Joseph Galbraith
Lesson 8 Reading Summary
Telg, R. (2012). Preparing for a News Interview. Gainesville: University of Florida.
• Feeling prepared and confident can make a big difference in an interview.
•Prepare two or three ideas that will be your main points to get across to the public.
• Develop a list of questions that you think may be asked during the interview.
• Be familiar with the topic subjects and have answers ready.
• Keeping the interview responses simple and short will aid in keeping on subject.
• Stay on topic and summarize your main points to ensure your message was sent. Explain again and ask interviewer if message was clear.
•Know when to pause and when to stop talking. Answer the question and stop.
•Think before you speak and do not use fillers.
•Try to turn negative questions into positive responses.
•Do not speak for other organizations for which you do not have knowledge.
•Do not answer hypothetical questions. These questions represent scenarios that have never occurred.
•Working on your voice presentation takes practice. Use recording devices to analyze yourself answering questions. Add expressions and variety can keep the audience's attention.
•Appearance is everything and can say a lot about your credibility and professionalism. You dress conservative.
•Follow the 'Be Attitudes" which are; be prepared, be positive, be honest, be brief, be yourself, be comfortable, be energetic, and be focused.
This is another great list of tips for giving interviews. It has many similarities to the reading presented in this module.
Application to emergency services:
As emergency managers we are expected to have good communication skills. Even though we have PIO's who work with the media on a daily basis, we may be called upon to give an interview. These tips are a great way to deal with the media in an aggressive manner so that we are not caught off guard and so we can effectively communicate with our customers.
I enjoyed that your article focuses more specifically on personal tasks to use during an interview. Even if you are completely prepared and knowledgeable about a subject, you still need to know how to relay that message to the interviewer. It is important to understand how you can contribute personally to the success of an interview.
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