I had the great pleasure of being interviewed live during this year’s Google I/O by Googler Natalie Villalobos for Women Techmakers! Google I/O is the annual Google developer conference at Moscone Center in San Fransisco. The interview was live streamed on Thursday afternoon, the first day of the conference.
Check out the full interview here!
I found out that I would be interviewed a few weeks before I/O, so had time to prepare. While I am no stranger to public speaking or being on film, it was a little nerve-wracking to think about the fact that the interview would be part of the live-stream for Google I/O… meaning lots of people would be watching real time!
Last month I heard this great NPR interview with Neil DeGrasse Tyson. People often comment that he is “a natural,” but he counters that really his success is due to his hard work and preparation. For example, after being invited to the Daily Show, he went into mad preparation mode for the interview, even going so far as to discover the average amount of time Jon Stewart would let guests talk before launching in with a zinger. Wow, now that is intense! He came off as cool and natural during the Jon Stewart interview, because he had done a lot of homework.
This is definitely something I learned from theater as well. The audition call asks for 16 bars of an upbeat song? Come ready to sing the entire song, and maybe prep a ballade while your at it. Audition mentions you’ll be learning a jazz dance? Bring your tap shoes as well. Always be prepared!
Preparing for Being on Film
While I am very comfortable talking live in front of large audiences of people, I have less experience being on film, and especially being filmed for a 1:1 interview setting. I started researching the heck out of camera presence and found some nice helpful people on Youtube. This guy is a little cheesy, but I really liked his message about the inner critic. Not necessarily related to being on film, but this was a great chat on what makes somebody charismatic.
I really loved this video about why watching yourself on film is so cringe inducing. You’re not used to seeing or hearing yourself the way you really are, and so it is really strange to see yourself on film. When watching yourself on film you spend more time analyzing these perceived differences than the actual content of your video. This inspired me to watch every video I had of myself publicly speaking multiple times so I could get used to seeing and hearing this “other” version of me I was not yet familiar with. It was really really painful. Eventually, it became slightly less painful. At that point I watched all the videos again and started giving myself actual constructive criticism. I now had a list of things I could improve upon. Nice!
Preparing for Talking
I was much less nervous for the actual talking part, but I still prepared for it. I practiced talking to myself the night before about topics that might come up during the interview. It helped to rule out bad wording. Also, for most topics there were a million things I could talk for hours about, but there is of course a time limit for the interview. 😉 Talking through it helped me to decide on the 1 or 2 points that I liked the best and could focus on.
The Interview
The actual interview took place on an awesome set near the playground area of the conference. The film crew was great in helping me get ready. They answered all my questions and had so much attention to detail! It was a treat to be able to work with them on this.
I was also excited that fellow Android developer Mark got some great shots of the interview. He took the first shot on this post and the one above. Thanks!
Up Now:@KellyShuster: accessibility lead for Aetna's new app & director @WomenWhoCode Denver https://t.co/o93UFlUwXJ pic.twitter.com/eKXfK4InQ0
— Google for Developers (@googledevs) May 28, 2015
Natalie was a great interviewer! As somebody who moderates panels and conducts interviews, I know how challenging it can be to naturally flow from one question to the next, and make sure you ask all the things you planned. She did amazing, and was really easy to chat with during the interview. Overall I think the interview was a success.
https://twitter.com/nataliaenvy/status/604107052936376321
Thanks again Natalie, Women Techmakers and Google Developers for having me as a guest at Google I/O 2015!
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