On-screen Interviewing: Mental Preparation

Video Transcript

"Hi, my name is Aimy Kersey. I want to talk to you today about some general screen tips. What to do when you find yourself in front of the camera. Mental Preparation. If you're going to be on screen and you know nothing about what you're talking about. It's a dangerous game. Rule one: Have a good basic knowledge of what you're going to be talking about. You could do this by thinking first of what the interviewer is going to be asking you about. Let's say it's a press interview about an artifact that was discovered in your yard. Think through the basic questions you're going to be asked. Have your best answers ready. For example, typically you want to know some factual details. When? Who found it? Specifically where? Maybe then, something else to extend the dialog. I found things before but nothing like this. Or last year I discovered, etc. You'll always need some general concepts to have to support a more opened dialog. It could be really useful if before hand you can prepare mentally by just going through the whole process in your own mind and thinking about those questions and preparing some answers. Because very often when people are confronted with the camera, they clam up and they can't think of things to say. And if you've done some preparation beforehand, it's much easier and the flow of what you're talking about is, is there. You know often musician practice mentally a song that he's about to record or about to perform without his instrument. He'll go through in his mind and he'll think about the notes that he's going to be playing before he plays them. So when he's steps on that stage, he feels comfortable with himself and with this own ability. I also heard athletes do the very same thing. In fact, I knew somebody who was a professional athlete. Then in his mind, he used to run that race time and time again before he actually ran it. So that when he was running that race for real, he already mentally prepared and he knew what the end result was going to be."