A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the opportunity I had to present our project to the high commissioner of the UNHCR. I also mentioned how I’d like to improve my public speaking skills. Well, today I had another chance to test that. Breakfast Television wanted to interview The Refugee Centre and talk about their social innovation catalyst initiative. I was asked to join and give a brief explanation of our app on live television.
The buildup was pretty exciting, I mean I’ve never been on live television so I wasn’t sure what to expect and we didn’t have much time to prepare (I knew about it only about 12 hours prior), but yeah I was super excited. We got there early and were given a quick rundown of how the interview will flow. After a quick touch-up (yes.. make-up 😜) we were brought behind the scenes where we got to see first-hand how the hosts at Breakfast Television do live shows. It was extremely impressive. Really fast-paced; moving from one area to another, one subject to another, and always staying calm and collected. Their flow in transitions is so smooth. I was super impressed by their work. 👍
Anyways, we sat at the interview desk and our interviewer, Derick (Check him out on Twitter), started having a regular friendly conversation with us. It was still during the commercial break so we weren’t live yet, but out of nowhere Derick suddenly started talking to the camera and introducing us. Having this conversation and flowing into the interview from it completely took away the nerves, it felt like a totally normal discussion and not an interview on live TV. He’s a very talented person. The interview went really smoothly and after about 5 minutes we were done and they moved on to other interviews like Andrew Scheer (the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada was there too, in person).
I definitely learned a lot through this short visit to the set and I have new found admiration for the work of live television hosts. Another great experience I’m thankful for.
Here’s a link to the interview (Note: No amount of make-up could help me 😆):
http://www.btmontreal.ca/videos/tech-innovations-helping-refugees-in-montreal/