So, I thought I’d throw a few tips out there for any of you about to do a satellite TV interview. This is all based on the half hour I spent yesterday, shooting at KCPQ 13 in Seattle for a interview with Orlando TV station WOFL Fox 35.
1) You might expect that they will take you to a closed door studio, where you have plenty of privacy in order to make you feel more comfortable and less nervous. Not so much. Plan on having a camera and a backdrop situated in the middle of a bustling newsroom, where no one is actually paying attention to you, but they all can hear every word you say.
2) I brought about 7 shirts, 4 ties and 3 jackets so that I could get advice on the best color combo. Don’t expect much more than, "Don’t wear white," and "I like the blue one."
3) There will be a camera pointing at you, and a monitor as well, so you will be tempted to use this monitor as a mirror, since you can see yourself. Except, it’s not a mirror, it’s a monitor, so everything is in reverse. If your tie is off a little to the right in the monitor, and you do the natural thing and move it to the left, all you have done is basically take your tie halfway off your neck. So now you must start over.
4) Most importantly, when you are there to shoot in a 15 minute "window," if it is running late, start figuring out who needs to get something fixed. Our window got cut short because we started late due to a technical issue that each station thought the other one was fixing. So, just be aware that 15 minutes means 15 minutes, but only if you start on time.
5) Don’t fidget. I haven’t seen the tape yet, but apparently I slowly drifted my chair a few inches to the right every minute or so. So by the end of the shoot I had drifted pretty significantly off center. It probably won’t be noticed, but try to sit still.
6) It’s a little weird when you can’t see the guy asking the questions but he can see you. But not nearly as weird as the realization that you are talking to a camera pointed at Orlando, and even though they can all hear youir answers, no one else in the Seattle newsroom klnows what you are being asked.
7) Prepare an opening answer, and nail it. Then, no matter what the first question is, answer it with your opening statement. That makes sure all your talking points get across. If they need to, they’ll go back and edit the question so it sounds more relevant, but chance are they won’t even notice.
Ok, so now I’m officially a media consultant. I’ll fire up the WOFL-TV url when the story gets posted. Thanks to WOFL-TV anchor and old friend Cale Ramaker for the chance to embarass myself, I mean promote MyElectionChoices.com.
