The next two Media Tips will cover the edited interview for both radio and television. In this first segment, I will be discussing the two main techniques you need to practice-your answers should be concise and they should "stand alone."

It is very difficult to have concise answers, especially if you haven't prepared and practiced them in advance. Usually you want your answers to be between 10 seconds (for national media) and 15 seconds (for local media). However, if you anticipate questions prior to the interview, you can prepare "sound-bites" for those questions. Your goal should be to briefly answer the question and bridge to one of your messages.

Since the audience usually doesn't hear the reporter's questions in the edited interview, your answers should also be able to "stand alone" in the story. A stand-alone answer is a concise statement that conveys a complete thought and can be pulled from your interview and put directly into the news story. Practice the following techniques:

• Pause before you begin to answer the question.

• Use part of the question in your answer.

• Use nouns rather than pronouns.

• Don't say, "As I said before" or "Again" in your answer.

• Don't start your answer to a "yes" or "no" question with a "yes" or "no."

• Don't use the reporter's name in your answer.

As I mentioned earlier, you need to prepare and practice these techniques to effectively communicate during an edited interview. In the next "Media Tip" I will cover the advantages and disadvantages of the edited interview.

The "Media Interview Tip of the Month" is taken from my book, Winning Media Interviews: Sure-Fire Tactics to Get Your Messages Out. Feel free to share my tips with your staff and colleagues. I would like to hear from you about using the techniques I discuss in my book. Also, send me a note and let me know if it is okay to share your comments with others on this web page (to contact Steve go here.)