My media training and virtual presentation workshops have ramped up a lot in the last few months. Even with a more aggressive vaccine rollout and a gradual reopening of economies, many organisations are realising that online interviews/ presentations/ meetings are set to stay so acing that VIRTUAL PRESENCE is a must. However, giving feedback to senior executives about their media interviews or presentations can be a challenging task, especially when that feedback is negative.
As a trainer, I do have reservations about hurting my ‘student’s feelings, or I worry that they may take this feedback the wrong way. So how can we make this process less painful and straightforward? Because trust me, it’s never easy having your weaknesses spelt out for you. However, it is worth pointing out that someone who seeks feedback about their performance in already has that innate desire to do better, and being honest is one of the best ways to help them.
Here are three guiding pointers that can help in giving constructive feedback:
- TIMING
Finding the right moment to offer that feedback is crucial. It doesn’t have to be given immediately after a media interview, especially if your spokesperson is preoccupied or not in the right frame of mind. But there is no point offering feedback two months later, when your trainee’s account of his/ her presentation becomes fuzzy. If it’s a training session, giving feedback immediately after a round of presentations is useful so that the ‘mistake’ is highlighted and corrected at once. That said, giving feedback doesn’t necessarily mean only pointing out what went wrong – this leads me to my second point.
2. GOOD AND BAD
Another way to ease into feedback mode is to give both good and bad examples – be really clear about what was done well and what could be improved upon. Ambiguity and broad observations should be avoided as it’s not helpful for future ‘performance’. For example, you could say “the way you said this at 2’15” was not very impactful. Why don’t you try saying it this way instead ……” Spokespersons like to know exactly what needs improving and what could have been done better. So be specific. But I do find that highlighting areas that were genuinely done well does soften the ‘pain’ of the ‘bad’ and gives my trainees a boost in confidence.
3. GET THEIR FEEDBACK
This is an interesting one. I like to conduct my training sessions with a 360 degree feedback loop. That means first asking my client how the entire training session went, how they felt about their own presentation and whether they felt adequately supported before delivering their spiel. This is a nice segue into a conversation about their own interview performance, which I must highlight again, is a conversation and not a lecture about what went wrong. Getting their feedback also allows me as the trainer to improve on my services. So it’s a win-win 🙂
Try these out and let me know if it helps smoothen your feedback session post training next time!
If you would like to find out more about my media training and virtual presentation workshops, do drop us a note at enquiry@yvonne-chan.com, we’d love to hear from you.