EP 6 - Shelly Horton
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Liz Nable: [00:00:00] I really hope you're enjoying my summer series of Media Magnet podcast. In this episode, you'll hear from journalist, TV presenter and business owner Shelly Horton. Shelly is the founder of Shell-Shocked Media, where she helps people find their inner Beyonce through media training, presentation skills, and confidence coaching.
Shelly shares how she draws on nearly three decades in radio. Digital video and television to help experts, entrepreneurs, and professionals speak with real clarity, presence, and personality in any situation. Across this conversation, Shelly explains why media training isn't just for people who wanna be on TV, and how the same skills apply whether you are pitching clients, speaking on Zoom.
Presenting at conferences or simply describing what your business actually does. She talks about working with everyone from chefs and real estate agents to health and safety officers, and shares a powerful [00:01:00] example of how a PR business owner who landed three new clients in a week after finally learning how to talk about her business.
Clearly. You'll also hear Shelly's best tips for showing up with confidence on camera and in virtual meetings, including how to handle Zoom. Where to put your computer. Simple tweaks with lighting and how to stop obsessing over your own little video box. On screen, she breaks down what really makes someone stand out on camera.
Why confidence and energy matter more than being naturally photogenic And how to fake it till you make it for the first 30 seconds until your nerves catch up if you run a small or medium sized business. And you know you are the face of your brand. This episode will help you show up in a way that feels intentional, polished, and human.
Whether you're on stage, online or in the media, settle in for a fun, practical, and confidence boosting chat with Shelly Horton from Shellshock Media.[00:02:00]
Hello and welcome to Media Magnet, the podcast for female founders and women owned businesses, startups, and side hustlers who want to learn how to grow their business, leveraging the media and free pr. I am Liz Nable, and I'm your host, personal publicist, PR strategist, and dedicated hype woman. My goal with this show is to give you a behind the scenes tour of how the media works to break down the barriers between your business and the big heads.
So you can see how easy it is to get featured simply by giving journalists what they want at Media Magnet. You'll also get access to the top journals, editors, writers, and PR people in your industry and beyond sharing their secrets and expertise on the how, why, what. And when of pitching and getting featured in the media consistently, I will share with you how to build your reputation as an industry expert [00:03:00] so successfully the media will be knocking down your door.
When I first started in small business 12 years ago, I had no idea what I was getting into. I had spent 15 years as a television news reporter working at several major networks in Australia, and then as a freelancer in the US and around the world. I spent years dividing my time between working long shifts on a news desk and traveling the world chasing stories.
It was unpredictable and exciting until it wasn't anymore. I decided I wanted a life where I was in charge of what happened next and where I was working to build my own empire, not someone else's. There was a lot I had to learn about running my own business, but getting media and great free PR was not one of them.
I already knew what the media wanted. I knew the secret formula for what made news, and I knew how to leverage those media outlets to build my business, get more exposure, and ultimately [00:04:00] make more sales. I was featured in every major media outlet in the country, and I never spent a single cent on pr. I took that knowledge for granted until it dawned on me one day that I could teach what I knew to other businesses.
Let them in on the secret, and they too could build their brands with organic media and pr. Let me help you take your brand from Best Kept Secret to household name. This is Media Magnet. The podcast and I'm pretty pumped to have you here.
Hello, Shelly, and welcome to the Nable My Business Podcast list. So excited to have you here.
Shelly Horton: Thanks for having me, Liz. This is great.
Liz Nable: Yeah, I mean, I think a lot of our listeners may have heard your voice before or seen your beautiful face on shows, um, on Channel nine, and [00:05:00] you've presented a lot of business chicks, um, conferences and that sort of thing.
Or they might have seen your work in Honey, um, in Nine Honey. They might know you as a journalist and a presenter yourself, but can you just explain to us a little bit about what you do now?
Shelly Horton: Yeah, well that's the thing is people think I'm a journalist and that's about it. But in fact, I'm a business owner, so my company is called Shellshocked Media, and what I do in Shellshocked Media is basically train people.
