Free tool

Interview planner

Work through the questions every good interview brief answers, then print it as a one-page brief to take in with you. It saves in this browser as you type.

Everything you type stays in this browser. Nothing is sent to Jawsmith or anyone else.

1. The interview

Ask the journalist or producer before you agree. Broadcasters’ own codes say they should tell you most of this. What to ask, and why.

Programme or publication

Journalist, presenter or producer

Format

Date, time, place and length

What is the story, and why do they want me?

Who else are they talking to?

2. The audience

Who is watching, listening or reading, and what do they need to know from me?

Think about the audience, not the journalist. The journalist is the way to reach them.

3. Three key messages

The three things you most want the audience to take away. Each needs a proof: a fact, an example or a short story. A message without proof sounds like an assertion.

Message 1

Proof for message 1

Message 2

Proof for message 2

Message 3

Proof for message 3

4. The line you want quoted

One sentence that makes your main point on its own

0 words

5. The questions you dread

Write down the questions you would least like to be asked, and your answer to each. Then say the answers out loud. The tough question drill will help you spot the patterns.

Question 1

My answer

Question 2

My answer

Question 3

My answer

6. What I will not be drawn on

Topics I cannot discuss, and how I will say so briefly

Saved in this browser as you type.

Prefer paper? Download the blank briefing sheet (PDF).

Using the brief

Keep it to one page. The point is to know it, not to read it. In a studio you will not be able to look at it; on the phone or down-the-line a glance is fine.
Say the answers out loud, at least twice. The first time you say a difficult answer is always the worst version.
Check the length of your quote and answers with the soundbite timer. A broadcast clip is often only 25 to 40 words.
Use it for podcasts, panels and select committees too. The same questions apply: who is listening, what do they need to know, and what could go wrong.

Your brief is stored only in this browser, on this device. Clearing your browser data, or pressing “Clear everything”, removes it.

Keep going

Guide

Preparing for a media interview

What to ask before you say yes, what broadcasters are meant to tell you, how to build messages that survive the edit, and what “off the record” really means.

Read the guide

Free tool

Tough question drill

Fifty awkward questions from interviews, crises and committee rooms, against the clock. Answer out loud, then see what the question was trying to do.

Open the tool

Free tool

Soundbite timer

Paste an answer and see how long it takes to say, which sentences run long and which words are jargon. Then read it aloud against the clock.

Open the tool

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