One in a series for publicity

Not everyone can be a great presenter, or speaker. But anyone can learn the skills required to improve your presentation to the media.

When you are arranging for an interview for your pr client, you need know how to present and pitch the story to a specific media. This is one of the many skills that takes time to develop. Unfortuantely, time isn’t going to help you when that story needs to be in the news immediately. So what is the answer?

Try to learn from others who are more experienced. Take notes when you see a presenter or a seasoned pr professional make the pitch. There are a lot of things you can learn. If you have the opportunity to meet with the press use some of these suggestions.

Some helpful tips:

• Keep your hands out of your pockets
• Always look at the person you are speaking to
• Know your subject (topic you are pitching) well in advance
• Allow the reporter the opportunity to ask questions
• It is ok to be selective on which questions to answer, that will help your pitch go smoother
• Be sure to leave all your contact information
• Speak clearly and not fast. Don’t be a slow talker, but keep the pace moving
• Don’t digress and begin a new topic thinking it will help get the story published

I can go on, but as you can see, these are easy skills to improve. It doesn’t take a lot of time to learn, and no books are required.

If you want to learn more there are a lot of resources. For those wanting to improve personal presentation skills, the SkillsStudio in the UK offers training courses. If you need to speak better, there are also many resources like Impression Management. Just Google the term "pesentation skills" as a start.

See Also

• Improve your presentaion
  Make your pitch better with publicity skills