Getting in front of the camera can be scary. Especially when it’s on the set of a busy news studio with producers shuffling you around, makeup artists touching up your face, and tech support clipping microphones to you. It’s an intense and often hectic process that can leave you and your client nervous and uncomfortable. That’s why at Matter Communications – when we land our clients a killer interview on television or radio – it’s key to offer media training in preparation for their time in the spotlight. A media training session can be of all shapes and sizes depending on lead time before the interview and your client’s expertise. In the most extensive of media trainings, we will host a client at Matter’s Studio C to go through interview questions on camera so that we can go over posture, pronunciation, and message points. Consider it to be practice, where Matter plays the newsroom and the client is, well, the interviewee.
So, when a recent client of mine had two interviews in one day, we knew a media training would be the next necessary step. Knowing one interview was for live television, we decided to prep our client for that, hoping the training as a whole would prep him for his earlier interview as well. To properly prep a client during media training it is important to go through a practice interview filled with “softball” and “hardball” questions. These will prep them to answer any question no matter how easy or hard.
The media training was an unconventional one as it was held over the phone due to a time constraint. It was filled with practice questions, message points, and pointers on how to properly conduct yourself during an interview. When ending any media training we always leave our client with specific rules when dealing with the media.
The day after our media training we received an email from one of our trainees praising the team on the training process and how well it prepared him. The reporter from his morning interview had a strict agenda, with a goal to get him to speak on something that he was not prepared for. With each “hardball” thrown at him, our client treated it like any experienced interviewee would, by returning to your field of expertise. A tool that is extremely important in interviews and something we teach in all media trainings.
Due to our impromptu media training the day before, our client was able to tackle the interview like a pro and keep himself from getting into a sticky situation by commenting on a topic outside of his expertise. By the time his live television interview came up later that day, he was ready for anything. Confident he could artfully address any question, he hit his interview out of the park, solidifying excellent press for himself and his company.
Are you constantly in the public eye? Do you often find yourself freezing in front of the camera or unable to field a question? We can help! Find out more about media training at Matter and see how you can become an interview pro.