High Quality Live Video Broadcasting
Interview Daniel Schwenger Katie Fawkes
In September 2022, I was interviewed by Katie Fawkes from Ecamm.

You are invited to a live-streamed interview. This is how to prepare yourself.

You are invited to participate in an interview as a speaker and expert. How should you properly prepare? And how do you come across well in a live interview? In this checklist, I will show you how to prepare yourself as a guest.

I worked in a TV studio doing 200 interviews in a year.
From 2014 to 2015, I worked at a TV studio, conducting more than 200 interviews. What I learned there helps me a lot today in my work as a live video coach.

It was the craziest job that I had done so far: working as a broadcast journalist and YouTube influencer for a Swiss bank, doing up to 10 interviews a day. I interviewed people about the financial markets, investing, and market trends in Switzerland. During just one year, I produced approximately 200 interviews.

During the Coronavirus pandemic, managing digital projects, I found it very easy to host virtual team meetings. Because of the move towards working from home, people were no longer meeting face to face. The company looked for new ways to encourage bonding, and inform their people about the current project’s progress and past learnings. I proposed to host and record expert interviews via Ecamm and MS-Teams. I was soon producing several interviews per week that were shared through the internal network.

Today, conducting virtual interviews is nothing special. These interviews take place via a virtual interview room. Zoom is the most prominent of these. Especially, the live-streaming platforms such as EcammLive, StreamYard, and Restream allow us to broadcast simultaneously across multiple social networks like Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, or Twitch.

The advantages of an interview are great, you are perceived as an influencer and an expert. This puts you in a much better position with your knowledge. Because, before you present yourself as an expert, you are asked by others and that promotes a much, much stronger perception. When you share your ideas, you can also gain new perspectives yourself. Because the interview is first broadcast to the interviewer’s followers, the principle of cross-promotion applies. By sharing your knowledge, you gain new contacts and these could be your potential customers.

What should you keep in mind when planning, just before the interview, and during the interview? From my experience as a journalist and influencer, this checklist shows you what technical checks you should definitely perform beforehand and which content-related preparations will help you to keep a cool head, so you can start the interview with a sense of fun and confidence.

Multistream
Live interviews can take place in the virtual interview room of a live-video platform such as Restream, StreamYard, and Ecamm Live. The interview can be broadcasted simultaneously across multiple social networks such as YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitch.

Interview Checklist

  • What are the questions about?
  • Formulate your answers
  • What is your WHY?
  • Construct concise stories and pictures
  • What is your Call-to-Action?
  • What are your keywords?
  • Do a microphone, sound, and camera check
  • Check your surrounding background
  • Ensure you know how to log into the virtual interview room
  • Relax and get into your energy level
  • Make an appointment ahead of time and be punctual
  • Have a pair of headphones ready to avoid any potential sound difficulties
  • Check the camera position and harmonize that with your counterpart
  • Look at the camera – be present (turn off your cell-phone)
  • Avoid cutting in. Open your mouth slightly, if you want to say something.
  • An interview is a co-creation: speak out if you find you don’t like where it is heading
  • Trust the process

Preparation before an Interview

Actually, the interview already starts with the request. In preparation, you have the opportunity to find out more detailed information about what the interview is actually about and also how you can make it work for you. What questions is your interviewer most interested in? Have the interview questions sent to you and answer them for yourself in advance. Then, think about your “why.” Why do you do what you do? And why do you want to tell a story about it? When you tell this story, think about certain images and concise situations that you can present to get your point of view across.

Because you are interviewed, there is nothing wrong with leading interested audiences to your offers. And think about what your “call to action” is. Also, think about the specific keywords you would like to drop into the interview.

 

1 hour before the interview

The technical check begins: Is your microphone connected correctly? How is the sound and the video quality? Is the camera clean? Is the camera angle in the best position?

Next, it is very important to consider your background: is everything around you nice and tidy? Avoid dirty socks being visible in the background, or the boyfriend walking around in boxer shorts… Find these and more embarrassing options in this video. Ask yourself: do you want to appear like that?

One final point, I definitely recommend you try out beforehand how you get into the interview room. Normally, for a virtual interview you will have been sent a link in advance. If that is the case, then make a test call. Is it worth having a look ahead of time? What information do you need to enter that particular interview, in virtual space? And what else might you need to enable on your browser, in terms of permissions, so that the camera, mic, and everything else performs well? As a rule, Google Chrome is the best option for carefree logging into a virtual interview room.

After all this is done, the rule is: be relaxed and get into your energy zone.

 

15-20 minutes before the interview

The interview will begin in 15 to 20 minutes. Be on time, log in beforehand. Make an appointment with the interviewer so that both of you can relax and go through another technical check together.

And this is very important: how is the sound? Is there feedback? If there is, then I recommend that you simply use headphones so you are quiet and there is no unpleasant feedback noise. Also, it is very important to check your cropping. Perhaps you are sitting a little bit too high, or a little too low? You and the interviewer must be at the same height and looking into the camera.

 

During the Interview

Then it begins. The interview starts, and it’s a bit like a chair lift when skiing, where you are pulled up a bit, and you are allowed to let yourself fall first. Let the interviewer get underway and give yourself over to the process.

At the same time, you have full control over how the interview goes. You can determine the course of the interview with your answers and perhaps also with counter-questions. You don’t have to answer every question in a straightforward manner if you can think of something better. I would recommend that if the interviewer talks for too long, just open your mouth a bit. That signals that you want to say something now. And always look into the camera. Turn off your cell-phone and always stay in the present moment. Seek dialog with your interviewer and thus also your connection with the viewers. Stay relaxed and you will be fine.

 

Final considerations, and how to be invited to an interview

Now, you might want to know: how do I actually get interviewed? How does someone approach me about being an interview guest in the first place? Being proactive can be super helpful. Approach a person you would particularly like to be interviewed by. Give a topic and a few suggested questions as an idea. Find a perspective and an angle on how your topic can be of benefit but only approach people you trust. As an interview is aired and hosted by another party, you would do well to choose quality over quantity.

Helping you to do High-Quality Live Video Broadcasting and Streaming in your Look & Feel. Get into the LIVE Mindset and win clients with ease!

I am Daniel Schwenger, a digital marketing specialist and YouTube Influencer in Geneva, Switzerland. I help thought leaders and business owners to share an authentic message, look good on camera and gain trust, engagement, and clients.

Would you like to be interviewed and share your message in a professional and authentic setting? Let’s arrange a discovery call and find out how I can support you.

Listen to the related Podcast

Watch my video interview with Katie Fawkes from Ecamm

How to prepare for a Live-Video Interview. (English Translation available)

Back to Being Human - Interview with Corvin Domröse (English Translation available)

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