Congratulations. A publication is interested in your story. Now comes the fun part: the interview. Below is useful advice to follow when you find yourself face-to-face with a reporter:
Be truthful: If you lie, you will get caught. Apart from the moral implications of not telling the truth, the human body is a walking lie detector. When you lie, your eyes will subconsciously glance down, your heart rate increases and you begin to perspire. Skilled reporters and journalists will sense when you are not being entirely truthful and forthcoming. Even if the news isn’t good, it’s better to tell the truth, take your lumps and move on.
Be responsive: It’s important to get your key messages across in an interview, but you also need to be responsive to the questions asked. Be strategic in working in key messages, and don't be disappointed if you're not able to use them in every response. Reporters are professional questioners. It puts them on alert if you don’t answer the precise question they asked, and could lead to a new line of questioning that offers fewer opportunities to talk about your key messages.
Be concise: Don’t say too much. Answer the question, relating your response back to a key point you’re trying to make. Provide one or two proof points and then stop talking. Talking too much in an interview often leads to trouble. Though he wound up winning the election, Barack Obama said too much in his response to Joe the Plumber. If he’d kept his response brief and on message, the world would have been spared from all those campaign commercials on socialism.
Be quotable: Anticipate the reporter’s questions and come up with memorable answers or statements that are sure to be quoted. For example, in a speech I drafted for a gentleman making a multi-million dollar donation to his alma mater to finance the construction of an arts center, I crafted a quotable sound bite which answered a question I knew all reporters would ask: Why is the gift being made? The answer: The opportunity to bring to the University the works of Picasso, the music of Mozart or the plays of Shakespeare was simply too compelling to pass up. That sound bite subsequently appeared in every print and online account of the dedication ceremony.
Be human: Talk in terms everyone can understand. Unless you’re speaking with a trade publication or a blog read by experts in your particular field, avoid business jargon commonly used by industry insiders.
Be grounded: Never speculate about what might happen. Never answer questions about a hypothetical set of facts. If a reporter asks you a question with a baked-in assumption (“What other ways are you trying to screw your customers?), you need to rephrase the question in more acceptable terms before answering it. Always remain grounded in facts.
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