PR 101

So, you’ve landed that big interview for your boss or client. The CEO is set to appear on CNBC’s Squawk Box or be interviewed by one of Business Week’s top writers. You’re feeling good about yourself. This will put the company on the map.

So, you call the CEO’s secretary to give her the head’s up. She tells the boss. The boss is so happy he calls to congratulate you. As you are talking to your leader, you suddenly realize this person couldn’t put five words together in a coherent sentence if he had a gun to his head. Or even worse, he won’t be quiet. He just talks and talks and talks.

I had this situation once with a company executive who just didn’t know how to be quiet. I cannot tell you the company – confidentially and all that. There was a great deal of concern about what he might say in the interview. Remember, I said the interview is not over until the interviewer leaves the building. When I was a reporter, I often got my best stuff after I put the notebook away.

So, what to do? Media training is the solution. Anyone smart enough and savvy enough to run a company is smart enough to learn how to be interviewed. That’s where people like me come in. We train executives how to handle questions, what to do when a tough question is asked, and what to when the interviewer is openly hostile.

So, how does one media train a chief executive officer? Well, the first thing is to make sure the individual wants to be trained. The most dangerous person to deal with is someone who has not been trained, or at least reviewed by a professional. Some corporate leaders are naturals when it comes to be interviewed. They are well spoken; never more volunteer more information than asked for, and never get ruffled when asked a tough question. May you be blessed with such an executive.

However, most executive are not like that. Their training never prepared them for being questioned by someone who is trying to dig out information. They don’t know how to properly answer a question. When confronted by a tough interrogator, they get angry and lash out, start sweating, or just spew more and more things out. This is an interviewer’s dream. It is a public relations person’s nightmare.
So, what to do? Here are my suggestions on how to prepare your corporate leader for being interviewed.

One note before I start. It is impossible for some people to learn how to do this. I know of chief executive officers who have gone through media training half-a-dozen times. It never took. It those cases, gently suggest some other senior person handle the interview. Better a bruised ego than a depressed stock price or a competitor learning  a company secret.

If the leader won’t listen to reason, someone else has to be in the room to monitor the interview. This person has to be senior enough to be able to monitor, prompt, and cut the leader off if necessary.

Back to my suggestions:

• First the general rules to teach the executive:

1. Remember, Cole’s rule #1 – the reporter only provides the rope. What the executive does with it is his business. It is your job as the public relations person to keep the executive from fashioning the noose and slipping it over his neck. Make sure the executive understands this.
2. Only provide the information asked for, do not volunteer anything. In volunteering lies trouble. You might give the reporter access to a whole line of questioning that did not occur them.
3. Nothing can guarantee that the executive will not be misquoted. However, the odds can be lowered. Speak in short, declarative sentences. Ask the interviewer if they understand the answer. While most interviewers will not let you read the story, or see the videotape, most will review quotes before broadcast or publication.

• Do not wait until an interviewer calls to set up a meeting to start media training. That’s a time to review what has already been learned.

• Block out at least an hour, preferably longer for each training session. Note that I say each training session. Most people cannot learn this in an hour. How long will it take? That’s impossible to say. It depends on the pupil. I generally recommend planning on at least eight sessions.
• At the first session, conduct a mock interview. Someone who has done interviewing professionally should do this. If you have spent your entire life in public relations, you are not going to do it as well. I am sorry, but only someone who has actually grilled people for a living can act the part well enough. If you can, find a public relations person who was a journalist. They know both sides of the aisle.
• The first interview is to determine the executive’s strengths and weaknesses. It should be videotaped. Show the tape to the executive. Review it, discuss the strengths and weaknesses the person demonstrated. Reinforce one, work on the other. In fact, tape every session so progress can be reviewed.
• Remember, a broadcast interview is different from a print interview. A television interview is different from a radio interview. A newspaper interview is different from a magazine interview and a blog interview is different from all of them.
• In a television interview, the interview subject has to remember to watch out for non-verbal cues. Don’t let them hunch their shoulders, look around the room or turn away from the camera. The best way to handle a television interview is to look straight into the camera and answer each question clearly and concisely. If this is not in a studio, the cameraman will move around to get different shots. In that case, look right at the interviewer.
• In a radio interview, body language is not as important. No one is going to see the CEO obviously. However, still answer the questions clearly and concisely.
• In both television and radio interviews, keep the answers as short as possible. It makes it harder to cut down the quote and shade its meaning.
• In a print interview, assume everything is on the record. Again, answer clearly and concisely. Do not assume just because the notebook has been closed and the pen put away that the interviewer is not listening. Anything said could end up in a story.
• Magazines interviews tend to be the longest because magazine stories tend to be the longest. It is not unusual for a magazine writer to do three or more interviews with the executive. This is a time to be careful. By that third interview, the executive may relax a little too much. He or she might start volunteer information because he now feels he know the interviewer. Very dangerous. Make sure you are in the room.
• Bloggers often has a point of view. Many are more akin to editorial writers. Many are also not professional interviewers. So be very, very careful. There is a strong possibility that the quotes will be taken out of context.  Make sure the executive understands that.

Those are the basics. Obviously there is a lot more to media training. However, if you use what I have written, you will probably keep your executive out of trouble. Good luck.