Wednesday, May 21, 2014

A Power Trip That Quickly Was Grounded


I have to laugh as I reflect back on several of my individual meetings with people throughout FPL. Most started with a very inquisitive, “Why are you here?” question. With such a high-level of security, I’m certain most rightfully wanted to know exactly what I was going to do with the information gathered.

For the Plank Center application process we are asked what one area of expertise do we have to share. Mine was social media. Additionally, applicants are asked to explain what one area of expertise he or she would find value in learning more about. Here was my answer:

I would like to develop an understanding and gain experience in media relations. I have had little professional contact with the media, outside of doing a few on-camera and print interviews. This is important, because I supervise the internships of all our PR majors. In this capacity I do on-site visits with every student and their supervisors.  Through this, I have learned how much interaction and experience students are gaining in media relations. This has been impressive to me, in part because it is very different than what I can teach out of a textbook.

I believe media relations is learned best by doing. I know my teaching would benefit from practical experience in this area. By having direct exposure to public relations practitioners interacting with the media on a daily basis, I would have a much stronger grasp and insight into this area of public relations.

Fast forward to today. At 9 a.m. I met with several key media relations team-members in the pressroom, which is full of flat screens for imaging, proper company signage and a stage built for press conferences. The room is amazing and was just a little intimidating!


Over the next several months, the team members present in the room today with me will meet to practice being on camera. After today’s half hour presentation of best practices for speaking on camera, I found myself thinking this is no-brainer stuff, how hard could it be?

So, like all newbies, they put me in the hot seat so see how I’d do. Confident in my ability to be drilled with questions, I found myself sitting down and nervously giggling. Yet I felt powerful, equipped with all the “no-brainer” do’s and don’ts of media training.

As he was hooking me up to a mic, the veteran reporter started drilling. I nailed question number one. Stepped up to the second question, I stumbled a bit but eventually got out the right response. Question three and four I found myself still thinking about question two and how I should have addressed the issue, and before I knew it, the interview was over and I was ushered back to my seat. 

Next my interview was played back on the big screen for all to critique. Wow.  Should I say WOW again so you get a full understanding of how I felt? My non-verbal communication was what I call an “epic fail.”  I bit my lip, rolled my eyes, and nervously fiddled with the lapel mic.  Ugh. This is the type of blooper reel I play in class to illustrate to students why you have to practice and work with communicators who will represent your company on-camera.  Now, I’m the blooper!

So my key takeaways from my on-camera media training?
  1. Practice may not make perfect, but sure beats doing it on the fly
  2. You are ultimately not talking to just the reporter, you are speaking to the entire viewing audience
  3. Silence is deadly.  Don’t feel the need to fill it with mindless babble
  4. Start and end with your most important message, regardless of how you are asked
  5. Don’t get caught up in speculating.  It can come back to bite you
  6. Pay attention to your nonverbal communication – relax…or at least pretend!
  7. Take criticism from professionals seriously – forget your ego

Thinking back to some of the most powerful on-camera interviews I’ve ever seen, I now know how much training and prep was put into crafting the perfect message and how skillful those people doing the interviews truly are. I am grateful for the experience and appreciate the candid  (yet, kind) feedback from the FPL media pros.

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