A Recipe for Disaster?




When you are preparing your message for a media interview or helping someone else with their preparation, don’t try to cram in too much. Many times I’ve heard trainers asking delegates to prepare three or even five key messages.

I like to think of interviews as having one key ingredient and then other tasty morsels to back up the main dish. As someone who can’t cook and won’t cook this is probably where I should leave the culinary analogies. But if you imagine inviting people round for something to eat and then expecting them to know all the ingredients you will be sadly disappointed.

The point is, as with food, it is the main flavours that count. It is the same in media interviews. If you go into an interview with a handful of points you want to make the chances are you will either forget them or run out of time.

Now put yourself in the shoes of the audience. Are they really going to remember every word you have said? Will those well-crafted key messages (note messages in the plural) still be remembered after the interview has finished? Unlikely. Think about the best speeches you have read or heard? There will be a couple of unforgettable lines. The rest will be history.

Remember also, particularly for TV and radio interviews, the time will be short. I might also add that no-one will be sat by either transfixed by what it is you have to say. They are more likely to be getting ready for work, coming back from work, having something to eat or doing all kinds of things while your interview is going on. Think on that one!

So instead do yourself and whoever is doing the interview a favour. Think of the one thing you want the audience to remember and work on that. Make it memorable. Tell a story. Give some examples. Don’t throw in a whole bunch of ingredients and hope it will be edible. Do your preparation beforehand. Think about what the audience want to hear and not just about all the things you want to say. Overegging the pudding is simply a recipe for disaster.

Gail Downey,
Whirlwind Communications
www.whirlwindcommunications.co.uk

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