Mike Fright: How to Succeed In Media Interviews When Mike Wallace Comes Calling, (Effective Communications, 1999) “Your book is terrific.” Fraser Seitel, Publisher, The Public Relations Strategist “Damn Good!”  Mike Wallace, CBS News 60-Minutes “This is the best book yet about handling the often rocky terrain of media interviews. Drawing on thirteen years experience as a network news correspondent and nearly twenty years as a communications consultant, David Snell delivers the goods in the same highly anecdotal style that has kept him in demand as a speaker and trainer. If you meet the media, Mike Fright is a must buy.” William C. Adams, Associate Professor of Public Relations, Florida International University

Big Speeches to Small Audiences: Communicating Like a Pro In All Situations
(To be published in 2008)

"In my twenty years as a communication consultant, I have come to the conclusion that most of the truly important speeches in business, government, and the professions are made to very small audiences. Your small audience may be a jury that will determine your client’s guilt or innocence, a regulatory agency that will decide on a rate increase, a Congressional sub-committee considering important tax legislation, or industry analysts assessing the management and earnings potential of your company. Your small audience may also be a single reporter asking you for answers that will become part of a news story. Whether you're bidding for a contract your company needs to survive, reporting to your supervisor on a project within your department or sitting for a job interview, what you say at these critical moments and how you say it may impact the future of your company, your career, or both. This book will assist you in making presentations to audiences large and small, but it is written specifically to help you prepare for those Big Speeches to Small Audiences."

- David Snell

Big Speeches To Small Audiences
TABLE OF CONTENTS

SECTION ONE:
The Complete Guide to Making Successful Presentations

1 THE GEEKIFICATION OF CORPORATE AMERICA
Newcomers to any organization feel like outsiders until they learn the jargon. Then, they tend to use it as if it were everyday English, understood by all.

2 HOW TO BOIL A FROG
Frog-boiling works best if you think of it from the frog’s perspective. The same is true when you communicate with any audience.

3 TARGETING YOUR AUDIENCE
To target effectively, you need to understand what your audience knows and make four key decisions about how best to communicate with them.

4 THE ARISTOTLE SOLUTION
The Aristotle Solution involves using a simple logic formula to make your communication clear, concise, and persuasive.

5 GETTING STARTED
A good introduction brings your audience (or readers) up to speed by giving them the Situation, Complication, Question and Answer before you move into the body of your presentation.

6 COLORFUL LANGUAGE
Colorful language and apt analogies help to explain complicated information by comparing something the audience knows to something it doesn’t know.

7 TAMING YOUR BUTTERFLIES
Nearly everybody experiences nervousness when facing a presentation or interview, but there are exercises – physical and psychological – to tame your butterflies and get them flying in formation.

8 TWO-COLOR NOTE TECHNIQUE
The two-color note technique can help you deliver your presentation in an extemporaneous manner while remaining true to a written text.

9 LOOKING THE PART
Good speakers look like good speakers because of the way they carry themselves, their gestures and their eye contact.

10 VISUAL AIDES: THEIR USE AND ABUSE
Simple rules to help you avoid the word and number clutter so common in PowerPoint presentations. Rule #1. Make each slide earn its way in.

11 THE JOB INTERVIEW
How to prepare for, participate in and ACE the job interview by becoming an effective storyteller.

SECTION TWO
Winning the Interview Game

12 THE NEWS MEDIA AND YOU
While hostile reporters are few, interviewees often stumble because they don’t claim co-ownership of the interview and don’t have their own agenda.

13 THE (TELEVISION) NEWS BIZ
Once a “loss leader,” television news programs are now profitable, resulting in bigger “news holes” and a greater appetite for stories of all kinds.

14 UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL
The audience for your interview numbers no more than one to three persons per household, so you should think of it as a personal medium.

15 OWNING YOUR OWN INTERVIEW
Since most interviews are between consenting adults, you should take co-ownership, making sure you get your story told.

16 HAVING YOUR OWN AGENDA
To claim co-ownership of your interview requires you to have an agenda; several things you WILL talk about whatever questions the reporter asks.

17 SNELL’S LAW
Count on it: “The question you most dread will be asked.” So, instead of wasting time on dread, prepare your best possible answer.

18 UPSIDE-DOWN ANSWERS
When you fail to give a direct answer, the reporter and people watching your interview think you are being evasive.

19 A-TEAM QUESTION-ANSWERING MODEL
With this questioning answer model, you answer directly and give your position before giving your evidence and the advantages of your position..

20 BUILDING BETTER BRIDGES
Don’t be a slave to the questions reporters ask. Answer their questions, then use a simple bridge to something you want to talk about.

21 NOT LIVE OPTIONS
Since most interviews are videotaped (rather than live) you can use two “not-live” options.
1) Pause; 2) Repeat Yourself.

22 HANDLING THE HOSTILE REPORTER
“Blood-on-the-floor” interviews are as rare as a Weight Watchers meeting at a Waffle House, but when they happen you should use one of four “defuse” techniques in giving your answer.

23 THE WESTMORELAND SYNDROME
If you don’t know the answer to a question, say so. If you once knew or should know, say, “I don’t know, but I’ll check it out and get back to you.”

24 WHEN BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD COMPANIES
Report bad news first, then the cause (if you know it) and action to be taken to correct the situation or guard against it happening again. Stick with the facts you know. Don’t speculate or answer hypothetical questions.

25 WHEN 60 MINUTES CALLS
It’s a mistake to underestimate what your interviewer will know about you and your company. Prepare answers for all his/her "Snell’s Law questions."

26 REFOCUSING 20/20
Sometimes you can convince producers of news-magazine programs that their take on a story is wrong and persuade them to change course or drop the story completely.

27 CARE AND FEEDING OF REPORTERS
Help them understand the background of the story. Respect their deadlines. Avoid going off the record and if you can’t comment, explain why.

28 WHAT TO DO WHEN IT IS LIVE
Get there early. “Try on” the room. Talk out loud. Wear makeup. Avoid jangly jewelry. Look at the person asking you questions.

29 THE INTERVIEWEE’S BILL OF RIGHTS
Ten basic rights every interviewee has from setting the ground-rules to correcting reporters' misstatements to using notes.
 
30 CHOOSING A SPOKESPERSON
The right spokesperson 1) Knows the subject; 2) Understands the organization’s goals and objectives; 3) Is able to tell and sell what he/she knows. 4) Has the confidence of management and 5) Wants to do the interview.

31 ON BIAS
There is some, but PR professionals say the vast majority of reporters will treat you fairly. Those who don’t can be dealt with using defuse and bridging techniques discussed in previous chapters.

32 INTERVIEW ME
An interview with the author about his previous book (Mike Fright) Illustrates many of the lessons of this book.