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I’ve been interviewed on broadcast television a fair amount, especially during my time running CoinList. CNBC, Bloomberg, Fox Business, and others always want to know “what is the price of Bitcoin going to be next month?” (I, of course, have no idea. But they insist on asking regardless.)

I look back on my earliest appearances and cringe, but along the way, I learned to do it pretty well — and now I often get asked for advice. So here it is. Treat this as a free “media training” session.

What to say

The number one rule: say whatever you want to say. (At the end of this article, I’ll mention some really out-there things I’ve said on air…)

(Rule two is “have fun.”)

If you go and watch appearances from truly skilled interviewees — spokespersons, experienced CEOs, politicians, etc. — you’ll see that most answers they give (and certainly their first response) roughly follow this formula:

  1. “That’s a great question, Jim…“Usually with a “Thanks for having me on” first.
  2. “When thinking about [rough topic of question], the critical thing to remember is…”
  3. “[literally whatever their main desired talking point is, regardless of what the question was]…”

In PR world, this is called “bridging” or “pivoting.”

An example:

Host: “So, let’s talk about what everyone’s wondering: what direction is Bitcoin’s price headed over the coming months?”

You: “Well Jim, I’m glad you asked that.

In my view, the biggest driver in the crypto markets right now is

the adoption of stablecoins as global payment rails. We’re seeing a ton of this momentum just on Eco’s stablecoin network, but even more broadly, if stablecoins take a larger and larger share of global payments, we’re going to see the entire space grow. Stablecoins went from $x billion in volume in 2023 to $y billion in 2024, and in my opinion, it’s the most exciting thing happening in the space and is likely to be the biggest driver of mindshare.”

Did I mention Bitcoin’s price? Not at all.

It sounds awkward and unnatural (and can feel that way), but it’s the name of the game. Anchors are used to it — they’re often just firing a series of questions off — and audiences are, generally, barely paying attention anyway. The disconnect between the question and answer ends up being near-unnoticeable.

In your best appearances, you’ll nail a pivot like this right off the bat, getting your key message across (which you should have figured out in advance!). Then, the anchor may ask follow-up questions related to what you said, which is the best case scenario — you’ve pivoted the entire interview to your topic instead of theirs!

People sometimes react badly hearing this approach, presumably because it violates social norms of how to speak with other people. But TV spots are constrained in a way that — I think — makes this the only viable strategy. You’re getting a couple minutes of soundbite-length bits, and nothing more. You need to play your own game.

Podcasts, for example, are different. For a podcast to go well, I believe you need to have a real, genuine, flowing conversation. Otherwise it sounds fake and unnatural. But on TV, it already sounds fake and unnatural — that’s the format of a quick-hitting, no-pleasantries, cold-start interview. So play to the format, get your win, and get out of there — even if it’s not how you’d converse in real life.

After you get the message across once, you can either keep hammering it, or if the questions are ones you’re comfortable answering, you can just answer them and then try to get back to your message before the hit is over.

That brings up another point: especially on broadcast TV, you generally do not know how long the interview will be, or what questions will be asked. Before the show, you’ll probably talk to a producer (more on that below), who will say roughly how long the interview will be and sometimes roughly what the hosts want to talk about, but that’s about it.

That’s why it’s so critical to pivot and get your point across right away. I’ve been in situations where I answered their initial couple questions straightforwardly, waiting to make my point, and then the interview suddenly ended. Oops.Sometimes they are really short - a couple questions and nothing more — because there’s some breaking news or something else shifting in the schedule. So be succinct and get your point across.

When I tell friends about how this process goes, they are often scared about not knowing at all what questions will be asked. But the reality is that if you get comfortable with pivoting, you can answer any question.

This is something you can easily practice! Ask a colleague or friend to mock-interview you, asking random questions about your industry. You can respond on your feet, pivoting and covering what you want.

Two more key tips:

  1. Be tight on your answers. If you go long, they’ll probably wrap the interview early (because they fear you rambling on past the end of the segment), and the anchor will cut you off in the middle of a point. It’s better to be concise, hit the high notes, and move on.
  2. If you stumble, lose your train of thought, stutter, say a weird word, or anything else: do not worry about it. Just blitz through. Nobody notices (again: I have evidence of this at the end of this article). You’re way better off keeping your momentum high and simply moving on to whatever else you have to say.

What to do, physically

People often feel physically awkward their first time on TV, and for good reason. This may seem in-the-weeds, but I found this level of detail helpful for my first appearances. I’ll give a few tips in general, and then break this into two sections: in-person interviews and remote ones.

First, clothing. This is of course up to you, but I recommend wearing dressier clothes. For guys, at least a dress shirt, if not also a jacket. Everyone has their own style, but I think that broadcast TV producers and bookers are more likely to invite you back if you look more dressed-up.

A few other clothing tips:

  • solid colors are better than patterns — sometimes patterns cause issues on camera
  • if you can, avoiding wearing all black or all white (a white dress shirt under a jacket is usually fine, but light blue would be better) — they can cause camera exposure issues
  • don’t wear anything reflective (including avoiding glasses if possible, although this isn’t critical)

If you’re wearing a jacket, a pro move is to tuck the tail of the jacket under your butt in the chair. This makes the jacket fabric taut and smooth instead of wrinkled, plus it makes you sit up straighter. (By the way, you should be sitting up straight with good posture.)