The way, the way I like to describe it is I help people find their inner Beyonce. So whether it's media training, where they're definitely gonna be. Put forward to do spots on TV and radio, or it could be presenting training. 'cause a lot of people may have to speak at conferences or maybe they're nervous speaking at a boardroom meeting or anything like that.
But then I also just work on confidence. It might be someone who's just really nervous when they're doing networking or don't know how to, you know, ask for a pay increase. [00:06:00] All of these skills are fairly similar and that's what I teach. I've got an online course and I also do one-on-one training and also group training.
So it's kind of one of my favorite things because whenever I see the impact it makes, I'm like a proud mother hen. So I'm like, I made that.
Liz Nable: I get to really totally. It's like seeing your byline or your, you know, your story views when you're at dinner. So you are a small business owner, just like me and just like a lot of, you know, our listeners, a lot of female led, female founded businesses are our, the ma majority of our listeners.
Um, and I think for a lot of the time when people talk about like media training or on-camera training, presentation skills, a lot of us will just, particularly if you're not in the TV world, like we have been in, we'll be like, oh no, no, I don't need, I'm not, I'm not on camera. I'm not in the media. Like, yeah.
That's not though what you do. Sounds like skills that we all need, like just life [00:07:00] skills.
Shelly Horton: Absolutely. I had, actually, I've got a great example 'cause I train everyone. So you know, just recently I've trained a chef and a real estate agent, a health and safety officer. Uh, so there's, you know, it's such a huge range of people that I train now.
Most of those people are not gonna be on tv. I had a great example where I have a fabulous, uh, friend who works in PR and she sends all of her entrepreneurs to me, it's just like standard procedures. If they sign up with her, they come to me for, for media training. Now, after about five years, she said, um.
Can I do your training? And I'm like, of course. Wow. And she said, I'm not gonna be doing any media. So she came along and did it in person and a lot of it is breaking it down so you can describe your business in a really concise and interesting way. She really struggled, and then she ended up bursting into tears because she's [00:08:00] like, I've run this business for five years.
How can I not know how to talk about it? And we had to have a bit of a counseling session and a breakthrough, but then she just rallied and she got it. Two weeks later, she rang me and she said, I've just landed three new clients this week because I know how to describe my business. Well, on the phone.
Liz Nable: Wow.
So
Shelly Horton: it's one of those things where, yeah, it's a broad term saying present presenting training or media training, but basically it's about you being your best, your best self, and, and making sure that the way that you talk about your business is really polished so that people are drawn to wanting to use you and your services.
Liz Nable: Yeah. And I think particularly obviously since I hate using this term now that it's hopefully over COVID ah, and everybody's come on camera, so to speak. Yeah. On their, on their computer cameras. I, I feel like being able, and it's so much harder, I think in real life, you know, [00:09:00] zoom is a platform that was not designed for multiple people to talk at the same time.
And so it can be awkward and, and I think it's much harder. In, in an environment like that, particularly if you're trying to land a client or, you know, sell a product, you know, um. I feel like this is something that we all, uh, so need to nail.
Shelly Horton: Yeah. So, you know, the first week of COVID when everyone else was watching Netflix and drinking red wine, my husband and I just went, what can we do?
So, because he's a cameraman and sound o in our lounge room, we filmed a course called How to Nail Virtual Meetings.
Liz Nable: Wow.
Shelly Horton: So we worked like crazy and uh, it is very different, but you know what? Connecting on Zoom is very similar to connecting on camera. So the thing is, I will always prefer to be in real life.
Like I, you can read body language, but uh, you can, I don't know, you're just a little bit more relaxed and [00:10:00] looser. But the thing is, Zoom's not going anywhere. Now I've moved to Queensland and I do so much of my training via Zoom, and that's actually just opened up the number of clients I can see because they don't have to travel.
