the helpful tips you'll hear from Mira:
  • Know your audience.
  • Know your message.
  • Make sure you create a "sound-bite" (Mira explains what this is).
  • Repeat your message.
  • Use a "bridging" technique to answer 'unfavorable' questions. STEP 1: Answer the question. STEP 2: Create a bridge, for example, “But I think we need to look at the bigger picture which is…" STEP 3: Close with your message/your sound-bite.
  • If you're sitting, don’t lean back in your chair. Sit up straight, as though a string is attached to your head, lifting it toward the ceiling…
  • Women - don’t wear too much jewelry.
  • Don’t wear stripes. Avoid wearing white – washes you out. Avoid wearing black –  depending on the background, it can make you look like a floating head!
  • Good colour for men – light blue.
  • Don’t look right into the camera – freaks the viewers out.
  • Look at the interviewer.
  • The camera 'reduces' your emotion a notch – EG/ a big smile, looks like a smile. A small smile, looks like a regular expression. A regular expression, looks like a frown! Be expressive!
  • Say your point and then stop. Perfect answer: 30-45 seconds.
  • Remember TV is an emotional medium. Don’t just go with intellectual messages. Tell a story. 
  • When you’re passionate about something, make sure it doesn’t turn into aggression.
  • On camera, make sure to use eye contact as much as possible with the journalist.
  • Don’t use negative language.
  • If the reporter uses negative language, don’t copy that language, change the language.
  • Passion can’t be taught. Express it – in your body language.
  • 93% of your message is non-verbal.
  • Talk about your passions!