Speaking extemporaneously, completely on the fly, takes a lot of practice.

Last Wednesday I received a call from the editor of Texas Architect volunteering me to speak to a reporter at KRLD.  Well, not exactly.  Forty five minutes later I was called one minute prior to going live on KRLD radio to answer questions from Chris, the radio ‘personality’, about the 4 buildings recently identified in the Dallas area by Architizer, as must see buildings for 2013.  So, in those 45 minutes of preparation, the charge was to learn what I could about the 4 buildings in an attempt to respond reasonably intelligently about whatever questions Mr. Radio should toss my way in the 3 minute segment.

Fortunately, the time frame was short; not enough time to over think what I may say or how much better one of my peers would be to fill the role.  When the call came through, I was placed on hold, distracted listening to a newscast, then smoothly transitioned within a few seconds to ‘Chris’ talking live on the air, asking me the questions.  No dodging, no ducking, no “let me take this other call”, just start speaking.   Yes, practice would be good.

Click here to download and listen to a portion of the interview.

POSTED BY: CRAIG REYNOLDS, FAIA