Last updated on January 22nd, 2019 at 01:57 pm
Audio Interview Tips
Interviews are a normal part of the speaking business when you’re a motivational speaker. While we spend our careers speaking on a stage, being interviewed over the phone requires an entirely different set of skills. It is much harder to connect and engage when you no longer have the ability to use your eyes, body language, or see the other person. You feel like you’re having a conversation with nobody. Here are some helpful audio interview tips.
- Accept opportunities to be interviewed. More exposure, even if you can’t really track it, is more exposure. It’s also a good chance for you to practice talking about what you talk about. Every interview sharpens your skills and prepares you for the ones that really matter.
- Envision the person you are talking to. Get the interviewers picture and post it on your computer so you can talk to the picture. Envision the people in your audiences. Picture a friend’s face, and when you talk, talk to that friend.
- Smile. Your voice changes when you smile. We can feel it on the other side.
- Don’t try to be scripted. This is a conversation. Relax and enjoy the conversation. Pretend as if you’re talking with a friend over lunch. Don’t be afraid to say things like, “Does that make sense?” or “I don’t understand your question” or “Wait, that isn’t really the right way to say it..what I really mean is….” Don’t try to have a series of questions and answers that you will read. This will come across as canned and forced.
- Have a list of talking points beside you. Not long drawn out content, but those “tweet-ables” – the phrases that make good bumper stickers. Have them written beside you so that you can throw them into the conversation as they apply. These interviews are not the time and place for long stories and explanations. Be able to jump in and out of your points quickly.
- Only say a little at a time, and then pause and breathe. Give the interviewer a chance to comment and control the direction of the program – unless you have determined ahead of time that you have the ability to talk at length.
- Don’t treat this as a performance. You aren’t performing. This is a chat. A conversation. A chance to let people meet you off script.
- Try to make this about the listener, not about you. Stay in tune with how your words can help them.
- If you are part of a group interview, don’t hog all the time. It’s rude. Be considerate and let others speak.
- Make sure you get what you want out of the interview. Make sure your information is properly displayed, whether you want them to know about your book, go to your website, etc. Most podcast shows will allow you the opportunity to advertise yourself.
- Use the podcast in your own marketing materials. This is a good chance for potential clients to see what you know. This is how you position yourself as an expert on a subject.
- Have fun. If you’re not having fun, neither are we.
Here is a podcast I did recently in conjunction with a keynote speech at a conference.
Kelly Swanson is an award-winning storyteller, comedian, motivational speaker, Huffington Post Contributor, and cast member of The Fashion Hero television show airing on Amazon Prime. She is also the author of Who Hijacked My Fairy Tale, The Land of If Only, The Story Formula, and The Affirmation Journal for Positive Thinking. She was a featured entertainer for Holland America Cruise Lines, keynote speaker for the International Toastmasters Convention, and has keynoted major conferences and corporate events from coast to coast. She just launched her one-woman show Who Hijacked My Fairy Tale in theaters, and it is being booked all over the country. In July of 2022, she was inducted into the National Speakers Association Speaker Hall of Fame.
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