I have been doing media training for over 20 years and I’ve found that the toughest aspect of media interviews that trainees need to master is the exit. If you are being interviewed and you can’t end it, then you aren’t in control of the interaction and the less the control the more the risk.
NOTE: All interviews should be negotiated to establish the parameters (subject/focus of the interaction that you would use if it were a business meeting? Who is the reporter and what media outlet? When is a mutually agreeable time for the interaction? Where is the best place for the interaction or where does it have to take place? Critical to the exit: How long should the interaction last given the subject/focus and circumstances?). Setting the same parameters as you would for a business meeting is the key to our training methodology. Our participants’ strengths are in doing business meetings, not media interviews. Therefore, the control techniques we use in business meetings are critical to control the interaction with media. Negotiating the time limit based on how much we have to say about the subject will help as much with exiting the media interview as it does for exiting a business meeting.
There are two techniques to the exit:
1) Ending the discussion
2) Preparing and executing the physical disengagement.
I’ll elaborate on these more after further exploring the problem.
In one very memorable training session I was working with very senior executive in a large energy company. This person had been trained before a number of times and was experienced at media interviews. In fact he came to my session directly from a media interview. We were practising addressing the media during a serious accident at a plant. This executive was very confident and competent in taking control, making a full and very appropriate statement and managing the questions. What the executive was not able to do – at all – was end the interaction. The questions kept coming until the “reporters” were done. When the deficiency was identified, the executive quickly wanted to fix the problem in the second simulated interview. Everything went very well through to the close of the interaction. The executive said something to the effect that: “ Well, that’s all I have for you at the moment.” But then he stood and waited. And the questions started up again. In the critique, all he wanted to talk about was why his feet wouldn’t move. He wanted to leave but couldn’t.
In discussing this very common situation, some people say that they feel it would be rude to leave. Others express fear of being shown walking away accompanied by negative commentary. But many just do not know why they cannot leave.
When we work on this with trainees, we emphasize that there are two parts to the exit. The first is shown in the example of the energy company executive above. He used an appropriate line to close the discussion. We also see this often in press conferences. In fact, we use it in our daily interactions.
The second part is the stimulus that gets us physically moving out of the interaction. It seems as though we need our mouths to say the right thing in order for our feet to move. When the executive in the example above tried again and added the words: “and I’ll brief you again later when we have more information,” his body was starting to turn to make the walk away. The words he used suggested a separation. In a stressful situation it seems that an important cue to physically exiting is a line that calls for physical movement. Another might be any variation of: “I have to get back to….” So, active voice versus passive voice for exit lines works best.
Exiting is a more difficult technique than just closing the discussion. In fact, we’ve seen training participants (and news conference participants) try to close and exit, only to stop and even return to the interview spot, because the reporter asked another question. When participants ask what they should do in this situation, I ask them what they would do in a business meeting they were trying to exit. The answer is often that they would use the “stop” hand signal and a repeat of the close and exit line. Of course! That’s control. As valid with media as it is with our business colleagues.
Another line that is effective in ending the discussion? “Thank you.” I think thank you and its variations work for many people because it negates the “rude” worry. So, it works on one level but may not get the feet moving. A technique one participant used on me while I was playing an aggressive reporter involved extending his hand to give me a closing handshake. The action of putting his hand out caused me to respond by shaking hands automatically, thus breaking my control and cueing my brain that the interaction was ending. He had no trouble walking away after that, he told me. Brilliant. Doesn’t work for everyone and certainly only in certain circumstances, but he drew on his business skills to take control to effect an exit.
All of the above has been focussed on stand-up scrums or stand-up one-on-one interviews. What about telephone? Well, what lines do you use to end formal phone interactions with business audiences? The same ones will work with telephone media interviews.
What about studio interviews? Problematic. So let’s look at the dynamics of this interview situation. You’re wired with a microphone. You’ve agreed to be there for a certain time. Your brain will resist walking out. (We need to assume here that in the negotiation for the interview, you chose or agreed to this venue for a very good reason.) There would be no need for you to call for an exit if the interview stayed on focus, because you would have enough new information to support your story to keep the focus for the length of time agreed. If the interviewer tries repeatedly to drive the interview off focus, then an improvised exit may be required. I dealt with this in an earlier blog post titled: What do you say if they ask if you’re gay? Essentially, you either fight to stay on focus, or you get out. The lines you could use would sound like a variation of: “I’m not prepared to get into that today so why don’t we end it here. Thanks for having me on.” Then the awkward part, taking off the microphone and walking off the set. The question you need to have answered for yourself before you go into the studio interview is this one: What will be worse if the interview changes focus and you can’t get it back on focus – staying in the interview and risking doing a bad job, or physically exiting and risking looking like you’re fleeing?
Why even think about any of this? Preparation. The best outcomes are reached in business meetings when the appropriate preparation has been done. Very successful sales people think as much about the exit (or close) as they do the pitch – and so should any media interviewee.
Copyright 2008 Patrick McGee
