When a Big Story Breaks... Appearing on Camera by Arthur Perkins
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Shout! Out Autumn/Winter 2017-18 News, features and tips about Broadcast PR 6 top tips for When a big story breaks... appearing on camera By Arthur Perkins Whether you’re taking part in a corporate video or doing an interview for television, you want to look great, sound good and effectively communicate your key messages, right? Sounds easy, but as broadcast PR specialists, we understand it’s not. Around 90% of the information that is sent to the brain is visual; that means how you look and how you speak has a much bigger impact on video or TV than what you actually say. Here are our 5 top tips on how to nail your broadcast appearance. 1. How to look good A spokesperson should dress appropriately Image courtesy of: 70023venus2009 - https://www.flickr.com and in a manner that would be expected by the audience. So a CEO of a listed company would How should PRs react when a big story wear a suit, and a spokesperson for a charity would ensure their appearance was not too disrupts the news agenda? ostentatious. You don’t want to wear anything that would further distract from what you’re By Keren Haynes scant but it was clear even at that point the story would there to say. Continued p2... As if Brexit wasn’t enough, we then had elections in be a significant one. Blanket coverage of the story the UK and US, terrorism on Westminster and London included facts about the incident but not much more We have moved! bridges as well as at the Ariana Grande concert at than how many had died, how many had been injured, Manchester arena. The NHS cyber attack was next to and how intense the fire still was. After more than 10 years in dominate the news headlines and then came the tragic At this point in a story, reporters are deployed to the Covent Garden we have news about the Grenfell Tower fire. I have closely scene to describe what they see and if possible followed the news for all my adult life, as a journalist Continued p2... moved our studio and offices and a broadcast PR specialist, but am struggling to to a beautiful Georgian listed remember such an intensive period of heavy news building in Bloomsbury. stories as we’ve just experienced. Understandably, when something terrible happens in the world, it becomes the absolute focus of broadcast news. The Grenfell Tower fire is a classic case, resulting in extended news bulletins at the time and special, more in-depth programmes in the days that followed. The fire began in the night and was already the top headline by first light the next day; detail about the victims was Courtesy of: Chiral Jon - https://www.flickr.com Shout! Communications, Broadcast PR Specialists. 13 Great James Street, London, WC1N 3DN Shout! Out Autumn/Winter 2017-18 Page 2 6 top tips for appearing on camera cont... than a good one. They must be capable of judging the to make. This is an easy way of prioritising what you tone of a show and it is important they sound want to say and ultimately helps you structure the authoritative but not patronising. interview. Don’t worry if you don’t communicate all of them, in fact one key message perfectly executed is 3. Remember it’s a performance far better than just chucking a whole load of A moment on camera is brief, so you have to rise to buzzwords out there. the occasion. That means, where appropriate, smiling – 5. Enjoy it! On-air opportunities are hard-won, so an audience always responds in a more positive way to enjoy yourself and make the most of it! a smile. Eye to eye contact with the interviewer is also crucial – to look away gives a poor, sometimes shifty Arthur is a broadcast media relations consultant at TV Naturalist Chris Packham on Good Morning Britain (ITV) impression. And if you’re doing an interview sitting Shout! Communications. Avoid very thin pinstripes because they can strobe, and down, remember BBC; no, not the broadcaster, it if you’re going into a studio remember there’s a reason stands for Bum at the Back of the Chair! that greenscreens are green, and a lot of sofas are red; you don't want to appear like a floating head! 4. Don’t over complicate. The moment is short and it needs to be seized. 2. How to sound good Overcomplicating an interview will mean that the Spokespeople need to have high energy and salient points and reason behind doing the interview get enthusiasm in their voice and maintain this throughout lost to the audience. Short, clear and concise messaging the interview. Monotonous, monosyllabic answers are is vital in getting the points you want to make across in a sure-fire way of making audiences turn off and tune the short time frame that you have. We always advise out. A bad interview is always much more memorable spokespeople to think of the three top points they want A smarter look for camera, Matt Dawson on GMB (ITV) 'When a big story breaks' continued... No one would question such news saturation but big still the biggest story on the news agenda there was interview witnesses. Their role is to provide colour and stories like these do give those of us in the PR industry less to say about it than, for example, Grenfell Tower. often “filler”. When news like this first happens what a massive problem in trying to deliver for our clients. In terms of national coverage it’s challenging to exactly has taken place is not always obvious – the So what can we do? With a must-have story like the sell in a PR story in such circumstances, but not reporter may well be struggling for facts when they Grenfell Tower fire or an act of terrorism, “diary” or impossible. A story can dominate the airwaves but first go on air. scheduled stories are obviously going to be the first to there’s still an appetite for alternative news items too. Broadcast news used to pride itself on being first be dropped. On the day of a breaking story like this Competition to get on air will be tighter but to boost with the news, but now it competes with social media; sometimes the best advice might be to tell a client to your chances you can try and provide all the conversations and images on Twitter and a resident drop or postpone a story. ingredients a broadcaster would look for. That might who broadcast via Facebook Live from her flat were This is difficult because once a story has been sold include: well documented in the days that followed the fire. We into broadcast it’s hard to un-do. Even if it had never • A willing, enthusiastic and – crucially – can so easily find out what has happened online but we been aired broadcasters may dismiss it in subsequent available spokesperson. If you want national turn to TV and radio news for further understanding. days as “old.” Our advice would be to re-write the coverage that should mean they are in London, As time passes, therefore, the coverage on broadcast story with a re-worked top line to freshen it up. We are unless you are desperate for BBC Breakfast in becomes more about analysis. 24 hours after the fire certainly not advocating lying to journalists – if it which case they should be in Manchester. first broke we begin learning more details - names of genuinely hadn’t been aired, as former journalists victims, how the fire might have started and ultimately ourselves, we would accept it as a new story. • Case studies, if appropriate. Broadcasters love a who might be to blame. A PR campaign that has fallen the day after a big case study because they bring a story to life and in A third stage to the story was more political: a breaking story is slightly different though. At Shout! the case of TV news they make for very useful protest march ahead of the first Kensington Council Communications we had been selling in a story for the pictures. meeting. By this point the story is still huge and day after the Westminster bridge terrorism, and whilst significant but it has become just a part of the news some stations did cancel interviews the vast majority • Moving pictures. Either something broadcasters agenda, rather than totally dominating the air waves. went ahead. That was because whilst Westminster was can film for themselves, and/or B-roll footage that you provide. B-roll is around 6-8 minutes worth of roughly edited footage, produced by agencies such as Shout! Communications, then distributed to broadcasters free of charge and any copyright to supplement their own footage. • A regional approach. If national broadcasters are stuck fast on the big story of the day it might be more appropriate to put more emphasis on regional radio and/or television. London and Birmingham stations were not interested in the PR stories for the Westminster attack, but the rest of the country still offered plenty of other opportunities. Images courtesy of: David Holt, Keren is joint MD at Shout! Communications https://www.flickr.com Shout! Communications, Broadcast PR Specialists. 13 Great James Street, London, WC1N 3DN Shout! Out Autumn/Winter 2017-18 Page 3 A 'hole' lot of coverage Shout! Communications supported James Reed PR and their client, The Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA), with broadcast outreach on TV and radio.