Being on Camera: How to Deal with the Media

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Section Home Being on Camera: How to Deal with the Media De-stress Therapy: The Zen of Science Fair Dealing with a Loss Getting Yourself Out of Sticky Situations How to Avoid Being a Sore Winner (or Sore Loser) Returning to Canada Wide or ISEF (How Not to Rest on Your Laurels) Taking Your Project Forward Top 10: What We Love About Science Fairs

Dealing with the media can be stressful. Whether it's local/regional media when you win at the regional level, or national media at CWSF, media is media. Think about what they are asking you: a problem with most people when dealing with the media is that they have the tendency to get vebal diarrhea.

Remember the 5 W's + H: Who, What, Where, When, Why and How. Thats what media want to know. Don't get too technical with media because your basically having a conversation with the average viewer. Simplify your project as if you were explaining it to a viewer who visits your project. It is also a good idea to reinforce and emphasize the applications of your project. Why is it significant? How will this change the future of humankind?

Also be sure to give your interviewer your contact information in case they have any questions they want to ask you later on. If you'd like, it is also a handy connection to ask your interviewer for their business card in case you want to obtain a copy of the article, TV show or recording.

Here are some specific tips when getting interviewed certain types of media.

TV News

• Make sure you clearly spell out your name at the beginning so it displays properly during the broadcast.
• Use hand gestures to indicate aspects of your apparatus if you have one. It makes it more interactive and easy to understand for the viewer.
• People love to see other people having a good time. Look happy! Tell others how passionate you are about your work!
• Dress for success! Look presentable in front of the camera.
• Look at the interviewer not the camera when doing an in person interview.
• Don't yell into the microphone. Project your voice clearly and at a normal speed as if your having a conversation.
• Try to relax before being filmed, a viewer can tell if the interviewee is nervous.
• Keep your cool and maintain good posture.
• Keep things brief and make it relevant to the interviewer's question.
• Look friendly! It's more fun to watch a happy person on TV.

Newspaper/Magazine

• If you're mentioning names, make sure that they get the proper spelling and proper title of the person(s).
• As well, if you throw in a FEW - emphasis on few - scientific words, make sure they understand what it means and can spell it right!
• Be friendly to your interviewer. They have to write a good report about you, after all!
• Make sure that the newspaper writer fully understands your project and what it does so they can write a good article about it!
• Be sure to put in some quote-worthy statements so you sound good on paper.
• If they need to take a picture of you, make sure you are in proper attire in front of your backboard or apparatus.
• If you had a mentor, try to focus on the work that YOU did.

Radio

• Don't yell into the microphone: project your voice clearly and at a normal speed as if your having a conversation.
• Sound confident, enthusiastic and passionate! A shaky and nervous voice is very obvious to the listener.
• Make sure you don't breathe into the microphone. That can be awkward.
• Simplify your project even more than usual. Concepts are harder to catch and understand when in an auditory manner.
• If you have a weird laugh or have some sort of annoying sound habit, it may be preferable to restrict the number of times you do it on air.