Behind the Scenes: Making a Live TV News Program Look Effortless... Every Day

This post is part of a series in which LinkedIn Influencers and members take you behind the scenes on their work and share how they do what they do. Read all the stories here and participate by including the hashtag #BehindTheScenes in the body of your post.

To get the full picture, let's start at the end of the story — 5 p.m. That's when I wrap my show each night. By 5:05, my team of producers and I are huddled around our desks, mapping out the next day's program. We email late into the night and resume our flurry of email traffic about segment ideas, stories to cover and guests to interview early the next morning.

We're constantly asking ourselves: What headlines are important to us? How can we make news? What do our viewers need to know? How can we best engage with our audience? How can we make a segment distinct? But, often, our decisions are short-lived.

On an easy day, by noon, the lead story may be one we all agree on — for example, the market is tanking and investors need to know what's behind the sell-off. But we don't get too attached to the lead, because things change. What to cover (and where to cover it) is a debate that continues throughout the afternoon. Our goal is to make sure we are consistently on and ahead of the news curve — providing our viewers with an unrivaled level of sophistication and insight into a topic.

Often, at 1:15 p.m., you'll see us tearing up the rundown and choosing new stories to cover based on the news of the day. If we're hit with breaking news just before air at 3 p.m., we reshuffle all over again. It's critical that each team member is aggressive about responding to news in real time... and, it's a process that continues throughout the two hours we're live on air. Reporting live news means you've got to stay flexible. Flexibility is a critical part of our job — of any job, for that matter.

And, yes — there's a little fun stuff in there too. But ultimately, no matter the topic, we aim to make news and advance the story.

Case in point? Lululemon and Chip Wilson.

Wilson, the founder and former Chairman of the company appeared with me on "Street Smart" to promote a new meditation product he and his wife had created. I assumed it would be a pretty straightforward interview, near the end of the program. He'd probably tell me about his new product, I'd then ask a couple questions about his company's yoga pant recall… I'd get a few canned answers from him that I'd push back on and, we'd eventually run out of time.

Not quite.

Full disclosure: the interview started off a bit weird (with Wilson telling me his only meditation time was his "pee-time.")

Then, the fireworks.

"What's going on with the pants?" I asked.

"Quite frankly, some women's bodies just actually don't work for it," he said.

Incredulous, and a little taken back, I asked, "They don't work for the pants?"

I got what has become an infamous response. (Check it out here.)

As I continued talking to Wilson, the producers jumped into action... killing the next segment to make sure I had time to address Wilson's comments, and making sure headlines were running along the bottom of the screen so the viewer could follow along.

Throughout the rest of the week and month, as the story's legs grew, the company's stock price took a hit based on Wilson's interview and he eventually resigned as Chairman.

If we weren't flexible, we could have missed that moment as it happened live on air.

The reality is, whether putting together a news program or being a leader in your office, you should expect the unexpected and welcome the opportunity to change direction. Flexibility matters.

Photos: Author's Own