Body Language for TV Interviews

• 00:05 So what sort of body language do you need for television interviews?
• 00:08 For most business people, this is the most stressful situation.
• 00:14 It's the most stressful type of presentation because you don't know
• 00:16 who's watching it.
• 00:18 And if you say something stupid, this could be the first thing people
• 00:21 find when they Google you or they go to YouTube for the next 20 years.
• 00:26 So you want to get it right.
• 00:28 It's natural to be nervous about TV interviews.
• 00:32 or even video interviews where a blogger is holding up a cell phone capturing it.
• 00:36 It's totally normal to be natural and to be scared and freeze yourself but
• 00:43 here's what happens when your nervous on TV, you become a little bunny rabbit.
• 00:50 You become scared, yes sir, no sir, yup, nope and you look horrible.
• 00:57 So let me go through step by step what you need to do.
• 01:00 For starters, when you're sitting for a TV interview, what most of us do,
• 01:05 is we're told hey, it's TV, you wanna be relaxed and comfortable.
• 01:09 If you sit back, double chins come out.
• 01:12 You're gonna look a lot heavier.
• 01:14 You've heard TV puts 20 pounds on you.
• 01:17 It does if you sit back and you relax.
• 01:20 You don't ever wanna sit back when you're on TV.
• 01:23 It's horrible body language.
• 01:25 The next thing you don't wanna do is sit up perfectly straight.
• 01:28 Hi, my name is TJ Walker and I help people have perfect posture on TV and
• 01:32 look relaxed.
• 01:34 Is that believable, no you look stiff, scared,
• 01:38 uncomfortable it you have perfect posture.
• 01:42 The best way to be on TV is to hold yourself up high.
• 01:46 Lean forward about 15 degrees into the camera.
• 01:50 Now you don't see a double chin.
• 01:52 Now the focus isn't down here in the gut, it's more your face.
• 01:56 That's what you want.
• 01:57 So this is the best way to sit.
• 02:01 Hold yourself up high lean forward about 15 degrees.
• 02:05 Now, if you're looking at me from the side it doesn't look particularly natural but
• 02:10 that's not the angle.
• 02:12 From the stand point of the camera you'll look best holding yourself high
• 02:17 leaning forward.
• 02:19 That's the first step.
• 02:21 Now let's start at the top of our head and work our way down.
• 02:25 The eyes.
• 02:27 The eyes are much more important on television than in speech or
• 02:30 presentation or one on one talk.
• 02:33 Because in a one on one meeting with someone,
• 02:36 if you occasionally look up, think, reflect, look down, it's fine.
• 02:39 But on TV, if your eyes are darting around,
• 02:43 they become the most noticeable thing.
• 02:44 How does this look?
• 02:45 Hi, I'm TJ Walker.
• 02:46 I'm very trustworthy and honest.
• 02:48 I'd like for you to send your pension find and
• 02:50 your kid's college education to my offshore account.
• 02:55 I become literally shifty eyed.
• 02:59 You don't wanna do that.
• 03:02 Best thing to do when you're doing any kind of TV interview is to look at
• 03:06 the reporter, the talk show host.
• 03:09 Don't even look at the camera.
• 03:10 Look at the host, reporter talking to you.
• 03:13 If there's no reporter around, if you're being interviewed by Satellite or Skype.
• 03:18 Then look at the camera is if you're talking to one person.
• 03:23 So that's what you need to do with your eyes.
• 03:26 Look at the reporter, you can't go wrong.
• 03:28 If there's no reporter look at the camera.
• 03:30 If you have to look away look down for a second.
• 03:33 If you look up, the white around your eyes is so noticeable,
• 03:38 it looks like I have no idea.
• 03:39 Let me make up something.
• 03:40 Let me lie.
• 03:41 You don't wanna look up.
• 03:45 The next thing that's important for your body language on TV,
• 03:47 your facial expressions.
• 03:49 Now most of us, when we're listening to someone talk or
• 03:54 ask us a question, our face goes blank.
• 03:57 Well imagine I'm being introduced on a major national TV show and
• 04:00 the viewers are hearing all these wonderful things about me but
• 04:03 here's the first image they see.
• 04:09 Is that impressive?
• 04:11 I don't think so.
• 04:12 People tell me that looks flat, boring like I'm practically dead.
• 04:16 So on TV in order to look relaxed in order to look your best,
• 04:21 in order to come across comfortable, confident and relaxed.
• 04:24 You need a little bit of smile on your face.
