Interview Critique

In the video above, you'll see and hear my thoughts on my latest local TV news spot talking about fireworks safety. This interview is following a long seven days of working which included a Joint Commission survey - as I mentioned in this post - was pretty stressful for me. And, in addition to that, I was on call this past weekend.

But despite that, and feeling fatigued, I felt that I was ready for this interview. I have been through this before - well once - with my interview about asthma. As you can see in the "before" video above, I felt pretty confident with the material. I practiced to myself more than a few times in the car driving up to the TV station. Did I mention that this was live and there was no "take two" possible?

So, I get at the TV station in plenty of time. I check in at the front desk, and almost immediately, I'm whisked back to the studio. It was pretty cool seeing how the news is produced. I saw the anchor reading from the teleprompter and saw some of the behind the scenes stuff.

Then, the anchor comes and sits at the interview table with me and I get a microphone. I thought that was unusual because my segment is not usually for another 5-7 minutes. At least, I told my friends and family that I was going to be on at about 5:15pm. The first story that you'll see in the video, is a story about fireworks sales. The dummy that I am, I didn't put it together that THIS was my segment as well.

So, breaking things down in more detail that you probably want to know, the first thing you'll see is me sitting up in my chair and gathering my thoughts and trying to recall my slides in my head when the anchor asks me the first question. What you will not see during the entire interview is my hands - because they are holding a pop can - because I thought I wasn't going on for another five minutes. I thought about dropping the can, but I knew that wouldn't be cool. So, I just went with it.

As I left the studio, I thought I did ok (and I recorded the "after" video above). My family called and told me I did a great job - what a great family! Then, I got home and looked at it for the first time with my own eyes. The material I presented was good, but I wasn't as animated as I was for my first interview. I learned a definite lesson today - just be ready for anything when it comes to media - whether it be TV, or radio, or live podcasting.

My next TV spot won't be for about three weeks. It's still a learning process for me, but I'm still having a great time. I definitely can do better, and I will. Thanks for all the support I've received from all of you out there. I appreciate it. You're the best!