Interview Prep: How to Take Control of the Conversation

There’s this idea that talking points are used to deceive, misdirect or otherwise obscure the truth. In reality, talking points are fundamental and rather simple communications tools to build confidence ahead of an interview, focus a conversation and help ensure you get your intended message across. 

Unless you’re a regular resident of the spotlight, on-camera interviews can feel intimidating—especially when it’s up to you to speak on behalf of your company. Interviews done digitally or by phone can be equally as unnerving and anxiety or lack of preparation can cause us to trip up, misspeak or appear tense or unprofessional. 

Just typing that stresses me out, so let’s take a deep breath, calm down and prepare to prepare. Below are media training and interview prep tips to help train for a professional, relaxed interview that reflects positively on you and your organization.

Difference Between Talking Points for Television Interviews & Internal Interview Prep

Depending on who you ask and the context of the discussion, you will encounter different understandings or definitions of talking points. They’re all correct. Depending on the situation, talking points are approached differently so it’s important to understand the differences.

• If you’re preparing for a live TV interview, the producer will ask for your talking points in advance. This is not an extensive document. They simply want to know the key points you are interested or comfortable discussing to prepare their anchor or host for the interview. In some cases, they may even ask for proposed questions or a few sentences that summarize your thinking on the topic. That doesn’t mean a journalist won’t ask additional questions or that the person being interviewed can’t add new information. Think of it as your roadmap. This is why those short live television and radio interviews appear seamless when in reality the host probably only had a few minutes during a commercial break to prepare.

• PR professionals will build out a set of internal talking points to prepare their client for an interview. While talking points provided to a producer ahead of time will certainly inform this second document, these talking points will go further in depth and often include prompts on how to deal with potential questions that may come up during the interview. This particular set of talking points would never be handed over to a journalist. These notes are for internal review only. Important to clarify since the term “talking points” is used interchangeably!

Interview Prep and Drafting Your Talking Points:

1 Remember that talking points are not a script.

They may provide a roadmap and they may provide specific language to help communicate key ideas, but they are never meant to be a script. Before an interview, get comfortable with your talking points so you can easily draw on the key ideas to respond to a wide array of questions that may come up. You’re not meant to memorize each thought like it’s a line for a film and if you do, the delivery is bound to sound scripted. Unless you’re Jennifer Lawrence.

2 Prioritize key messages first.

Just like a good conversation, an interview can potentially wander to lots of different places. You only have three to five minutes to get your main message across which is where both forms of talking points above come into play. 

Ideally, the host will know by their set of talking points that there is more to say, but it may be up to you to keep things on track. The process of developing talking points is an opportunity to sit down and determine what information is most important. It’s normal to walk away from an interview and wish you could have added one more thing. You absolutely do not want to walk away realizing you forgot to say the most important thing.

Three to five ideas are totally manageable and you can keep a mental checklist during the conversation. If the interview strays away from the main focus, you can steer back the conversation to one of your key points.

3 Stay focused and keep it short.

While some people choose to draft their talking points out in full sentences and occasionally include pre-crafted soundbites, I prefer to bullet out the thoughts and really focus on those three to five key messages. You want the audience to remember your key points and more importantly, for you to! Even if nerves are taking hold during a live interview. 

For example, if you can’t communicate a key idea in one or two sentences, you’ll never successfully get that idea across in a live interview. The development of talking points helps you figure out how to convey that idea better and in less time. If some information isn’t absolutely necessary for the audience, maybe it’s best to leave it out so you can focus on what is important. 

4 Add statistics or supportive facts wherever possible.

Key facts and statistics about your cause and impact will also help you sound informed and professional. While there’s no need to memorize a list of numbers, it can’t hurt to identify one or two figures that will help you speak to the magnitude of the problem your organization works to solve.

5 Consider potential questions and prepare responses.

Think about frequently asked questions that you or your organization receive and draft out bulleted responses to each. You’ll be miles ahead in your interview preparation having these responses up your sleeve. 

You may end up not needing them but it will make you feel more confident and you’ll regret not doing it if you’re asked a direct question that you haven’t prepared a thoughtful response to. This important step will save you any unnecessary time or anxiety in the moment and make your responses seem calm, cool and collected because, well, they will be.

6 Rehearse, rehearse and rehearse once more.

Once you have your talking points drafted, rehearse with them. Simply reading through them isn’t enough. The actual interview should not be the first time someone uses those talking points or speaks those words out loud – it will be incredibly awkward if you try.  Exercise those talking points in a practice interview setting. If the topic is challenging, practice them a lot. That also allows you to hone those key messages so you can breeze through them comfortably.