Bloomberg TV Interview Coaching Session

Background
We were asked to provide a one to one coaching session for a Senior Executive of a chemical company (based in Switzerland) supplying the international pharmecautical sector. The Senior Exec. had been interviewed by 'Bloomberg' (the international financial news programme) but, although being a practiced presenter, had found the interview difficult and performed poorly as a result. So he wanted to improve his TV Interview skills in readiness for his next Bloomberg interview.

As a result of the success of this coaching session we were invited back to work with another Senior Exec. on both his conference speaking and TV interview skills. This was alsoa very successful session.

Outline One to One Coaching Programme
Natural Skills & Abilities
Michael Westland-Rose (the tutor) put the Senior Executive through two exercises in front of camera, aimed at stretching the trainee's skills in different directions. The review looked at how the trainee coped; what was good and what was not so good.

Review of Original Bloomberg Interview
Michael and the Senior Exec. reviewed the original Bloomberg interview and they discussed precise development needs, looking at what happened within each part of the interview. This was also compared against the first two practice sessions, with key learning points brought out and a set of actions for improvement (as follows below):

Planning & Preparation
Key things to consider prior to the next interview - questions to ask the TV station, deciding objectives and key messages, thinking about the appropriate physical appearance, planning personal style and delivery, looking at the 'what if's' (i.e. what if they ask surprise questions), what if the interview gets cut short or lengthened.

Getting Key Messages Across
In this section, Michael showed the Senior Exec. how to use the interview to get key messages across. The trainee was given a method that enables an interviewee to use each question as a potential opportunity to communicate a pre-planned key message. The Senior Exec. practiced the technique a couple of times in front of camera.

Use of Personality & Body Language
Michael showed the Senior Exec. how to make best use of personality in order to project a positive image in front of a camera. They also looked at what body language can be adopted based on camera angle and framing.

Location V's Studio Interview
This involved a discussion about different types of interview - Remote interviews (where the interviewee is at one location and the interviewer is in the studio), and how this differs from an interview where the interviewer and interviewee are face to face. They also looked at how this differs in terms of camera angle and where to look.

Final Practice Sessions
Michael conducted some final practice sessions that were aimed at being as realistic as possible to a real Bloomberg interview. These were compared against the original Bloomberg interview so that the Senior Exec. could see the improvements that had been acheived.


Training Style & Venue Requirements
This type of bespoke coaching session is fully interactive within a positive workshop style environment. Everything is tailored exactly to the trainee's requirements & development needs.

A coaching session like this requires a private quiet room, LCD projector (such as a LitePro) and screen, flip chart and TV Monitor.

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