

What I learned my first time on live TV - njoglekar
http://neiljoglekar.com/what-i-learned-my-first-time-live-tv/

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netman21
Something I learned after many cases of being asked to rush down to studio for
a live appearance to talk about some security event: Have your 30 sec response
ready to go. The talking head newscaster is going to completely screw up the
question. Ignore the question and say something smart. Otherwise you are
playing into their hands and will say something as stupid as he/she did.

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njoglekar
Love this. Answer the question you want to answer.

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bjelkeman-again
Politicians do this all the time and we never get any useful answers out of
them as a result. Not sure it is an improvement.

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streptomycin
Another maybe-negative use of this strategy, as conveyed to me by a famous
professor:

If you give a technical talk and afterwards someone asks a question you don't
know how to answer, instead answer a similar question you can answer. Then the
audience will think you just misunderstood the question, rather than thinking
that you didn't know the answer. This strategy won't work if the questioner is
persistent, but usually they aren't.

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privong
> This strategy won't work if the questioner is persistent, but usually they
> aren't.

I think it may only seem to work to the person answering the question. Having
sat in on many talks, it's often noticeable when a person answers a different
question vs genuinely misunderstanding.

In astronomy, at least, I'd rather admit I didn't know the answer than try to
fake it by answering a different question.

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mnw21cam
> 5\. Know which camera you are supposed to look into. There were a few of
> them and I wasn’t sure where to be looking.

Interesting. I have recently had talking-on-the-tv-news training, and they
drummed into us that you should not ever look directly at the camera. Instead,
you should look at the presenter, and address yourself to him/her. Above all,
don't glance around the room, because it makes you look well dodgy.

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eik3_de
Haven't we all seen people being interviewed on TV looking straight into the
camera? One should think everyone knows how awkward that looks.

-> Whenever there is a camera, try to ignore it and just talk to the person with the questions

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zeidrich
I like how you used a live TV spot, which I never would have seen to create a
blog post which I did.

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janesvilleseo
_2\. Plug, baby plug. Don’t assume that people will know what your website is
or how to buy your product. In our case, they did not show the website address
on screen so make sure to say it out loud._

And yet there is no link to the website, or the kickstarter project. Well
there is a link. It was hard to find. It was in the first paragraph. I missed
it. Goes to show that blue underlined links really do work the best.

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njoglekar
Blue it is, thanks for the feedback. Like I said - still much to learn.

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joshlegs
What? Why is this posted here? (maybe for people hoping to promote their
business on tv news? As a former reporter, i'd advise anybody hoping to do so
against hoping to do so. it's a real shot in the dark as to whether youd get
tv -- or newsprint -- time for your business. some news outlets have business
segments or sections, but they can be really hard to get into too, especially
for technology companies)

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gruntmaster9000
Because someone thought it was interesting enough to submit, and others
thought it was interesting enough to vote up. Pretty simple, really.

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mintykeen
Wish I would have had these pointers before my first appearance! Very helpful
tips! It definitely helps if you're talking about something you're passionate
about too!

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woopdy
They have a team behind switching around for the best shot. Look at the
interviewer.

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gruntmaster9000
Yes exactly. It’s the host’s job to talk to the audience. Unless you have
something to specifically say to those watching, you’re better off focusing on
the host and letting the director do their thing. It’s awkward when guests
look at the camera but are responding to a question from the interviewer.

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gmays
You guys did a great job, thanks for sharing the tips.

