Updated
For a phone or radio interview, stand up so your voice and energy are at their best, and print your core messages in large type, around 20 point, instead of reading from a screen. Take online media seriously too: bloggers, podcasters and recorded conversations reach your right-fit audience, so know what you want listeners to do.
How should you do a phone interview?
Many interviews do not happen in a studio. A print interview is often done by phone. A pre-interview for television is often on the phone. And radio, quite often, is done over the phone as opposed to in person. So the question is: what should you do to do a better job and be your best?
The first thing is simple. Do not just sit down and let your energy sink to its lowest point. Stand up.
Why should you stand up for a phone or radio interview?
When you stand, your vocal cords loosen up and you sound your best. You also have more room to play with the highs and lows of your voice, which is what keeps a listener engaged when there is no picture to look at. Moving around gives you better energy, and on the phone your energy is nearly everything the person on the other end gets.
This matters even more on audio-only formats. There is no face, no set and no body language for the audience to read. Your voice has to carry all of it. If you want more on that, read how to warm up your voice before an interview and how to control your voice on camera, since the same habits apply.
What should you have in front of you?
Notes, but the right kind. Print them out, ideally in 20 point type, so you can see them from far away while you stand. That size lets you glance at your best messages without leaning in or picking up a page.
Why print rather than read off a computer screen? If you think you can read from a screen, I guarantee the screen lock will come up at exactly the moment you want to read something. It is the one time you will not be able to see your notes.
So print out some of your core messages, or your notes, and put them where you can see them while you stand. Then you have energy and you can visually reach your best messages.
- Print them. A paper page does not lock, dim or go to sleep.
- Make the type big. About 20 point is the target.
- Keep only your core messages. It should be a reminder, not a script.
- Practice until you can glance, not read. You should not look like you are reading, and you should not sound like you are reading.
Practice, and go out there and be great. The notes come from the preparation described in key messages for media interviews.
Should you care about internet media?
People ask whether they should care about bloggers, podcasters, and people who walk up to them at a conference, start interviewing them, and put it on the internet or on YouTube where the whole world can see it. I think I just answered my own question. Yes, absolutely.
Many internet outlets are targeted at your right-fit audience. Those are the people you want hearing what you have to say, and taking action on what you say. An interview that reaches a small, perfectly matched audience can be worth more than one that reaches a large, generic one.
How should you approach online outlets?
Two things.
- Seek them out, and deliver massive value. Do not wait to be discovered. Find the blogs and podcasts your right-fit audience follows and offer something useful to their listeners. If you are curious how to be a standout guest, the podcast guest checklist and how to be the guest producers call back cover it.
- Do not forget your needs. Decide what you want the audience to do afterward. Giving a great interview is not the same as getting a result. That is called converting the interview.
How do you convert an interview into action?
Every interview, however informal, should end with a point. What should the person listening do next: visit a page, join a list, call, read something? Work out the answer before you start, and make it part of what you say. The full method is in put a call to action in every interview answer, and the bigger view is in how to leverage media interviews.
With all these new opportunities out there, take advantage of them.
Checklist for your next phone or online interview
- Stand up.
- Print your core messages in about 20 point type and place them where you can see them.
- Move around a little for energy and play with the highs and lows of your voice.
- Know who the audience is and why they are the right fit.
- Decide what you want them to do, and say it.
- Record a practice call and listen back for energy, pace and anything that sounds like reading.
If you want your team practicing this before the call comes in, executive media training is a good place to start.