interview Archives - Clapperton Media

It always amazes us at Clapperton Media that so many people think they can ad lib a media interaction and go without interview prep. The same people who will rehearse and prep a presentation that’s going to go to 200 people in a hall will cheerfully claim they know what they want to say to the press (when they will effectively be talking to thousands) and they don’t prepare.

It will stagger you, no really, stagger you, that this approach can often go wrong. A question comes in that doesn’t suit your agenda exactly. Your tone doesn’t suit the occasion completely. The instant rapport you imagined you’d have with the journalist just isn’t happening. It is all told a bit of a nightmare.

We knew one PR professional whose client had exactly that attitude going in – didn’t need support. They spent an hour with the journalist and it didn’t go well. They came out of the meeting, called the PR person and said they didn’t want the interview to go out. They were then stunned to find out that the PR person had no power or authority (and let’s be honest, no inclination) to prevent the publication of an interview that had been given willingly. It wasn’t paid-for content so there was nothing to be done about stopping the write-up, which then wasn’t pretty when it appeared.

Interview prep needs taking seriously

A variant on this is the person who just doesn’t take it seriously. The PR people have prepared a document and the executive who’s going in front of the press intends to read it, honestly, and might even have glanced at it before the event. But they don’t give it enough time so they’re not on top of the figures, the latest research, the journalist’s readers and therefore how they can connect with them.

Clapperton Media Training works with many PR companies, some regularly and some on one-off bases. We often hear from them that their biggest frustration is the client that takes the prep documents and almost immediately discards them. Clients are busy people, they get that – but seriously, those prep documents are gold dust and invaluable – take them to heart, you’ll do a better interview.

No good media trainer is going to help you to lie which is odd because that’s what so many people think it’s about. But we won’t. It will catch you out eventually because you’ll forget who you told what and establish yourself as unreliable.

Here’s a short video on the subject.

It’s always important to know who you’re talking to when it comes to the media. One outlet’s audience will be different from others, they’ll respond differently to the same stories or will need a different angle and they’ll take different actions afterwards. Appear in a consumer publication talking about a money-saving gadget and you’ll hopefully appeal to those consumers; appear in a trade publication about the same thing and you might appeal to dealers, who will want to know more about the numbers.

That’s what this latest video tip is about – doing the basic research and not going in unarmed!

Guy Writes: I’ve been editing the next edition of my podcast, the Near Futurist, and if I say so myself it’s a good one. I take little credit, the interviewee was engaging and really knew his stuff – but I have had to eliminate fillers to make him sound better.

Let’s put it another way: he was one of those people, who, typically of speakers for the last ten years or so, started almost every response with “so”. It’s a good filler to eliminate and it’s worth explaining why.

Eliminate some fillers

First I should make my view clear. “Eliminate fillers” isn’t an absolute command. You can’t take out every “umm” and “aah” and nor should you; if you answered a journalist or podcaster in an interview and got rid of all of them you’d sound unnatural. Most listeners would assume you were reading from a script and that’s never good.

Unless they’re excessive, then. most fillers can stay. There’s an exception though, and that’s “so”. The reason is straightforward: it can actually end up damaging your answer.

I should explain.

Eliminate fillers at the beginning of an answer

Most people who use “so” other than as a conjunction to link two clauses (“I did a big workout so I am tired” is fine) will use it to start an answer to a question. As a journalist I might ask how a company takes its products to the market and the answer might be “So we find the indirect channel works best for us”.

Now ask yourself: would that be stronger or weaker without “So”, as a standalone answer? To me the answer is simple – “so” takes the edge off. In my podcast I’ll try to get rid of it as often as possible and we’ll come to the practicalities in a second. First it’s worth looking at why people use it.

It’s better than “Umm…”

The subhead gives you my best answer. People start with “so” because they feel they have to start speaking immediately and they don’t want to begin “umm…”. In either case it wouldn’t be a comment on their subject knowledge. They just want a second to think and are terrified of silence.

Here’s the big secret: I can cut silence whilst editing my podcast. Radio and TV interviewers can do the same and there’s never any need to worry in a written interview.

But if I’m going to cut it out anyway, where’s the harm? Here’s when it becomes difficult.

An inconvenient stop

“So” tends to flow into the next word. If you start your interview “So I did such and such” and I try to cut “So” out, it can end up sounding like “why did such and such”.

It makes no sense and the listener will soon sort it out in their head but consciously or otherwise they will be distracted. This is why you don’t want “so” at the beginning of an answer – it can make the next word, once “so” is cut off, sound as if it’s starting abruptly. This is why starting with “so” can actually damage your quote; it will sound less natural when it’s removed.

The alternative is better.

I don’t mind listening to you thinking

Your instinct is to start speaking immediately so nobody ends up with silence on their broadcast or podcast. That’s considerate but as we’ve established, we can deal with that. Anyway you don’t work for us, you want to ensure your point is clear and well-made. So here’s what you do.

You take a second. You gather yourself and you think “I’m going to start here and finish there” and then you answer. The result will be the same answer you were going to give – media training is not about lying or removing an honest view from a quote – but better. You’ll have a strong start and a strong finish because you’ve taken a second to plan it.

It’s not a natural technique. We tend to launch into answers immediately, talk over each other a little, stop and start again. It takes getting used to.

It’s more useful to you, though, than starting everything with “so”. If you can get rid of that habit it will pay you handsomely.

Need a hand with your presentation or media interview skills? We can help – email Lindsay and she’ll set us a time for an initial chat.