I don't have to travel, and these people are, you know, spending all of their time in their business. They don't wanna spend half a day traveling and then half a day training. They wanna get it all done in one morning. Mm-hmm. It's actually applicable to everyone. And I've got some really good tips and tricks when it comes to Zoom and, and just little things like where to put your, you know, computer lighting, uh, putting post-it notes over the other people's faces so you're not constantly looking like a bgy, you know?
And how about the fact that we all look at ourselves? I know nonstop we're, we're like a budget in a mirror. Just like, who's a pretty girl? Who's a pretty girl.
Liz Nable: It's embarrassing as, as you say, and, and we know this from, you know, when you see someone and everyone knows this, when you [00:11:00] see someone that is not a celebrity, but a journalist or, or, or you know, an actress or something in real life, they look so different because in some weird way the camera translates their, their, their, it's just different to see someone in real life.
Yeah. So what makes someone stand out on camera?
Shelly Horton: Look, I think. First of all, it comes down to whether or not you're photogenic. If you always look good in photos, you're gonna look good on tv. Yeah. Or good in the movies. That's, you know, you're not gonna find an actress. What is
Liz Nable: that? That's crazy, isn't it?
You
Shelly Horton: know what, it's not something you can control. It's just one of those things, and I think it comes down to, you know, whether or not your face is symmetrical and stuff like that. But if you take that aside, it's confidence. Mm-hmm. If you are smiling and excited to tell people about things and. Promoting your business without banging on.
And just like always, always saying the title of your business, you are really gonna connect with people. So people wanna be around [00:12:00] bubbly, fun, uh, human beings. So honestly, it's about honestly putting your best foot forward. And just for those who aren't naturally confident, I'm the biggest believer in fake it till you make it.
Because you know what, you fake it for the first 30 seconds. And then you're doing it. Mm-hmm. So it's kind of there, you know? Yeah. So act like you would, you are confident and it really does work. I've got lots and lots of tips and tricks from, you know, I've been a, a journalist now for 29 years, which is horrendous when I say it out loud, but.
I've got tips from when I worked in radio and tips from when I worked digitally, when I worked in video, only when I I, when I did tv. Like all of those things have all different skills, and yet they're all applicable for everyday people and particularly for business owners.
Liz Nable: Mm. So if someone is, um, I guess some of these [00:13:00] skills that we're talking about are their everyday life skills, their skills in presenting your business or your product or service, et cetera.
And it's also a bit of confidence for a lot of business owners. They might present, um, in real life, like at a conference or on stage or a keynote, and then they might also be on Zoom, and then they might, you know, if they've got a PR thing happening, be on TV every now and again or, or whatever. Um. How are those skills different or are they all kind of one in the same?
They're all so
Shelly Horton: interchangeable. I mean. Being good on camera to perform on TV is the same as being great on social media.
Liz Nable: Mm. You know,
Shelly Horton: it's actually just another camera, so it's all very translatable. So the skills are never gonna let you down. Once you learn those skills and practice and apply them, you'll have them for the rest of your life.
They will help you when you meet someone and all of a sudden they won't hear your elevator pitch because they might invest in your business. And you haven't [00:14:00] had time to to think about that, but you can just go back to your training and go, this is what I'm gonna do. Mm. I think the other thing that people love is they don't wanna be sold to.
So if you are really selling, it's quite off putting, like you won't see. It's like the difference between watching today extra and then watching the advertorials. Yeah. You know, those advertorials where they're selling and selling and it's, you know, about your funeral plans or a, a lazy boy, you know, chair, it just hits differently and it like, it turns me off completely.
Whereas. We could be talking about the impact not having a funeral plan has for your family as a story on today extra, and it will just be absorbed as information because it's almost like. You are putting the empathy and the understanding into it rather than selling. So you don't have to be, you know, mentioning your brand name to get the information across.
The, the best [00:15:00] outcome is for you to only say your business name once, because it's gonna come up on TV with a, with a super. It's gonna be mentioned at the end. They probably put your website up, so you wanna be that, oh, there was that girl on. On Sunrise and I saw her, hang on, I'll just look her up. And there you go.
