How to be Interviewed for Print, Television, and Radio

At the annual Tales of the Cocktail convention in New Orleans this July, I'll be co-leading a seminar with Jennifer English called "How to Be Interviewed for Print, Television, and Radio." I would love input from potential attendees of the seminar so please keep reading to help me make this talk useful!

Now you're probably thinking Jennifer English... did I get married or do I have a sister you didn't know about? Well, the real answer is "neither" but for the sake of publicity we're calling ourselves "kissing cousins" to confuse the matter and gross you out.

Jennifer is radio superstar with her syndicated Food & Wine Radio network shows. She's also a former media trainer, and knows things about camera widths and other fascinating items of which I am wholly ignorant. Her full bio is here.

Below is the seminar description.

How to be Interviewed for Print, Television and Radio
                     
Wed, 21 July 2010
The Queen Anne Ballroom, Hotel Monteleone
Pro Series
12:30 PM - 2:00 PM
$40 (advance), $45 (door)

This talk will help bartenders, brand ambassadors, bar owners, distillers, and PR professionals perform well when being interviewed by the press. Learn what constitutes a good 'sound byte' for print, what to wear to a television interview, and how to keep up with fast-paced radio banter. You'll learn the difference between the type of interviews (Q&A, background, fact-check, conversational, etc), the type of answers appropriate for trade versus consumer publications, how to answer interview questions in email, and how to format your answers for each type of interview to earn maximum impact for your brand, your bar, or yourself. The session will be co-lead by print and web journalist Camper English and award-winning radio journalist and former media trainer Jennifer English.

I'd like to make this talk useful to anyone who may attend, so if there is anything you'd like Jennifer and I to address in the seminar please leave a comment!

Below are some questions and talking points I hope you can help me with. 

• Would you like information on getting press in the first place? 
• Do you feel you've often been misquoted? Is this an issue you face and would like some tactics to avoid it?
• What is the hardest part about being interviewed? Are there any particular types of questions that are hard to answer?
• What are annoying things writers do when interviewing?
• Are there any terms interviewers use that are unclear?
• Any questions specific to radio or television?  

Thanks for your help and I hope you'll find the seminar useful.