{"id":703,"date":"2012-08-20T19:23:26","date_gmt":"2012-08-20T23:23:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.humanplusnature.com\/?p=703"},"modified":"2012-08-20T19:28:19","modified_gmt":"2012-08-20T23:28:19","slug":"be-a-great-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.humanplusnature.com\/?p=703","title":{"rendered":"Be a Great Interview"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"If you work for a nonprofit, sooner or later you are going to be in front of the camera.\u00a0 Either the news will ask\u00a0 you for a comment at an event, or you or one of your corporate partners will want you to explain your cause for a video.\u00a0 The last thing you want to do is to be nervous, or worse yet, walk in dreading\u00a0 the interview.\u00a0 It just so happens that I had an amazing interview this past week; it was an interview where both of us shared stories like we were best friends — a true conversation.\u00a0 So, I thought it might be a good time to share my top five tips with my nonprofit video friends.\u00a0 So, keep an open mind and don’t be afraid to set up your own interview practice time with a friend or co-worker.<\/p>\n

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1.\u00a0 Memorizing = Disaster<\/h3>\n

Don’t ask for your questions ahead of time and do not attempt to write out responses to questions that you believe might be asked.\u00a0 Memorization will turn you into the most unfeeling robot, and since an interview is shot as a close-up,\u00a0 it will be apparent that the words are rehearsed and not from the heart. Trust that you know the answers, and if you don’t, there is nothing to worry about, as your interviewer only wants what you do know in the video anyway.\u00a0 No worries!<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0 Be the Caring Mother\/Father<\/h3>\n

It’s very easy to go into professional mode with four syllable words and statistics, but you will find that people tune out when they hear that kind of language.\u00a0 Think of the famous people you have heard speak — wasn’t it the personal tidbits that really made you smile or pay attention?\u00a0 No matter what the cause, try to discuss it as if you were a parent (or best friend if you don’t have kids).\u00a0 Yes, this is even true when discussing financials.\u00a0 This approach will keep your tone as an “equal” rather than a “superior” with your audience.<\/p>\n

3. Your Emotions are a Strength<\/h3>\n

I had an Executive Director sharing his\u00a0 frustration of knowing that early childhood education is scientifically proven, yet still not fully utilized.\u00a0 His voice grew stronger and he sat up higher in his seat with clenched hands — you knew it really bothered him.\u00a0 I would have given him a donation right then and there, because I knew he wasn’t giving me a pitch.\u00a0 Whether you show joy, frustration, sadness, humor or even outright anger, these are the things that your audience believes as they are undeniably you.\u00a0 Don’t be scared to reveal how you really feel about your issue.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0 Short and Sweet Wins<\/h3>\n

If you watch the news, you will find that comments are just a sentence and the audio is trailed off making it obvious that the person spoke quite a bit longer.\u00a0 That is your cue that short sound bytes win.\u00a0 Try to always think of your answers being one or two sentences long.\u00a0 Not only is this easier for those doing the editing, but it also helps you to sound clear and confident.\u00a0 Usually if you go longer you will end up repeating the same message with different words anyway, and it won’t be as good as your first sentence.\u00a0 So just be a minimalist.<\/p>\n

5. Answer in a Complete Sentence<\/h3>\n

Most often, the interviewer will not be in the finished video or news clip, which means the audience will never hear the question that you answered.\u00a0 That’s fine, but the real problem is that we all speak in fragments throughout the day.\u00a0 For instance, I may say, “vanilla”.\u00a0 We don’t know if I’m describing boring real estate or a flavor of ice cream.\u00a0 So, it is very important to speak in a complete sentence when answering.\u00a0 This can be done by including the question in the answer, such as, “My favorite ice cream is vanilla” .\u00a0 Or, you can create your own statement like, “I adore vanilla ice cream”.<\/p>\n

That’s it for the tips, now put them into practice.\u00a0 You want your constituents to be engaged, so let them witness you as someone that is visually, verbally and emotionally engaged.\u00a0 And if you get nervous, just ask the interviewer to take a break for a minute and ask how their day has been.\u00a0 Not only will you stop your mind from dangerous replays, you will also show your interviewer that you value them.\u00a0 Enjoy your time together.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you work for a nonprofit, sooner or later you are going to be in front of the camera.\u00a0 Either the news will ask\u00a0 you for a comment at an event, or you or one of your corporate partners will want you to explain your cause for a video.\u00a0 The last thing you want to do is to be nervous, or worse yet, walk in dreading\u00a0 the interview.\u00a0 It just so happens that I had an amazing interview this past […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[48,34,44,40,43],"class_list":["post-703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nonprofit-video-tips","tag-interview","tag-nonprofit","tag-nonprofit-video","tag-philadelphia","tag-video-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.humanplusnature.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.humanplusnature.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.humanplusnature.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.humanplusnature.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.humanplusnature.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=703"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.humanplusnature.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":718,"href":"https:\/\/www.humanplusnature.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703\/revisions\/718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.humanplusnature.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.humanplusnature.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.humanplusnature.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}