So it's, it's a fine line, but it's something that is so easy to learn, to understand and break down. So there, there's, there's quite a, um, a process to it, but then once you've done it, you can apply to any situation.
Liz Nable: Yeah. It's like a formula, right? Yeah. Um, so I teach this in my course and it's very much about.
It's not about your business. The story is what's being communicated, and your business is just a byproduct of that. You are like the vehicle to bring the story to life. I love that we are singing
Shelly Horton: from the same songbook on this because it's true. I teach everyone, all of my [00:16:00] clients learn that an anecdote is remembered.
500 times more than a stat. So don't go with facts and figures. People won't remember facts and figures, but they will remember how you feel.
Liz Nable: Mm.
Shelly Horton: So if you tell a story about how your aged care home visits, which is your business, um, that you took. Lois to the movies every Monday and then over the year you ranked all the movies and she decided her favorite movie was 50 Shades of Gray.
People are gonna remember that, right? Yeah. 'cause first of all, you're going, oh my God, Lois has got someone to take her to the movies at. Beautiful. But then also Lois is a character. I love that. You know, like, I'd like to have a a, a Prosecco with Lois, you know? Yes. So again, it's all about bringing in those anecdotes so that you draw people in and they'll remember that story.
Liz Nable: Speaking of [00:17:00] anecdotes, do you have any anecdotes from clients or customers who've come to you and I guess some of the, some of the reasons why they come to you and then what sort of transformation you've seen when you've been able to kind of help them in, in that presentation journey?
Shelly Horton: Yeah, so I, I, I have had a couple of people come to me because they have totally fucked up, you know, really, it's honestly, yeah.
Yeah. So there was one guy who, he was working in finance and he got a chance to be on Sky News and he hadn't done the preparation. He just thought he'd be okay. And then, uh, it wasn't even a hard question, it was just something where he just got a brain freeze. And he forgot. And so rather than being human and saying, oh my goodness, I should know that, but, uh, I'll have to get back to you.
He just said no comment. When they were asking him about like, you know, do you think there's gonna be a, uh, an interest [00:18:00] rate rise? No comment.
Liz Nable: Oh my God.
Shelly Horton: And so he nearly got fired. He nearly got fired, so he, when he got back to his office, he was like absolutely pulled over the the coals, and it turned out it was just this absolute lack of confidence because he thought that everything he said had to be perfect and that he had to.
Every answer. Right? And you know what? We are human. So I always teach people if they asked a tricky question or something that they either don't wanna answer or they don't know the answer to, the best thing to do is say, you know what? I should know that and I don't. I'm so glad you've raised it. What I'll do is I'll get my team to have a look into it and I'll get an answer back to you by the end of the day.
Now, no one. Watching or listening to that is gonna say, oh, they're just avoiding the topic. But if you say no comment. What do you instantly think? Lying, cheating, [00:19:00] dodgy, avoiding. So it's just about remembering that it's okay to be human as well.
Liz Nable: Yeah. In, in terms of speaking on camera. Um, and I guess this is more of a media question for anyone who's sort of putting themselves out there in the media or who might get a media interview at some point live or otherwise.
Do you have any tips on how people can really nail an interview? Um, you know, lengths of answers and yeah. Sometimes you hear people, they're so nervous, they're just waffling on and on, and they don't actually answer the question.
Shelly Horton: I think the biggest thing is people waffling on because you have to have.
Your answers tight and concise. So my biggest thing is the five Ps prior preparation prevents piss poor performance. So if you know that you are going to be going on TV and you are going to be talking about a trend in your industry, say it's a dietician going on tv, talking about the five two diet. So you kind of know what the questions are gonna be.
'cause it's like, what is the five two diet? How does it help? [00:20:00] How you know, what's an average day? You can practice that. And my biggest thing is you don't ever practice it in your head. You have to practice saying it out loud. So practicing gets you into the right zone. And also it could just help you with things like I always stumble over.
