Would you be nervous about playing a high stakes tennis match on center court at Wimbledon? Of course you would. But what if you were playing someone who had never won a tennis match before, never hit an ace, never knocked a winning forehand? In fact, what if you were playing someone who had never played tennis before in his or her life, and wasn’t especially athletic?
Now, you aren’t so nervous, are you? Especially if you play tennis every couple of months.
Before you do any taped or recorded TV or radio interview, you should always ask the reporter or host interviewing you, “When will this segment likely air?” If you don’t find this out, you may make some comment that makes sense to you the moment you said it, but wouldn’t make sense to anyone else who heard it at a different time.
Imagine you find yourself at a huge trade conference with back-to-back speakers all day long for three days. Select a morning or afternoon when the all of the speakers are focused on issues that are not crucial to your career. Next, sit on the second row of the auditorium. Only instead of listening to the speakers, I want you to put on an I-pod or a Walk-Man and listen to music. But I want you to watch, really watch, each speaker carefully.
You’ve just finished your speech and, hard to imagine, you weren’t universally loved. In fact, some people in the audience are now firing tough questions at you.
What do you do?
For starters, never say or do anything that suggests you feel it is a tough question. It’s not as simple as the following the cliche of “never let ‘em see you sweat.” But that is a good starting point. If you look at each questioner and each question in a polite and pleasant manner, audience members won’t feel like they got under your skin. (That is often the goal of some questioners)
“Don’t make the almost universal mistake of trying to cover too much ground in a brief talk.”
“Above all else, don’t make your talk abstract.”
“While preparing, study your audience. Think of their wants, their wishes.”
“Don’t read, and don’t attempt to memorize your talk word for word.”
“The ideal thing would be not only to see and hear the thing to be remembered, but also to touch it, and smell it and taste it. Above all else, we are visual minded.”
“Stop leaning against the table. Stand tall. Don’t rock back and forth.”
When you are a guest on a talk radio program it is essential that you do more than just prepare the facts for particular questions. Facts are nice, they may even be essential, but they will not make you a great radio quest or earn you a warm place in the hearts of listeners.
Radio is a personal and emotional medium. You need to come across as friendly, conversational and accessible. You can�t seem like you are lecturing to a huge room of people. And for goodness sakes, don�t even think about reading a script when you are a guest on a radio show. Radio listeners can detect in less than a second if you are reading and they will conclude that you are unknowledgeable and insincere.
When you are going to be a guest on a radio news program always try to go to the studio to do the interview , even if you are given the option of doing the interview by phone (obviously I’m not talking about flying across the country for a 5 minute interview, but when the show is based in your town). There are several distinct advantages to doing the interview in the studio.
When I am out on the golf course, I ignore the sand trap and I focus on the pin. I visualize hitting a hole in one. I relax. I breathe deeply. I “see” my success before it happens.
The result?
I slice the ball into the woods. Next, I hook the ball into the parking lot. The positive, feel-good stuff does not work for me on the golf course.
Next, I go to the basketball court to the half court line. I visualize sinking a net shot. I aim, I shoot and – whooof. Nothing but air. I miss everything.