How do you prepare for your first media interview?
Prepare for your first media interview by practicing out loud on camera with a coach who has real experience with people in your role, so the questions and the pressure feel familiar before the interview is live.
The single most important thing you can do to prepare for a first media interview is practice with a coach guiding you the entire way. Reading tips and watching videos helps a little, but it does not build the reflexes you need when a reporter asks something you did not expect.
Practice with the right coach
The coach needs real experience working with people who do what you do. Do not take direction from someone who has not gone where you are going. A trainer who has only worked with one type of client cannot prepare you for the specific questions and pressure your role brings, whether you are an executive, an author, a physician, or a nonprofit leader.
A simple first-interview prep plan
- Define your two or three key messages and the one action you want the audience to take.
- Rehearse out loud, on video, several times, including the tough questions you hope they will not ask.
- Watch the playback for delivery and body language, fix one or two things, and record again.
- Make your mistakes in rehearsal, so the live interview is a repeat of something you have already done well.
Jess Todtfeld came to this work after 13 years as a television producer at NBC, ABC, and FOX, where he prepped thousands of guests to walk in ready. That is exactly the preparation a first-timer needs.