Larry King’s Secret to the Great Interview
In a recent story, CNN covered Larry King’s fiftieth anniversary in broadcast journalism. Known for his signature suspenders and an ability to get exclusive information out of people stingy with their details, Larry let escape some exclusive information of his own—specifically his secret for doing great interviews: "…I listen to the answers, I ask short questions. If you ask a question over two sentences to me, you’re showing off." (See the full story here.)
He knows how to get the details that matter and his choice of the right question at the right time has paid off.
Likewise, when formulating your own presentations, contrary to what you may think, you’ll likely struggle more often with narrowing your information to a few good points than with generating enough ideas to support your key message. For most business occasions, your key points are fairly well defined by the purpose of the meeting.
Just remember that in this era of 30-second commercials, one-sentence newspaper updates, 8-line e-zines, 15-word cell-phone text messages, 200-word magazine articles, 15-minute oil changes, 20-minute pizza deliveries, and 1-hour photos, your audience appreciates brevity. And so do corporate pocketbooks. Figure the salaries of those gathered to hear you, and ask yourself if each of your points is worth $X per minute.
Larry King did, and he has earned a fabulous show, opportunities to meet and greet the famous, and the career of a lifetime…literally.
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