I’ve been fortunate enough to have been on many sides of the media. I’ve done a little or a lot of every bit of it – from anchoring, reporting and producing to hosting and to being a guest. I’ve been on everything from ABC’s 20/20, Dateline and The Today Show to QVC. I’ve come across all sorts of producers, hosts and bookers. It’s always good to have an edge so here are some of the tips I’ve shared with the CEOs, authors, experts and spokespeople I’ve coached.

Find out as much as you can about the host before you go on the air. There is absolutely NO guarantee that you’ll be able to even say hi to the host of your segment before you go on the air if it’s live, but there is usually about a minute before the cameras come on that you can actually change the flow of the energy of the interview by commenting about something personal to the host of your segment. For instance, if you know that they’ve supported Breast Cancer Awareness as their personal cause, a quick mention of it will ingratiate you to the host who may or may have not taken a hard line with you before the interview. These people are pros and can go with the flow, and that is one way for YOU to be in charge! IF you are booking the segment yourself, do the research on all of the reporters/anchors bios in advance because you do not know who will actually conduct the in studio interview.
Know your message inside and out. If you have something controversial to say, you’re probably going to be more of interest to the media in the first place. However, you are also more of a target for the anchor to show you up. They can and will pull tricks on you at the last possible minute if they’re personally not in favor of your position. I’ve seen it happen numerous times. They act extremely passive or friendly to the guest before air time and the second the camera goes on, their energy triples which is enough to make anyone jump out of their seat, and then they are on the attack. These are things that a media expert grows accustomed to, however, for a newbie, it’s extremely intimidating.
With your message, drill in your head three main points that you’d like to get across. It’s quite possible that your interviewer will not follow the original questions that you MUST provide to the producer of the segment. If you’re an author, something else might catch the attention of the anchor that may go down a totally different path. Keep in mind, you are there to inform, to educate or to influence behavior, so your goal will be to bring your answer back to your main three points. Watching political candidates will give you a great model of how to do that. They often dodge difficult questions and pound home the points THEY want to get. For the listener, this can be frustrating, but for the guest whose job it is to use that 2 minutes as effectively as possible, it is imperative that he gets the sound bites in that he or she desires.
Realize that if you’re hemming and hawing for one to two seconds in the beginning of the segment that the anchor probably will cut you off. Their job is to keep the interview engaging and informative and if the guest gets their brain stuck looking for words, the anchor will act as if the guest just said the most brilliant thing in the world yet cut you off immediately. This is why you must know your message and push it through from the beginning.
Live TV can throw anyone off if you’re not aware of all of the distractions that are likely to occur. When the camera turns on you, all you focus on is YOUR MESSAGE. It doesn’t matter if there is a bomb going off in the studio or someone starts yelling. Your job is to continue with what you are saying. This takes practice in front of a camera with obstacles happening to intend on cutting you off or tripping you up. This is not what an anchor wants of course, however, no one can control whether or not the next segment has to do with a crying baby, a yelping dog or a machine that goes off at the wrong moment.
Your job is to bring value! When a reporter starts interviewing you, you need to be thinking about delivering information that will be of value to your customers, and NOT be thinking about promoting your product or your services. If you’re good at what you do, people will find you and the producers will provide your resources to their viewers. Do NOT promote yourself in any way unless it’s for a cause and at the end of the segment or if you are asked to mention your website or phone numbers.
Look at the reporter or the host. How many times have you seen “media professionals” take over from the host and start to talk to the camera? That is an absolute NO NO! If you are the host, then you can look in the camera, however if you are there as the guest, be respectful of the rightful host and look at the host and NOT THE CAMERA!
Be clear what your intention for the audience to do is. For instance, do you want them to take action? Why? How can they do it? If your job is to influence them, then you must appeal to both sides of their brain when doing it. Do not just give an opinion. Give a statement of fact along with your opinion backed up by hard core stats. This will make you sound more prepared and articulate. Additionally, request that people take action and give them easy steps, 1, 2, and 3.
Get your point across quickly. This is likely one of the most difficult things to do. Many people are not trained to articulate their main points in 20-30 seconds but when dealing with TV, you are shooting for the pithy SOUND BITE. These sound bites can be 10-15 seconds long so it would be wise to write these in advance and practice accordingly.
Work with a media coach. This is your best chance to become more familiar with the tactics and techniques used by some of the anchors. Some people are fine when standing before an audience, yet once the camera turns on, they freeze. A media coach will size you up from your clothes to your message, and they’ll engage you in different situations over and over so when the real interview happens, you will be an old pro.

No one knows when a producer or reporter might be calling them for a tip or a statement. On the other hand, if you’re seeking press, it’s best to be prepared for whatever comes along. Regardless, we are now a media driven society, and its time to step up to the plate, smile and give it your best shot. Hopefully you’ll be prepared and not strike out, but strike gold!

In a world obsessed with celebrity culture, ironically, many shows ignore the constructive, more compassionate side of celebrity lives. In addition, with the rise of many shows like Extreme Home Makeover and Oprah’s upcoming O Philanthropy programs, the public has called out for the media to focus on the good things the celebrities are doing to better the world. Star Causes will feature the positive side of a life in the public eye by showcasing celebrities and the charities they passionately support.

Star Causes is a forum for celebrities to discuss projects they care deeply about and thus, have used their status to promote.Celebrities will see the show as an opportunity for positive press and publicity for their cause. Viewers will discover important causes, how to get involved, and an unknown side of their favorite celebrities, not typically covered in entertainment media.

