Whenever someone on my team staffs a media interview, I always ask, “How did it go?!” and nine times out of 10 the answer I get is “Good! The reporter seemed really interested!”
And while I’m glad to hear it went well, what I really want to know is if the spokesperson:
- Hit their key messages
- Conveyed emotion to tell the story
- Used examples to illustrate their point
- Had strong body language and showed their excitement on the topic
- Flagged key topics and effectively bridged away from red areas
In a nutshell: did they present as a trustworthy source passionate about a topic?
It’s great to have a “good” an interview, but our role as communications professionals is to not just prep our spokespeople to have “good interviews,” but interviews that lead to the perfect headline or pull quote that nails a company’s message. And that’s where media training is vital.
When the Subject Matter Expert Meets the Comms Expert
A point I always emphasize during a media training, no matter how seasoned an executive, is they are the subject matter expert and to remember that as to not feel intimidated by a reporter’s questions.
What I don’t say, and what is the whole reason we’re doing the media training, is the executive is likely not a communications expert. They may know everything there is to know about the world’s most technical topic, but unless they can make a reporter care about said topic, they’re not going to be a very valuable spokesperson to you or, frankly, to their business.
And this is critical. Trusted presenters are three times more likely to persuade, motivate, and inspire. Trust is also the number one consideration for 82% of audiences when deciding to act on a presentation. If your spokesperson doesn’t come across as trustworthy in the interview, did your interview really achieve its goal? Better yet, did it really go well? It may have done more harm than good when it comes to perception.
When we media train a spokesperson, our goal is not to just teach them the do’s and don’t’s of media but to help them craft their key messages and deliver them in a way that will make a reporter sit up and remember (and ideally reach out for a second interview!). We focus on how to:
- Appeal to the audience
- Nail the very first question with your key message
- Navigate questions that could lead to an unsavory quote
- Tell their story visually and vocally
- Weave in real life examples
- And speak in soundbites that make a reporter or reader pay attention
The Perfect Mix of Art and Science for the Perfect Interview
A good media interview is as much of an art as it is a science — it’s pacing and tone, hard data plus real-world examples, well executed talking points combined with a likability factor. And that’s what we aim to bring out of each spokesperson we train — what is their story and why should we care about it?
But it’s easier said than done! Egos, confidence levels, and time constraints can all get in the way when executing a media training — and often these same factors present themselves as challenges in the real interview.
So how do we get around that? How do we level-out the ego-driven executive who is dismissive of media training and also comes across as cocky on camera? How do we boost the confidence of the executive who is petrified to be on camera but has really insightful things to say? That’s where AI comes in.
Human-Centric Storytelling with an Artificial Intelligence Boost
Earlier this year, Team Lewis launched Training for Trust (TFT): the world’s very first Biometrics trust index. It’s an AI-driven training tool designed to assess and evaluate trustworthiness in real-time — and one of its many applications is media training.
With TFT (which I highly encourage everyone to try!), a spokesperson receives a real-time trust score that takes into account everything from their tone, body language, and audience perception (ex. concern, positivity, etc.). It is one thing for me as a media trainer to tell you that your body language is off or that you became defensive when asked certain questions, it’s another to see a numerical score in real-time with that information. (And I say this from personal experience! I recently ran a video through it and was told my positivity was low — had you told me that, I’d probably have dismissed the feedback. But seeing a numerical, data-driven read out got my attention!)
You might be asking, so does this remove the human element to media training? Absolutely not. The data can only tell you what it sees, we can tell you how to learn, grow and improve from it. With the data in hand, we as the media trainers can really home in on areas for improvement and provide highly personalized coaching so you can approach the next interview with confidence — and with TFT you can then have a data-backed answer to whether you did improve.
AI-Backed Media Training
Some of the best applications of AI are the ones where it adds a level of analysis, detail or efficiency that a human simply could not and media training is a perfect example of that. For any comms professional looking to prep their spokespeople for an increasingly challenging and volatile media landscape, they’d be remiss to not consider how AI can help them do that. And I’d go so far as to say, the ones who don’t, may see dip in the quantity or quality of their media coverage.
Before you write it off as another silly AI tool, I challenge you to give it a try — upload a video of yourself presenting on any topic, see your score, and then see if you can improve your presentation skills based on the feedback in a second go of it. We’d love to hear your take on it!
