Are you ready to freestyle? Are you that advanced, you look at almost any field of endeavor. And the people who are at the very best often do things that are a little bit different than what the conventional wisdom is. And what best practices are. Those of you old enough to remember Jordan Bork hit off the wrong foot when he was hitting his forehand it still worked for him. Some of the greatest writers in the world he Cummings doesn't use standard punctuation.

But most people who are great still take the time to learn the fundamentals before they go beyond that. I think the same is true when it comes to speaking to the media. Now, earlier in the course, I've outlined for you what I think are best practices as far as messaging, creating sound bites, how to answer questions in a focused way. But if you've done a lot of interviews, and you really want to be seen as a true, true industry expert You have to go beyond that. So when I'm in immediate interview, typically, and it's about some aspect of public speaking communication, analyzing a politician's speech or press conference or crisis communications. I go at it from a slightly different perspective, I don't necessarily go in with three set messages, and six prepared soundbites.

Because my goal is to get as much mileage out of the interview as possible to get as much real estate in the story. If it's a tech story, I want as many words with quotations attached to me as possible. If it's any sort of edited TV or radio report, I want as many sound bites as possible and as long as possible. You can't necessarily do that if you stay wedded to three set message points, and you go in with eight sound bites. So what I do is I go into a more reactive mode with the reporter. And I'm able to do that because I'm so comfortable.

Most people, the first hundred or even first 500 interviews, that nervousness is there, it's very hard to listen carefully. And to actually think during the interview. This is something that happens, I find in more advanced stages of your career. Now, you could be 18 and do it. But you've done 500 interviews when you were 17. So it's not about age.

But it is about being comfortable enough with this process. So again, my goal is I want intelligent things associated with me quoted and I want volume. I want lots and lots of quotes, lots of sound bites in the story. That's my primary objective. And I want the first quote in the story if they're looking to bring in outside experts, industry experts for perspective. So I'm going to listen to everyone little nuance of what the reporters asking.

And then I'm going to answer. I'm going to answer the things that I think are important that are positive, that I think are true and helpful to the audience. But at the very same time, I'm going to package it with lots and lots of sound bites. This is not something that requires any great talent or innate skill, but it does require practice. It does require being comfortable enough to be able to think, listen, and also realize you're not accidentally going to say something stupid, you're not accidentally going to have a sound bite, that's going to come back to haunt you. You have to know how to think in the moment strategically, how to think of the idea you want to convey, and then package it right away with sound bites.

And this is where I've had my greatest success with major Mac. magazines, news articles. TV press is where I go into this freestyling mode. And anything the reporter brings up, I can answer it with a with an answer that is thoughtful, intelligent, and that shows industry expertise. But that's not enough. I can then package it with 345 even 10 sound bites in every answer for every issue the reporter brings up.

So now instead of limiting myself to three, I've got however many messages the reporter wants to talk about every topic. And instead of having 18 possible soundbites come out of my mouth. There's dozens and dozens and dozens, maybe more than 100 sound bites that come out. Even if the interview is only five, seven minutes long. I do not recommend this technique. For most people.

Most the time if you're a CEO of a company, you Not just trying to get lots and lots of coverage. You want to get it focused 100% on your latest product, your latest service or whatever big announcements you have, you do need that focus. But for people who are trying to be industry experts, people who are trying to get attention at all, this work does work well sometimes for people in the political arena. This technique works, but don't try it. Until you have demonstrated a true mastery. I would recommend at least 100 interviews where you can spotlight This is the quote I wanted this the quote I got, I know how to deliver sound bites in a controlled way.

Now we're going to take our foot off the brake and freestyle a little more and be even more aggressive.