The casual atmosphere of the one-hour show will highlight the ‘dressed down” celebrity in their home or in a relaxed environment. The show’s host will interview celebrities about why and how they were compelled to get involved in their particular charity, and how they currently contribute. Footage may also include the celebrity at events promoting ways to get involved and upcoming opportunities. Additionally, vignettes will show the star “at work,” demonstrating their commitment and care, as they interact closely with those who benefit from their involvement. Human interest segments will include interviews with those directly benefiting from the charity’s work.

Beyond appealing to the emotion and interests of viewers, Star Causes will be highly interactive. A dedicated website will promote live auctions featuring celebrity memorabilia gifts, events, trips or conversations with featured celebrities. Messaging will also reach out to the audience and encourage their involvement, whether it be volunteering their time or donating money. An online community will promote the organization and connect viewers to celebrities and the details of their causes.

Star Causeswill not only bring to light the star and their cause, but will brighten the lives of those that are in need.

This show, hosted by Mary Gardner, TV personality, professional coach and formerly publicist and agent to the stars, will interact both in the studio and on site at charity functions all over the country. Each week, one charity will be featured with their celebrity spokesperson, along with one lesser known charity that deserves a voice. There will be no shortage of celebrities welcoming the opportunity to allow their “cause” to become the “star.”

Star Causes with Mary Gardner

© Copyright 2007, 2008 Mary Gardner – WGA Registration No.1176026

The symptoms are that there are language delays, odd behaviors and inability to communicate normally. Many of the children reached early milestones and then at age 2 starting losing their language skills and changed into a child they didn’t know. This was horrible for the parents to witness and even worse when the doctors told the parents they were overly concerned or too worried. It was clear throughout the show that doctors need to be better educated about the early warning signs of autism.

Many of these kids are lost in their own world. They make noises but don’t respond like normal children do to conversation. Some of them can skate and play ball, but they have no ability to talk. The show highlighted some siblings of these children who feel a great sense of loss as well. They also see their autistic brother or sister getting all of the attention from the parents, and feel left out. The parents have no choice but to care for their autistic child. The children require hours and hours of therapy every day. The good news is that some of these children are being helped by the therapy.

The most shocking part of the show was that a medical doctor made an appearance on the show and explained how they believe autism is being spread. She has two sons with autism, and therefore is an expert. She mentioned that it’s genetic, and there “might be environmental factors involved”. When Oprah mentioned that perhaps it was the immunization shots that the babies are given, the doctor said that’s very controversial and that it has been proven that that is NOT the case.

Oprah encouraged one of the moms to disagree because Oprah told her she’d regret it if she didn’t disagree on the show. The mom “vehemently disagreed with that assessment” stating that there have been studies to show that the shots WERE the cause.

At this point, I reviewed the tape and watched the doctor’s face several times. Was she lying? Does she know beyond the shadow of a doubt it’s not the shots? Is she being paid by a pharmaceutical company to say those things? Are her sons being treated by the best of the best so she stays quiet about it? No one will ever know. But in my gut, I felt she knew SHE couldn’t say it, but she was pleased that she was refuted.

Who is shutting the people up? Why is this happening? If there is even a small chance that the immunizations are causing autism, then why is it illegal NOT to get them? Who is making up these rules? Why can’t that be stopped? Why aren’t doctors taking stand against this practice? Why aren’t other people taking a stand? Are we all so afraid as to what can happen to us by speaking up? If there are people who start to speak up, are the pharmaceutical companies getting them to be quiet somehow? What are they doing?

Is it true that there have been cures to numerous diseases but because it’s not beneficial financially to find a cure for the Big Pharm companies, that they run the doctor or scientist out of business? Is it that ruthless? Who are the people behind the scenes who are making these decisions?

Oprah learned not to criticize big business years ago when she was dragged into court by a bunch of cattle ranchers who claimed that she harmed their business when she said on TV that she wasn’t going to eat beef. Apparently, after she said that, sales dipped and the cattle ranchers sued her as a result. Oprah won in court, and met Dr. Phil as a bonus who coached her through her court appearance, but she learned a valuable lesson: Let the guests complain, but she can not.

Parents who are dealing with Autism right now struggle every day to manage their families, their kids and their jobs. But somehow, the laws of the immunizations need to be changed. People need to fight and to stand up. I know it’s not so easy and the repercussions are immense. If a child does not have an immunization, that child can NOT be registered in school. Those are the laws. So the only other alternative is to home school your child for 18 years.

When parents are preparing for a baby, they’re not considering these things and mostly because Autism has been a silent issue, they have no idea what the statistics are, so they get the immunizations as their doctors recommend. Two years later, 1 in ever 150 of those kids, turns into a shell of his or her former self.

This is a serious epidemic in our country. For those having babies, if you research, you’d be crazy and you shouldn’t in good conscious give all of those shots to your baby. Did you know that they give tiny babies up to 5-6 shots at one time? Their tiny bodies are filled with medicine. It’s nothing short of cruel, and it’s damaging our whole society.

We need people to fight before congress to change the immunization laws.
We also need to make sure that the law makers in our country aren’t being swayed by the big political contributions that are made by the pharmaceutical companies to their campaigns. We need to stand up and fight against the big business conglomerate, which is possibly causing our children and millions of families to suffer. And if we can find out if these executive’s children and grandchildren are or are NOT receiving all of their immunizations, we’d be getting somewhere. My guess is that they’re not. They know the damage being done, and they’d never subject their own family to this torture.

Thank you Oprah for hosting this show on Autism. You were brave to stand up to it, and I hope that you’ve stimulated a lot of conversation. I pray that we all remain safe as we push to expose this possible corruption in the pharmaceutical industry and government. They have answers, and we deserve to know.