A word. I don't really know, like whatever word you wanna pick. If you stumble over that word, change the word, you know, like make it change your answer. And the thing is too, when you get an opportunity to be on tv in particular, we are talking about. Maybe four minutes. Yeah, it's so short it, it will be over before you can even start thinking about it.
So you need to be on and ready and warmed up. Have your nerves under control, and then just get in there and sit down and have some fun, rather than overthink everything and worry because you haven't done the prep. So do the prep and it will [00:21:00] benefit you for
Liz Nable: sure. And more often than not, particularly to the audience that we are speaking to, you're talking about something you're an expert on.
So all of a sudden you pretend, you dunno, you're like, oh my God. Like, you know, the answers you, this is what you, your, you know, it's your business or your product or service or, yeah.
Shelly Horton: Um, and that's why I'm saying it out loud also helps, so you know, because you might know, like, I know. Everything there is to do about media training, but if someone then asked me to sit down and do an interview, I'd still do prep.
Liz Nable: Yeah.
Shelly Horton: Because my knowledge is vast, but I can't put all of that out on tv. No. What we do is we have this thing we call grabs or, so the way I like to describe it to people is like a grab of information. It's, I often say to them, okay, tell me what you do, but it has to be in a tweet. Like bring it down to the absolute core.
Um, you know, and for example, I had, uh, an [00:22:00] event planner who came and did some training with me, and by the time we broke it all down, she ended up saying, you know, what she does for a living is. She makes people, she, she's the one who brings the fun to the party. Mm. You know, I had another guy and it was just beautiful.
He actually had, you know, I don't know how to describe it, you know, those couches, you know, the, the things that are very strong water hoses that clean off. Oh, gurney. Gurneys. Yeah. So they clean the driveway and the, and the wind and all of that stuff. And when he broke it down, he said, well, I said, you know, so what do you do?
And he said. I make people feel proud of their homes, which is true. That's so, but isn't that the most beautiful way of saying it? Yeah. And then that's exactly what he does. That's exactly what he does. Yeah. And it just brings this heart to it. Yeah. That I'm like, I, I was renting, but I still wanted to use him.
You
Liz Nable: know? It's nothing like a fresh gurney [00:23:00] driveway. I know, right? Satisfaction levels there are out of control. I feel him. Um, what about the way people look on camera? So we've talked about how the camera can, you know, they say the camera puts on five pounds or 10 pounds, whatever. I
Shelly Horton: don't even believe that.
So everyone listening, stop worrying. I was on, I've been on TV as a size 10 and I'm on. TV now is a size 16 to 18. Just stop worrying about your weight. Don't even think about it. What you need to think about is dress the best for you and your body shape.
Liz Nable: Yeah. And
Shelly Horton: follow a couple of basic rules like bright block colors.
Always work. Yeah. Never wear stripes because there is a chance that the stripes will strobe and you don't wanna be wearing something that's so distracting that they're looking at your outfit and not listening to you. So the whole time just. I would, I, I don't particularly wear bright colors, like I would love to wear black all day every day, but on [00:24:00] TV I always wear bright colors because that's what works.
It just captures people's eyes and, you know, you. Sitting up straight, things like that, like your posture makes a huge difference. Don't I just feel like there are so, particularly women in business who end up choosing to not take incredible opportunities because they don't like their weight or the way they're, yeah, and I just could not say more strongly, put that out of your mind.
Put your big girl pants on and go and do it. 'cause seriously, think of it as. This is promoting your business. It's not about your body image or self-esteem. This is actually what you have to do to get ahead.
Liz Nable: Yeah. And
Shelly Horton: I, I feel very passionate about that because I know TV has a terrible reputation. And let's be honest, it is awful.
Like there, you know, I'm, I think I'm the only size 16 girl at [00:25:00] Channel nine. Uh, really? Well, me and Tracy Grimshaw would probably be it. Like every, and if you look at all of the news readers and the, and the, uh, the reporters, they're all like size six blondes. Yeah, but you know what? I'm known as the redhead.
