Introducing The Upfront One: Charlotte Shipman.
Charlotte’s strength is telling it like it is. Here she explains a common pitfall of an unconfident communicator.

“There’ll be something in there you can use.” It’s a phrase all journalists have heard during an interview.

It’s usually said by the ‘talent’ (that’s you) - the person who is being interviewed - because you’re over it. You’re done.

But I’m not.

With that phrase, I know from my years as a journalist that I’m going to listen back and find that although there’s more than 10 minutes of talking, you haven’t said anything. I already know it as we’ve been talking. That’s why we’re still going.

There’s nothing punchy, real or insightful. Nothing I’d be happy to publish, post or broadcast and more crucially, nothing you’d be happy to have published, posted or broadcast.

Nothing that helps tell the message you need to get across - the anecdotes, the context and your experience.

How does this happen? The phone call beforehand is almost always amazing.

“You have opinions, expressed eloquently with energy and passion. However, confronted by a camera and a microphone or when you’re told you’re being recorded, it all disappears.”

You’ve got the same name, but you’re a different person.

You’re not the person you are on the phone. Not the person you are at a family event and not the person who has put their blood, sweat and tears into whatever we’re talking about.

It’s frustrating. Is it my fault? Have I not put you at ease? Did I not ask you good enough questions? All relevant possibilities. But I know, every time I meet someone I'm interviewing, or anyone at all, I am the same person. I’m me a thousand times over (much to the chagrin of some, I’m sure.) So, sorry to be harsh but it’s not me...it’s you.

You need confidence. You need streamlined ideas that people can easily understand. You might even need some help.

When I was a reporter for 3News and Newshub, I always wondered what happened at ‘media training.’

From the outside it seemed like it was some kind of extra armour that businesses would cloak their spokespeople in with the aim of making your content impenetrable for journalists. It felt like a ‘dark art’ designed to stop us getting what we needed.

“What we need is someone who makes sense, speaks confidently and with conviction. No matter the story. No matter the angle. No matter what question is thrown at you.”

That’s what everyone needs in every interaction and communication they have with you.

Now, as a senior partner at amandamillar&co, I get to help people not so much with what they say, (you’re the expert after all) but how they say it.

If you’re talking in jargon, waffling or making things complicated, then I can also help with what you say.

amandamillar&co isn’t about spin or PR. It’s about creating confident and real communicators. When you come across as confident in what you say, and how you say it, that builds trust.

What I love about my job is helping people grow their confidence. So the passionate you in that initial phone call or conversation is the same you when you speak to an audience or when someone hits the ‘record’ button.

When you’re confident, you know there’ll be many ‘somethings in there’ that the media (or anyone) can use to get your message across AND you will be the real you.