How to survive an interview for written press, radio, tv, socials & podcasts

A journalist calls you unexpectedly… what now? How do you avoid freezing? How to make sure your nuanced message comes through clearly?

In this workshop, given by by Ann De Ron of FishGrowFeet, you’ll get practical strategies to handle media interviews with confidence. Learn what to say and what not to say. Get tips on how to stay on message. And improve your chances of being quoted accurately.

The do’s and don’ts apply to interviews for written press, radio, tv, socials and podcasts all the same. It is also useful if you interview other scientists for your own podcast.

The workshop is hands on:

• Give and receive feedback on the most important sentence in any interview: your key message. You will prepare a draft key message in advance of the workshop.
• Listen to and analyze several interviews with scientists and discuss how to handle and respond to different types of questions.
• Practice both being interviewed and interviewing someone else: first in small groups, then with the trainer. Learn interviewing techniques such as the pyramid, the flower loop, and the effective use of examples.

This workshop consists of 2 sessions:

• 1 real life group session
• 1 online individual session (20 minutes) where you practice being interviewed by the trainer and/or interview a fellow participant. During the online session you also get individual feedback by the trainer. 

Learning outcomes

The main purpose of the workshop is learning

• how to prepare for an interview.
• to understand how a good interviewer thinks.
• how to deal with ‘difficult’ questions, like using key message and flower loop.

Competences

An important part of preparing for any further professional step is becoming (more) aware of the competences you have developed and/or want to develop. In the current workshop, the following competences from the UHasselt competency overview are actively dealt with:

• Academic Research Competences:
  
  • valorisation
• Interpersonal Competences:
  
  • oral communication
  • stakeholder awareness
  • customer-orientedness
    
    

For whom?

• PhD students of all disciplines (preferably with some research results already) 
• 12 places available

When and where?

• May 29, 2026 - 09:30-17:00 (real-life)- campus Hasselt - Green room: OG-B1.1Gr
• June 12, 2026 - A personal online session (20 minutes). The schedule for the individual sessions will be arranged on the first day.
• Participation on both days is required. 

Details?

• The first workshop day is a real-life session at UHasselt.
• The second workshop day is organized online: an online individual session in which you practice being interviewed by the trainer and/or interviewing a fellow participant. During the online session you will also receive individual feedback from the trainer. 

Preparation?

• There is a preparatory assignment: participants define their one-sentence core message for a medium or format of their choice.

Registration?

• You can register here until April 28, 2026.
• Please register only if you can attend both sessions. As places are limited, registering does not automatically imply that you will be able to participate. You will be notified by email in due time.
• Please cancel your registration at least one week in advance in case you cannot make it (cf. cancellation & no-show policy).

Acknowledged as?

• DS BSH: category 'research management & communication skills' - workshop on communication skills
• DS HLS: category 'transferable skills' - compulsory elective course 
• DS ST: category 'scientific & generic communication' - course about generic communication