Mm. So who cares? I'm, I actually had Tom Steinford from 60 Minutes say to me the other day. Oh, I was at this pub and this guy said to me, oh, you know, I like that girl on, on your station. You know, the one with red hair and big boobs. And he went, Shelly Horton. And I'm like, I'm fine with that. Absolutely. You know, out
Liz Nable: from 50 other people that they could have picked.
Shelly Horton: Seriously. So, yeah, please don't worry. And I can also really help you with styles that. That suit. And also just getting, it's almost like getting your, your suit of armor so that when you put a certain top and jacket on, that's your presenting outfit [00:26:00] and you will be unstoppable.
Liz Nable: Yeah, absolutely. Right. What about something that's probably way more distracting than the way you look, which I see as a journalist when people, I can tell when they haven't been interviewed before on tv, which is like nervous habits that totally distract from the interview.
Like I was watching an interview on the Today Show last week, I think I mentioned it to you in an email. And there was like a doctor, or like an ex science, science, a science person, a scientist. Um, and he was swiveling on his swivel chair and he couldn't stop. And that was just
Shelly Horton: so distracting. That's a hundred percent down to nerves.
So he'd just be swiveling away. I also teach everyone about planting their feet, because often, particularly women who've had a baby, they tend to put their weight onto one hip. Yeah. And then they kind of sway. And when you are swaying and on tv, you're just seeing a little, you know, letter box of you is like you're on a ship or something, and everyone starts feeling a bit seasick.
Men have this other thing. If they're standing, they go up [00:27:00] from their toes. Have you ever noticed that?
Liz Nable: No, I haven't. I'll now I'm sure
Shelly Horton: it'll, now it's, it's all to do with the center of gravity. So women go side to side and men go up and down. Um, other things are just like nervous gestures. So I will never say to someone, don't use your hands when you're talking, because I use my hands all the time.
If someone said I couldn't use my hands, you may as well chop my arms off. Like it would be awful. Yeah. Too
Liz Nable: hard.
Shelly Horton: But use your hands, uh, and use gestures to make a point rather than just flapping around for, for no reason. So those sort of things can get annoying. People looking off camera. So if they're trying to remember something to say and they look off camera, as soon as you've looked off camera, you've lost everyone.
Liz Nable: Yeah,
Shelly Horton: so it's about having that focus. There's again, this is where it comes down to, there's lots of tips and tricks and, and sometimes it's just that you haven't even thought of them.
Liz Nable: Yeah, yeah. It's not,
Shelly Horton: it's not hard. [00:28:00] It's just like, wow, I've
Liz Nable: never thought about that. And I don't think people realize until they watch back themselves being viewed what they're doing wrong.
Shelly Horton: So that's the thing with my training is my husband records. Every interview, so we feel the pressure straight away, but we watch your back straight away. And that's how you get the results. Because as soon as you see yourself like playing with your hair nervously, you are not gonna do that again. No, because you're like, oh my God, I look like an A bimbo.
Or if your eyes are going everywhere, or if you are, you're swaying around whatever it is that you are doing that's distracting from what people should be listening to. You, you want, you wanna change that straight away as soon as you see it. So, although it's confronting, I think that I get incredible results with my training because I make people feel a bit uncomfortable.
Yeah. And watch themselves back. No one likes watching themselves back. No. No one does. No one likes the sound of their own voice. That's all. [00:29:00] You know, that's what it is. But you have to, because you, it's not being a narcissist. What it is, it's learning and it's how to get better.
Liz Nable: Yeah. So
Shelly Horton: it's, it's just one of those necessary evils.
Liz Nable: Yeah. It's confronting, but necessary. What about like nervous words, like, um, ums, um, and people who repeat phrases because they're trying to fill airtime? Yeah. So again,
Shelly Horton: for me, that comes down to one nerves, and I've got. Lots of tips and tricks on how to actually calm yourself and get your body to physically ready to perform, but then it comes down to preparation.
