5 Tips for your TV appearance

  • Availability

News breaks out of nowhere and you are the guest booker for a show that goes on air in four hours. Your boss and executive producer have given you only a couple of hours to find the perfect expert and analyst to fill five minutes of airtime. You look at the list of “Go-To” guests you usually have on but all of them are travelling for work, skiing in Zermatt or at their daughter’s 18th birthday party. All you want is a solution and the perfect person who is happy to come in at 9 pm on a Friday. If you are the analyst or expert who can be called on at short notice to hop in a car to the studio, the producers will love you and the more appearances you can make the more positive PR for you and your company. 

  • Presentation

Are you TV ready? Being available and making it to the studio is half the battle but looking good when you go on air is the other half. Everyone wants to look and sound their best when they go on television so try and take pride in your appearance and have a tie, suit jacket or a dress in the office ready. Under the harsh studio lights and on the glossy set, it is always best to try and over-dress to mirror the anchor asking the questions who will be dressed to the nines. Oh, and don’t forget a blow-dry and make-up are always a good idea on arrival! 

  • Messaging

If you can get your foot in the door for that TV appearance and manage to lock in a prime-time studio interview, you have a brilliant platform to get your key messages across for your business. What brand messages do you want to communicate to the audience? Who is your audience? What can you say to get prospective clients and customers to pick up the phone or send that initial enquiry email? Going into a TV studio knowing what you want to say and who it is directed at is key.

  •  Avoid interview traps

We all know a car-crash TV appearance when we see one. Whether the guest doesn’t look relaxed, is not appropriately read in on the subject or simply comes across as rude, there are ways of making sure this doesn’t happen. Each interviewer will want the guest to put their best foot forward and deliver an engaging and interesting on-camera interview. The worst scenario for the anchor is to have a guest who doesn’t want to be there and must fill the airtime on their own.

  • Trust

It may not seem it from the output, but TV is a team game. From the anchor, to the producer running the show from the control room, to the guest booker setting up the interviews, the cameramen, the directors and the make-up artists, each person must do their job to make sure a show goes to air without fault. As a guest, you have to trust in those around you to do their jobs and of course your communications pros to brief you beforehand. If each cog turns as it is meant to, you will have an appearance that could move the bottom line!

Interested in hearing how you can improve getting your key messages across and dealing with those tricky questions? Speak to a member of our award-winning media training team today to find out how we can support you.

Get in touch with the team