Communicating Coronavirus #2

Were you watching 7.30 last night? Leigh Sales interviewed a clinical immunologist who did a terrific job of communicating his message in a short time frame (the segment was just over two and a half minutes long). You can check it out here.

Why was Dr Suan so good? Well, there's a lot of mixed messages out there at the moment but he kept his message simple and to the point: everyone who can self isolate should do so now.

To break it down further, here's why his interview went so well.

* Appearance: We all know first impressions matter and Dr Suan instantly comes across as well groomed, neat and tidy. This sends a message that he's trustworthy and has an ordered mind.

* Eye contact: His eyes are constantly looking down the barrel of the camera - he never looks away. This makes him appear steady and sure of himself.

* Vocal tone, pace and diction: Dr Suan speaks at a steady pace, with clear enunciation and an appropriate tone. In other words, his message matches his presentation style (both are serious) and this gives him credibility.

* Clear language: This medical professional keeps it real. His first words "We have a problem" demonstrate his ability to speak in normal, everyday sentences. From then on he rarely strays into immunological jargon, with "interpersonal distancing" about as technical as he gets.

* Concise answers: Dr Suan's shortest answer was 17 seconds, his longest 45 seconds. On average, his answers were around 30 seconds and that's a perfect length for a media interview. Any longer, and you risk the journalist interrupting you before you finish.

But now we get to my biggest compliment of all: the structure of his answers.

In my media training sessions I encourage people to speak using a clear three-step structure:

• State it - make a broad statement in answer to the question
• Back it up - back up that statement with some kind of evidence, either factual or anecdotal.
• Sum it up - conclude your answer by bringing all the information you've presented together, and explaining what it means.

Dr Suan following this structure several times in this interview. Here's one example:

Leigh Sales: What do we need to do to be on a trajectory more like Hong Kong & Singapore?

Step 1: The reason Hong Kong and Singapore are okay, even though they are also very ahead of us in terms of time, is that they adopted personal social isolation and interpersonal distancing very early in the epidemic.

Step 2: They didn't wait for a huge number of cases. This is because these two countries have had the experience of SARS and the moment they heard about a new novel coronavirus in Wuhan, within a couple of days you saw everyone in Hong Kong wearing a mask.

Step 3: Now the mask is just a symbol that the people understand how to solve this medical problem. They know what the remedy is, and that is to socially isolate themselves from each other, not touch each other and not touch things that they don't need to touch.

By following this three step process, Dr Suan gave answers that were informative, credible and concise.

And that's what really makes a great interview.

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Looking for my first Communicating Coronavirus post? Read it here

Christine Heard is a Media Skills Network accredited trainer and runs Heard Communication, a media and crisis training consultancy that works with big business, SMEs, start ups and no-for-profits.

[email protected]