The only reason that you're saying, um, and so. Because you're trying to fill some space so your brain can catch up. If you know what you're gonna say. If you have some dot points and you have a start, a middle and an end, you're not gonna need those filler words. And if you've practiced them out loud, then you're not gonna have to worry [00:30:00] about, you know, what order they come out or what happens.
You just know that you've got the backbone there and it can just be a conversation.
Liz Nable: Yeah. Do you have any tips for someone who's, or I guess anyone who's like, well, I'm, I'm introverted, so I can never do this kind of stuff.
Shelly Horton: See, I think that putting labels like that on yourself is quite damaging because you can have extroverted introverts.
So even though I am definitely an extrovert. After I have spent a day on stage MCing an event for, you know, 2000 women. Do you think I come home and I'm super bubbly still? Yeah. No, no way. I'm like lying on the couch and mainlining red wine. Like, and I've even found the older I get now that I'm perimenopausal, I can't keep that energy up and do like four days in a row.
Yeah. Of that much energy out there. So. You just plan it. And so if you are, if you are saying, I'm an introvert, you say, I'm an introvert who wants to [00:31:00] promote my business, and therefore I'm going to devote all of my energy into this one hour presentation. And then, you know what? The next day, I'm not gonna have any face-to-face meetings.
I'm just gonna have a down day.
Liz Nable: Yeah. And I'm
Shelly Horton: gonna do some planning or prep. Just manage your own energy so that you can do it. I, I've never had anyone. That I've trained who hasn't been able to go on and, and pre and present in whatever format it is. So it's everyone's trainable no matter what your personality type.
Liz Nable: Yeah, it's like a muscle that you have to train the same aspect of your business. 'cause it, when you're in small business, you don't necessarily love all the aspects of it. And so you lean towards the things that, oh my God,
Shelly Horton: I don't wanna do accounting. I don't wanna do that stuff. I'm so lucky my husband does that, but I'm the worst at receipts.
And so, you know. That sort of thing. I have had to train myself. As soon as I get a receipt, I put it straight into my handbag, and then as soon [00:32:00] as I get home, I put it onto my table. Like I, I've just had to become almost Pavlovian about it. Yeah. Because I don't want my husband yelling at me the end of month, where's that taxi receipt?
Where's this? And I'm like, oh. So yeah, it's about making yourself do it.
Liz Nable: Okay, so just to wrap up, can you just, maybe if you have like your top tips for like really executing a great TV interview because that's ultimately what TV or, or, or it could be a Zoom interview or something like that, but speaking on live or prerecorded television, what, what are the things that make a great, great TV interview and how can I prepare as the interviewee to make it as easy as possible for the journalist or producer to do their job?
First
Shelly Horton: of all, get on top of your nerves and there's lots of tips and tricks with breathing and, and getting yourself ready. So don't let your nerves control you. You control your nerves, then do the work. Put prep, you know, prepare, prepare, prepare. Make sure that [00:33:00] you have. Written it out, you've reduced it to dot points.
You've practiced it out loud. And I think the third and most important thing is to bring in those anecdotes and stories because the journalist is there to tell a story. If you are giving them the color and movement, they are going to love you. If you are scared and sitting back and just. Spouting facts at them, it's gonna be dry and dull, and the journalists won't enjoy it.
The audience won't enjoy it, and you are not gonna be promoting your business well. Hmm. So just think about. I even suggest to people to keep in the notes section of their phone if they have an amazing, uh, win with a client and something how their business helped their client jot it down. Because if you are put on the spot and says, tell me about a client that did really well, your brain just freezes.
Yes. Whereas if you have a little list in your phone, you can go, oh, that's right. I actually, I did the media training for, [00:34:00] uh. A pastry chef who ended up getting a job on the great Canadian bakeoff. Wow. That's my story. Like she became a host. That's my dream. She won up to you. She got it. But like how cool is that?
Yeah, and I think she'd never done TV before and then she got a
Liz Nable: hosting gig after doing our training. And it's such a big opportunity when, and not to add more pressure and to the nerves, but if you are good talent and if you, which means if you are good at being interviewed and you, and you say the right things and you have your little grabs and you look good, people ask you back, right?
