My excitement at being told that Scottish News wanted to interview me about an iPhone app I had launched with a friend of mine soon turned to anxiety and subsequent dread at the thought of appearing on television. I had no previous experience of the media, unless you count a photograph in the chorus of the village panto in the local paper when I was 11 dressed as a sailor boy. The capacity to make a complete fool of myself seemed limitless. And permanent. In days before YouTube, a duff tv appearance could quickly be swept under the analogue carpet, but nowadays, friends and family would delight in endlessly replaying and circulating my humiliating 3 minutes of fame posting on Facebook, Twitter and all other forms of social media – their enjoyment increasing every time I squirmed.
Although I had been interviewed for jobs many times, and during my career as a solicitor been involved in many meetings and presentations, there is something very different about a television interview – not least the extra 10 pounds everyone tells you the camera will kindly pile on in your direction.
The advice from friends and family was plentiful and relentless – particularly from those with no media experience themselves. “Whatever you do don’t look at the camera, don’t cross your legs, do cross your legs, I hadn’t noticed your nose was so big before so don’t sit side on, try not to be yourself and too boring, don’t pick your nose ” was less than helpful and undermined my confidence even further. There was going to be so much to think about let alone answering the interviewer’s questions.
Also, what do you wear for going on the telly? Black and white are out as they make you look like you have escaped from the Addams family. Most of my smart clothes are black and white so that immediately posed a problem. Patterns can be tricky and if you are not careful you can turn into the human version of one of those “magic eye” prints so people are too busy looking for the dolphin to appear to focus on what you are actually talking about. Nothing too formal and business like either and avoid anything military or nautique (thankfully I own nothing in the latter). It is a total minefield. I have a new found respect for the presenters who appear daily on breakfast television who look professional but not too businesslike in a range of non-monochrome-unpaterrned-wardrobe.
The interview was filmed with my co-Founder at her house. The reporter arrived with a cameraman and one of those massive hairy microphones that look, and I imagine feel, like a cousin of Oscar the Grouch from Sesame Street. I felt very nervous and my speech sounded all weird – a bit like the singing on Victoria Beckham’s debut single. And the more I tried to sound more normal, the more I feared I was going to end up with a cameo in the new Transformer film.
The day of reckoning came recently when the piece was broadcast on STV’s news. Anyone who knows me will hear the shakiness in my voice. I was way out of my comfort zone. I hope anyone who doesn’t know me won’t make the mistake of thinking that I am the Tin Man in a Boden dress. Friends and family have been pretty complimentary although they have been circulating the clip with a few too many exclamation marks and reference to a very furrowed brow (where that has come from I have no idea). And the letters “LOL”. At least going forward I can only improve. And on the upside, I didn’t pick my nose. At least not on camera.
You can see for yourself on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TY4eu_GtdIQ
Link to Legacy Organiser iPhone app
Victoria Moore’s profile http://uk.linkedin.com/in/legacyorganiser
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