It’s your big moment. The New York Times wants to interview you. You hop on the phone, answer the reporter’s questions, and end the conversation feeling excited to share your story with such a massive audience.
And, then the article comes out …
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Last month, the New York Times published an article about Chinese investments in US cities, featuring Toledo, Ohio as the shining example of investments gone right. (Background: I attended the University of Toledo and worked for a local PR firm for four years after that. Needless to say, I still have a soft spot for Toledo, a city that I called home for nearly a decade.) In the article, Dean Monske, president and chief executive of the Regional Growth Partnership is quoted as saying:
“For little old Podunk, Ohio, it’s been pretty phenomenal what we’ve been able to do.”
When reading the article, my PR radar went off, bemoaning the fact that the head of the organization that leads the region’s economic growth used this platform to reinforce a negative, instead of using the opportunity to focus on the positives. According to Mr. Monske, who emailed me after I tweeted about the article, he was misquoted. As he explained it to me, he was telling the reporter that “people from outside our area may have a perception of Toledo being a rustbelt, Podunk town, but this could not be further from the truth.”
Regardless, he was breaking one of the golden rules of interviews: Don’t reinforce the negative.
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As you prepare for an interview, there are steps you can take to ward off this kind of problem. A few suggestions to get you started:
- Create a pre-briefing document. In one centralized location, you should have the interview topic, time and date; reporter’s bio, previous articles and general tone; key messages; potential questions and suggested answers; and verbiage to deal with the “tough” questions. Here’s the template we use at Geben, if you need something to get you started.
- Ask someone to sit in with you. During the course of the interview, there may be items that require additional follow up. Having a PR person (or someone!) listen in on the call lets you stay focused on the conversation. The person listening in can note additional action items and make sure follow-up occurs.
- Record your conversation. This is helpful for two reasons: 1) Go back and listen to yourself. Were you succinct and clear? Did you use jargon? Where did you stumble? What questions could you have answered better? The only way to improve is through practice and experience. Debrief with yourself and/or ask someone else to listen and offer feedback. 2) If you are misquoted, you have a record of the conversation. The amazingly talented Brandee Barker (former PR head for Facebook) secured one of the best corrections ever when working with Wired for a feature on Dropbox. According to the correction, “A previous version of this story incorrectly quoted Dropbox co-founder Drew Houston saying ‘anyone with nipples’ instead of ‘anyone with a pulse.'” According to Brandee’s business partner, this correction was secured because they had a recording of the conversation to verify what was actually said. (Note: There are laws governing recording conversations in some states. Make sure you’re not violating any laws before taking this step.)
- Don’t reinforce the negative. Most interviews are relatively short. And, if you’re passionate about the subject matter, it’s hard to cram everything you want to say into this brief conversation. Don’t waste time dwelling on negatives. Instead, stay focused on what you want/need to convey. (In the RGP example, there was no need to remind the reporter that people perceive Toledo as “podunk.” And, if that reminder hadn’t existed, this misquote wouldn’t have happened.)
That’s just for starters. I could go on and on about this all day. But, I’d rather here from you: What tips would you offer to executives preparing for their next big interview?
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Photo credit: sally9258