Shelly Horton: Absolutely. And you never know who's watching or when that opportunity will come up. So I've got a great example. I used to be on a show on a b, C TV that was called The Glasshouse, and it was Will Anderson, Corinne Grant, and Dave Hughes. And it was kind of like the news of the day. Um, and I was a, a regular guest [00:35:00] because I was working as a reporter for A BC tv.
Mm-hmm. Seven years later. I got a call from the editor of the Sun Herald asking me to come in for an interview seven years previously. He'd seen me on TV and said, you know what? One day I'd like her to work for me. Wow, that's amazing. I got the job. Yeah, so you know, it may not be something that pays off the next day.
It might be something that people just tuck away and go, look, I haven't got the money for a full interior design yet, but I just saw the room makeover that that woman did. I'm gonna get her once I've got enough money. Mm. Like how cool is that?
Liz Nable: Yeah, it's amazing. And I think we had, um, on the show, uh, a couple of episodes ago, an executive producer from Channel nine, and she was like, we are desperate for these experts.
We are often scrambling on the day of a story to find these experts, and then they go into their database if they're good talent. So next time there's a story on that specific subject, they just call 'em up. It's, it's a bit of [00:36:00] a no brainer, isn't it? Absolutely.
Shelly Horton: Absolutely. And the thing is, the more you do, the more you do.
So it's one of those things once you, and, and the more you do, the more comfortable you get, you just get better and better. It's, it's just, you know, getting that, those, those runs on the board so that people have seen you. And I also really recommend if you do get a chance to do TV or radio or a podcast or an article, make sure you get a copy of it.
Put it up on your social media.
Liz Nable: Yeah. Keep
Shelly Horton: it in your, you know, favorites in your stories so that people will say, oh, they gee, they've done a lot.
Liz Nable: Yeah.
Shelly Horton: Always impresses people.
Liz Nable: Yeah. Flog it like a dead horse. Yeah. Well, it could be everywhere
Shelly Horton: on tent. Everyone's desperate for content, so Yeah. Repurpose it.
There's many ways to skin a cat do it, which is a horrible saying now that I think about it.
Liz Nable: It's shameless self-promotion, but that's what we are doing, right? We are like organic. It's,
Shelly Horton: I [00:37:00] just, let's not put any of those emotive words around it because shameless self-promotion, no one wants to be that person.
No motivated businesswoman who wants her. Her people wants more clients, is exactly the same thing.
Liz Nable: Yeah.
Shelly Horton: So I just think, let's, let's do it. Let's do it. And be smart about it and embrace it rather than shy away. Aussies are so, so into the tall poppy. I say, screw that. You know what I'm, I'm a tall poppy. Put me in a vase.
Look out. I'm here. Not cutting down. You know?
Liz Nable: I love it. Oh, Shelly, it's been an absolute treat having you on the show. Thank you.
Shelly Horton: So much fun. We could chat forever. I
Liz Nable: know. Um, I'm gonna pop your, um, website details in the show notes. So it's shellshock media.com au?
Shelly Horton: No, just.com.
Liz Nable: just.com. Okay. And I'll pop that
Shelly Horton: media.com.
Liz Nable: I'll pop that link in the show notes and, and some of your tips and tricks as well so people can, um, [00:38:00] never forget how to present on camera. Love it. Thanks Shelly. This episode of Media Magnet was brought to you by my signature group coaching program, the Media Masters Academy. The Media Masters Academy is a live online six week course taught by me and designed to teach you how to become your own publicist and give you exclusive access to pitch the country's top journalists and editors doors open just three times a year.
Check it out@liznable.com, along with a ton of free resources to help you get started taking your business from best kept secret to household name. Right now, if you love this episode of Media Magnet, please share it with your business buddies or on social media and tag me at at Liz Nable. And if there's a specific guest you wanna hear from on the show or a topic or question you want to know more about, please tell me so I can make sure the show stays [00:39:00] dedicated, especially for you.
