As a business leader or spokesperson, one of the most important qualities is impact. Impact depends on two things: what you say and how you say it. The right presentation unfolds your message, and the carefully considered and trained message makes it easier to present yourself and your case convincingly to the recipients.
Get five good tips on how to prepare for an interview below:
1. Familiarize yourself with the circumstances in advance
It is a really good idea to have a clear understanding of the messages you want to convey before you appear for an interview. This will make it easier for you to keep an overview and ensure that you communicate the most essential things to your recipients. An idea could be to sit down and say your messages out loud to yourself. Question the messages in order to explain the meaning of them to yourself. Be careful not to deliver too many messages and information at once, so that the recipient misinterprets the essence.
2. Keep track of the facts and tell the truth
Falsehoods or factually incorrect information will neither put you nor the company in a good light. Therefore, familiarize yourself with the questions in advance so that you have the opportunity to research certain areas if you need to. In this way, you will appear knowledgeable, trustworthy and informed.
3. Keep it short and to the point
An interview should not be structured like fiction, where the tension is only released at the end. In a TV interview, you may only get 10 seconds of screen time, and therefore you should say the most important thing first and save any supplementary information and evidence for your claims for later, if there is time for this. Always remember to focus on what you are exactly being asked about. Come up with a specific answer instead of filling in a bunch of irrelevant information.
4. Think about your recipients
It is neither your colleagues nor the journalist you are talking to in an interview, but the viewers, readers or listeners. Therefore, save the professional jargon for internal communication, and formulate your messages in a language that everyone can understand, e.g., by using figurative language or concrete examples.
You may experience a journalist asking you the same question several times. Maybe in different variants. It may be an attempt to get you to say more than you want to. Here it is important to remember that it is you who decides what you want to say and that it is okay to stick to your core message. Even if it feels a little unnatural to repeat yourself. It is important to stick to your messages.
5. Be prepared
It sounds like a cliché, but practice makes perfect. You can therefore benefit from practicing in front of the mirror or with a colleague before an interview. You will also be better at remembering your messages when you have said them out loud - and thus it will also be easier for you to appear relaxed and credible in front of the camera. In order to become good at handling the media and the press, there is nothing to do but practice, practice and practice again.
