Can you please prepare some comments for Paul for tomorrow’s talk show? We just received this invitation, so I apologize for the short notice.
That was the short email message the corporate communications manager received from Paul’s boss, one of the company’s vice presidents. The talk show was being taped the next morning for later broadcast on a local community access cable channel. The topic of the interview segment was to focus entirely on the work Paul does for the company every day. There would also be two other guests on the segment — Paul’s counterparts who do the same work for two other non-competing organizations.
“Why would Paul need talking points from me?” the corporate communications manager pondered.
She called Paul and said to him, “Look, since you are the expert, I’m sure you’ll do fine. Let me just offer a few quick pointers on performance.
- RELAX AND SMILE! RELAX AND SMILE! RELAX AND SMILE! People watching you at home won’t care how much you know unless they can see how much you care about helping them.
- Just have a conversation. Think: that’s not an interviewer you’re talking to. He or she is your best friend or next door neighbor.
- With every question you get, stop and think, “How can I answer this question so people watching at home can understand quickly and simply?”
- Keep your responses short so you don’t drone on and on and on…..
Let the interviewer decide to ask you one or more follow-up questions. There are two other people being interviewed in the segment with you, so leave plenty of time for them to talk!
- You can highlight a few statistics, but don’t get too wrapped up in them. People watching you at home want to know – “How can Paul help me?” You don’t help them with statistics. You help them by engaging their involvement in your program!
- To help people, remind them about these items at least once (and don’t be afraid to repeat them in rotation as you answer different questions):
- upcoming program outreach events
- the company’s web site is a great resource
- the phone number and email address where you can be contacted directly for more information
And again —
- RELAX AND SMILE! RELAX AND SMILE! RELAX AND SMILE! People watching you at home won’t care how much you know unless they can see how much you care about helping them overcome challenges, learn something new or be successful.
I recently had a bunch of articles, press releases and other materials that I authored and published scanned into a PDF. My thought was that this would make it convenient to send to people as an email attachment. 
Renee Griffin, MBA, APR
My PRgative 