• 04:29 Not a gigantic jack-o-lantern smile, but just a little bit of smile,
• 04:33 you don't even have to show teeth.
• 04:36 Just a little bit of an upturn, you'll look more relaxed.
• 04:40 More comfortable, more confident.
• 04:43 Let's put some of these elements together.
• 04:46 Tell me what you think.
• 04:46 I'm gonna hold myself up high, lean forward 15 degrees, little bit of a smile,
• 04:51 good eye contact.
• 04:52 Hi, I'm TJ Walker at Media Training Worldwide.
• 04:55 We coach business executives how to have strong body language.
• 05:00 What's wrong with that?
• 05:03 Something was clearly off.
• 05:05 What was wrong?
• 05:06 Well, nothing was moving except my lips.
• 05:11 Everything was frozen.
• 05:12 That makes me seem canned, it sounds like I'm reading something.
• 05:15 It sounds phony, not believable at all.
• 05:19 So let's add another element.
• 05:21 Hi, I'm TJ Walker at Media Training Worldwide.
• 05:26 What do we do? We help people communicate more
• 05:28 effectively with their body language and their messages.
• 05:32 What was different?
• 05:35 I moved my head when I spoke and
• 05:37 without even trying my voice started to sound a little more natural.
• 05:40 It had more ups and downs.
• 05:43 Let's add another element.
• 05:45 So the big challenge at Media Training Worldwide is really helping executives
• 05:50 figure out, what to say and
• 05:52 how to say it in a way where they seem comfortable and confident and relaxed.
• 05:58 So what was different that time?
• 06:00 I moved from the waist up.
• 06:03 That's what human beings do when they're confident and relaxed.
• 06:07 So let's add another element.
• 06:10 Hi, I'm TJ Walker At Media Training Worldwide, we help executives figure out
• 06:14 what are their key messages, and then how do they bridge back into them again, and
• 06:17 again, and again throughout the whole interview.
• 06:19 And how to seem completely relaxed.
• 06:24 What was different?
• 06:27 I moved my hands, can't we all move our hands when we talk.
• 06:31 You may think you don't, I'm telling you, you do.
• 06:34 When you're comfortable you move your hands.
• 06:38 You don't have to move your hands when you're on TV, but I'm telling you,
• 06:42 you'll come across much more comfortable, confident, authoritative.
• 06:45 You're not gonna be seeing all flippy, floppy around and distracting.
• 06:49 That's only in the sitcoms.
• 06:50 So I highly recommend that you move your hands when you speak.
• 06:56 It will free up everything else make you come across more natural,
• 07:01 more relaxed, more believable.
• 07:04 Cuz you can have a great message, if you're tense as a board and
• 07:08 completely stiff, no one is going to believe you.
• 07:12 Now, here are some tips on how to come across your best for standing interviews.
• 07:18 It's not that different.
• 07:20 I recommend you have one foot forward, one foot back.
• 07:23 Because if you have your feet shoulder width apart and
• 07:26 you're a little nervous you can sway and make everybody sea sick.
• 07:30 If you have one foot in front of the other you can't really walk sideways.
• 07:34 If you rock and back forth a little bit it's much less distracting.
• 07:39 Have your hands out not touching or doing this or this, but
• 07:43 just elbows bent out and moving when you speak
• 07:49 rather than clasped in front of you, in the figley position or behind your back
• 07:54 that looks like you're about to be handcuffed and taken off to prison.
• 07:57 When you're speaking, for standing interviews or
• 08:01 seated interviews, you want your hands moving.
• 08:05 The other thing that's a little bit different about television
• 08:09 is you do need some makeup.
• 08:11 Now if you go to a big fancy network they're likely to make you up.
• 08:14 But if a reporter comes to you they're not going to.
• 08:18 It doesn't have to be fancy.
• 08:20 I have makeup on right now.
• 08:22 All you really need is a mosaic powder.
• 08:25 That doesn't change the color of your skin.
• 08:29 And by putting it on, it helps reduce the shine.
• 08:33 Everyone else on TV has makeup on.
• 08:36 And I already have some, but it is getting a little warm here in the studio.
• 08:41 And by putting on some powder it just absorbs the shine,
• 08:46 and makes you look more natural.
• 08:50 And that way people can focus on what your saying and
• 08:53 getting a good feeling about you in the pit of their stomach and not,
• 08:57 oh why is this guy nervous and sweaty and slimy, I don't trust him.
• 09:01 You want people trust in you with every aspect of how you look,
• 09:05 how you move and how you sound.
• 09:07 Do that, and you'll make a great impression in your next TV interview.

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