MAJ Angela Smoot says:
Lights glaring in your face, a lot of eyes staring at you, blank facial gestures that make you question yourself, media feverishly waving their hand to be acknowledged, and your heart is pounding as if it’s going to jump out of your chest.
Many Soldiers experience this for the first time in a real crisis situation. I personally experienced the above range of emotions during Advanced Media Training, a class that lets ILE students practice their media skills in a realistic but safe setting. My experience with AMT was awesome! Any opportunity you have to develop yourself should be seized. AMT provided me with valuable practice and tools in order to improve my interview skills.
The way to mitigate some of these emotions is through practice. The more you practice, the better you will become at navigating your interview jitters. My advice to Soldiers who are serious about improving their media interview/engagement skills starts with assessing yourself and selecting a media role model. First, define your personal capabilities in reference to public speaking and communicating; and then determine what areas you want to sustain and improve. Secondly, identify a few people that you watch on TV or that you know in person and write down what you admire about their abilities. From there you should try to match what naturally works for you.
The bottom-line is, Soldiers at all levels can find themselves in a media engagement. We have to be prepared to represent the objectives and mission of our respective units. Every aspect of your body language, vocal tone, posture, and mannerisms has the ability to influence at the tactical level into the strategic level.
Are YOU prepared?
MAJ Angela Smoot, ILE 12-002, Staff Group 33B
Redstone Arsenal, Alabama.
