Media interview ain’t always a bliss

After I ran 16 marathons to help digitally excluded children, as part of Trip for a cause, I heard a question about the biggest challenge many times. It was surprising when I said the hardest was the interview after. Like, how can an hour-long conversation be harder than three weeks spent on the road, running day after day?

Prologue

While riding an escalator in a shopping mall in Grudziądz my phone rang. I’m afraid to use the phone on moving stairs, I waited until I reached stable ground to answer it.

— I have the most amazing news in the world! “Wyborcza” wants to interview about the Trip! Isn’t that awesome!?

I felt more terrified than happy. “Gazeta Wyborcza” is one of Poland’s newspapers of record, available in every paper stand in the country, known to mostly everyone here. This truly was the best possible news for the media coverage of the action, yet I could feel only anxiety about it. There’s quite a distance from no media contact ever in my life before to here’s an interview in a major newspaper.

— Oh, wow, fuck, yeah, awesome…

The interview

We arrived in Warsaw about two hours before the interview and walked to the office. On our way we practiced the interview, Paulina playing the role of interviewer and me answering the questions. I got tips and suggestions about what I should say, how to say it, and what to be careful of. With every question, I’ve learned something new. And I got more and more anxious.

When we reached the office about an hour before the interview, I was terrified. I knew I was taking this whole thing a bit too seriously, I could logically explain there’s nothing to be afraid of. I was well prepared, I knew what I wanted to say, I was aware that I’d read the article before publication, and if there was anything I didn’t like there I’d be able to ask for fixes. It wasn’t helping though.

The only thing that could undermine the conversation was starting it with stress. I needed some way to get out of this state of mind and put myself into a playful, relaxed mood. We had enough time till conversation to make it happen. We sat in a cafe in the lobby, and I ordered a coffee (this ain’t a calming drink — I disagree). And here came my rescue. The coffee was terrible and served in a paper cup. This little detail became my way out of seriousness — it couldn’t be a serious place if they served beverages of such quality. A few jokes about poor people stuck with this poor drink turned around my mood.

When Rafał, the journalist, appeared a few moments later he looked like a nice guy, about my age. To the final relief, he didn’t invite us to any serious room, but we found a quiet place in the already familiar cafe. All the stress was gone, and we had a pleasant conversation about the problem of digitally excluded children, their challenges with education (school sucks, really), and why it’s a fantastic idea to help them by making learning accessible.

The article

A couple of days later the article arrived for proofreading. It was a great piece right away, so I asked for a bunch of cosmetic fixes and gave my authorization. A few more days later the article was published online, and we heard it’d also be available in print the next morning.

I woke up, rushed to the closest store, got two copies of the paper, and sat to enjoy the read. And boom! Some of those cosmetic fixes were there, but some got ignored. I felt terrified — it seemed like a total disaster, there was a mistaken date of one of my past workshops in the text!

We received only positive feedback, both about the article, and the action itself. People cheered in comments and reached out with questions about volunteering and support opportunities. Companies reached out to do workshops with kids, and to donate money. Nobody gave a shit about my disasterfully missed feedback — it was completely irrelevant, and understanding it brought me nothing but peace of mind.

Lessons learned

• Foresee the questions: Take some time before to list possible questions you may get asked. Focus on the difficult/tricky ones. Or even better — ask the interviewer to share their plan before the talk. Think about your answers.
• Prepare key messages: This is a conversation so the questions may change, asked differently, or skipped. Know what message you want to deliver, rather than line-by-line answers. This way you won’t stuck when the dialogue goes off the plan.
• Mock interview: Practice, practice, practice. Get a friend to play the role of the interviewer, let them challenge you. Go over different scenarios, the harder you make it the easier the live show will be. Don’t leave it for the last moment.
• Know topics to avoid: It’s as important as what you say. Look out for those during your practice interviews, note the words you shouldn’t use in public communication, business secrets, competition names, etc.
• Relax before: Really. If you need to arrive someplace — arrive earlier. Give yourself some nice time. read a book, have a nice snack, do nothing. You’ve done your practice, you won’t make anything better now, so have some respect for the work done.
• Arrive well rested: This saved my gig. Sleep is the most powerful tool you have against stress and the best preparation for any challenge. Period. Go to sleep early the night before, even two nights if necessary. Sleep deprivation makes people stupid.

Epilogue

I’ve never expected a conversation with any kind of media can be such a demanding thing to do. I have no problems with speaking publicly, so I assumed this would be a similar experience. There are so many of those conversations all around, in print, on the web, and on TV, it’s easy to get the idea it’s the most natural, easy thing to do.

There are plenty of people who like to be in the spotlight and enjoy media exposure. But, there are also those, like myself, for whom this is only a cumbersome tool to get visibility for an important case. Like with any tool — it’s easier to use it when you’re properly prepared and well-rested.