Second: gesturing. Make a decision in advance: are you going to gesture with your hands, or not? The reason this matters is because you generally have no idea how your video feed will be cropped — it’s often tight — and making gestures below the frame looks weird.

The easiest path is just not to gesture (even if you usually do). If you’re going to gesture, you should do it higher than normal — up near your face. That way you have the best chance of getting gestures in the frame.

Plus, for bonus credit — this is advance for any public speaking, really — if you’re making linear gestures (“first, second, third” or “up and to the right”), make the gesture backwards so it looks correct from the camera/audience’s perspective.

That is, if you’re saying “first,” put your hands to your right, not your left. Then “second” is in the middle. Then “third” is to your left. This is backwards from your perspective, but it looks right from the camera/audience’s perspective.

Okay, now let’s break this down into in-person and remote interviews.

In-person

When you get to the studio, you’ll be given a “green room” to wait in, and likely (hopefully) get brought to “HMU” (hair and makeup) to get ready for the show. You can bring a guest if you ask in advance, which can be fun.

They may ask if you want hair and makeup. The answer is yes. It makes a huge difference in how professional you look on air (ask me how I know). Plus it’s a fun chance to ask the hair / makeup artists about the host and the show and any advice they have (they’ve heard it all from other guests), and to just chat with another human being and release any nerves.

A producer will bring you to the set 5-10 minutes before your segment starts. An audio tech may give you an earpiece (or “IFB”) so you can hear what’s going on on the program, and especially if there are any remote correspondents or other guests.

Then, likely on a commercial break, they’ll bring you to your chair. Assuming the anchors aren’t involved in anything, you can say hi, they may briefly mention what they want to cover, and then someone will cue you all, you’ll get quiet, and the segment will start.

When you’re on set, you generally (unless they say otherwise) want to be looking at the anchors, not the cameras. The cameras are positioned appropriately to make this look natural. Just get into it and have fun!

At some point, they’ll wrap up, thank you for coming on, you say “thanks for having me,” and then you’re done and will get escorted out.

Remote

Remote interviews are different, and, in my opinion, much trickier. If you can do it in person, you should.

The two main reasons they’re harder:

  1. There is often a slight delay, making it tougher to keep up a flowing conversation
  2. You usually can’t see the anchors (!) — so no body/face language cues are available

One behavior tweak for remote interviews: try not to nod, smile, or react in any way while they are talking. Just stay still and keep a straight face. It sounds weird, but otherwise, because of the delay, you’ll end up reacting off-time (plus, it’s distracting to the audience).

So instead, stay still, wait until they’re finished, wait a beat (to make sure they’re finished), and then get into your answer.

There are two types of remote interviews: in a remote studio, or from your home. But in either case, the experience is basically this:

  • you’re sitting, either with an earpiece in (if at studio), or headphones or nothing (if from home)
  • you can hear the program going, but you can’t see anything
  • if it goes to commercial break, you usually won’t hear anything at all during that
  • randomly, a producer or audio tech’s voice will appear in your ear talking to you

They may ask you to count to five to test the audio, they may tell you to shift your position to frame yourself better, they may tell you when you’re going on, etc. — they can also hear you, so don’t say anything you don’t want them to hear.

They’ll typically count you down until you’re on air (because again: on commercial break you can’t hear anything, and you can’t see anything). “You’re on at the end of this break, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…” — sit up straight, smile, and get ready for the interview.

In either case, I’d recommend putting some very basic makeup on before you go. Most remote studies don’t have hair and makeup, and you’ll want to look professional. You mainly want powder to avoid shiny skin. If you’re a guy, ask a friend :)

Remote studio-specific tips

These are often in somewhat-janky rental studios, and occasionally pretty disorganized. Just roll with the punches. This if for when, say, a show is being taped in New York, but you’re in San Francisco.

You’ll likely be sitting in a chair with some generic background behind you. There will be a camera in front of you, and you want to be looking straight at the camera the whole time. It’s a little uncanny, but you get used to it. There are often also very bright lights — not much you can do about it.

Typically, below the camera there is a small screen that shows you a view of yourself. I would strongly recommend asking the studio to turn this off. It’s distracting, and if you look down at it, you will not be looking at the camera and it will look odd on-air. If they can’t turn it off, just fix your gaze on the camera lens and ignore it as best you can.

You’ll have an earpiece / IFB in your ear, and usually a “lav” microphone clipped to your shirt.

How to have fun

Well, first of all, just enjoy it. It’s wild — you’re on TV! A shocking (to me) number of people still watch these TV shows, and afterwards you’ll likely hear from people you haven’t talked to in quite awhile. And if you flub it, it will disappear into the sands of time.

But a further fun recommendation: at some point, I started to play a game. Before I went on, I’d ask friends to give me a word or phrase or two that I should say on air. The more outlandish, the better.

It adds a whole new level to the experience to not only be trying to get your point across, but also figure out how to say the crazy word. And it took my mind off the appearance and made it all flow better.

So as a result, I’ve said some pretty odd things on broadcast TV, often nearly-totally out of context. “Mesopotamia,” “tentacles,” “banana muffin,” “artichoke,” “on advice of counsel I decline to answer,” “penguin,” “yeast,” “freckled,” “old sport,” “cannonade,” “gallbladder,” “jumpsuit,” and more.

(And I’m proudly aware of at least one high-level politician who heard about this idea and started doing it themselves.)

And I can tell you from experience: as long as you keep ripping through and look like you’re at ease and having fun — it literally does not matter what you say. Have at it.

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