PREPARING FOR AN INTERVIEW – TALKING TO THE MEDIA
- Preparing for the interview
- Plan your answers with key messages
- Make sure to research your audience and their expectations beforehand
Work with the communication officer to produce a summary or news release on your findings - Perform mock interviews with your best friend / Record your performance and use the results to improve it
- Craft simple ways to convey your research (remember the grandma test)
- Write down in plain language what you did, why it matters and its future implications
- Think about what your results do not suggest— this will help you to avoid hyping your story
- It is OK not knowing the answer. If you do not know, just say so.
- Watch your body language and verbal tics
- Prepare take-away messages by picking the points you want the reporter to walk away thinking about
- Avoid acronyms, long sentences, and complex terms, and be enthusiastic
- Repeat whenever possible the key messages
- Use bridging techniques
SOME TIPS
- Use metaphors, synonyms, analogies, comparisons
- Provide context data (whether it is disease, how many people it affects, etc …)
- Do not abuse of the numbers, give it a dimension
- If the confusion is propitious, clarify immediatel
- Leave a contact (that really works! …)
- Eventually images and graphics
