TV Lesson: It’s Not About You

Here’s a great example of what not to do on TV. based on the tease and title of the segment, the expert (Kristina Carrillo-Bucaram, The Green Goddess) was booked to offer info and tips about preparing vegan dishes and incorporating vegan food into a meat-eater’s diet. Watch the segment and see what you notice…

Kristina may be an expert in real life, but she doesn’t come across that way in this TV segment. Where does she go wrong? Let me count the ways…

  1. Experts show their expertise by actually giving useful tips and information. Kristina doesn’t give any information that is useful to the viewer. Instead she talks about herself, drops her company name and talks about her services.
  2. Experts usually go on TV to get more customers. Kristina ignores the Host by talking to the audience instead of the Host, ignores the Host’s questions, interrupts the Host and dominates the conversation. That behavior does not attract potential customers, it repels them. Who wants to work with someone who is rude and dismissive?
  3. She compliments herself and her food instead of soliciting/acknowledging feedback from the Host and Mr. Bacon.
  4. She doesn’t describe the dishes, give any recipes or demonstrate how to prepare the food. Viewers will expect this same behavior in a working relationship as they see on TV. Who wants to pay to listen to someone talk about themselves instead of providing useful information?
  5. Her display is sparse and dull. Do you notice the camera keeps giving close ups of the same dish over and over? That’s because her words don’t relate to her props and her props aren’t interesting to look at. The camera operator has no choice but to keep looking at that one dish….what is it anyway? Tabbouleh? She never says. TV is a visual medium…if the visuals don’t command attention, viewers will tune out.
  6. And finally her hair….her hair blocks her face, looks like it’s going into the food and is completely distracting. Her hair is so distracting that viewers can’t even concentrate on what she is saying. In this case, that’s probably a good thing. If you actually have something useful to say, distractions or grooming that grosses-out viewers work against you.
What worked/didn’t work for you in the segment?

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