News Media Interviews – 7 Mistakes Spokespersons Often Make With TV News and Feature Media
Published May 11, 2012 | 
Spokespersons often make mistakes during media interviews that can easily be avoided with preparation, training and confidence. Here are 10 of the mistakes spokespersons most often make during interviews for tv news and feature media.
Deer in the headlights: When asked about something the spokesperson would rather not talk about they look as if they are about to be hit. To avoid this situation, anticipate difficult questions and prepare for them before the interview. Remember, if you dread it, you’ll get it. Not staying on topic: Reporters can ask anything during an interview. Your job is to stay on topic and not follow the reporter who veers from your topic. You do this by blocking an off target question while bridging back to your key message points. Being a push over: It is uncanny how many times a strong and confident spokesperson becomes meek and weak during an interview. Remember, reporters are just people and there is no need to cower before them. Bobble-head: Often, a spokesperson will nod their head up and down as if to say yes when they are asked a question. Usually, they are letting the reporter know that they understand the question. However, this comes across as agreeing with the reporter and that may not be the intention of the spokesperson. In fact, it is often just the opposite. Over answering: Be concise – always stick to your message points and stop talking when you have answered the question. The silence between questions will be edited out later. Speculating or answering a question even when you don’t know the answer: For some reason, spokespersons will sometimes try to answer a question even when they have no idea what to say. If you are asked a question that you don’t know the answer to, say you don’t know. The reporter will appreciate your honesty. Agreeing to an on the spot interview: Never agree to an interview on the spot. If you are asked to do an interview and you want to do it, simply tell the reporter you are in the middle of something but will be glad to schedule a time for the interview. Even if you just get a few minutes. This gives you time to collect your thoughts so that you can do a strong interview. Not controlling the interview: During an interview, you are representing your personal brand, your company or your cause. It is up to you to control the interview by staying on topic, delivering your message points and remaining confident. If the reporter starts down a rabbit hole, do not follow. Being boring: Be your natural self – energetic, interesting and entertaining. TV is an entertainment medium and the more natural and interesting you are, the better the interview will be. Not talking in sound bites: TV interviews are edited down to a series of 10-30 second sound bites. It is your responsibility to deliver your message points in concise, clear sound bites that they can use with little editing.
If you are nervous about being interviewed, get some personal media training and coaching. With preparation and training, you can be a hit during every interview. Now, go get interviewed.
Watching Movies for More Than Entertainment
Published May 10, 2012 |
There are a number of people who feel that there is nothing more entertaining as compared to watching their favorite movies as these are considered as very much visually stimulating. Always bear in mind that there are many movies that always have their own personal charm, and even if you are just not able to learn everything from any movie, still you find them very much entertaining and effective. Our mind is very much obsessed by the auditory and visual stimulation as compared to any other system of learning, including reading books. The fact is that when you are watching movies you certainly need less concentration and focus as compared to reading books, and this where most people are interested in.
Watching movies, certainly can offer a lot to ordinary man in terms of developing their intellectual skills. When watching movies you just have to put in all your efforts to imagine actions and scenes and the best part is that movies also provide you with an opportunity where you just never have to try and make much use of imagination to recreate words. Movies also help in rapidly transmitting all set of messages instantly to our brain. This is also considered as one of the best and most effective ways for synapsing information to our brain, increasing our overall intelligence and creativity. Movies are also best means to educate people in masses in the field of science, arts, technology and psychology.
As movies are always here with us on one platform or another, so you can also think of them as best means to pass on your wisdom and knowledge from one generation to another. There are a number of movie makers who always work for improving vision of mankind by simply trying to recreate stories and scenes from one era to another. Movies, in simple terms are also regarded as one of the best means to educate the present generation about their past, present and future.
Entertainment Ideas
Published May 10, 2012 |
Why wait for the party to begin before implementing your entertainment ideas? We have some ideas you can start straight away and they’re free!
Unique Party Invitations
Your entertainment ideas really can begin with your party invitations – at least these unique party invitations.
Using Web 2.0 technology you can now create a truly interactive party invitation online that will entertain people for hours (instead of those boring handwritten invitations that get thrown away soon after received!)
Web 2.0 allows you to quickly and easily add photos, video, music, and pretty much anything else you like to your party invitations. You should also focus on making this page as interactive as possible if you want it as one of your entertainment ideas – this means adding polls, a comment wall and other ways to encourage interaction between your guests.
Once you have a great web page set up with all the details for your party then send out emails with the link so that people know where to come and let the party begin.
Make Special Events Last
What about after the party? Or those that can’t come? Do your entertainment ideas necessarily need to be limited to the actual party? We don’t think so.
For those people who are not able to make it, add a live video feed to your party invitations web page so that they can join in the entertainment even if they are not there.
Once the party is over go back and update your web page with photos and videos of your entertainment ideas and how they actually turned out on the night.