For a technical story, the person who can actually explain it is usually an engineer, a scientist, a researcher, or an analyst who has never done an interview and does not want to. Their credibility is exactly what the story needs, and a media-trained spokesperson reciting approved language about a subject they do not understand tends to read as evasive on television and thin in print. The job is to get the expert ready for the format without stripping out the substance that made them the right choice.
The one habit to change: headline first
Experts are trained to build an argument: context, method, evidence, then conclusion. In a paper or a meeting that is correct. In an interview it produces a 300-word answer where the quotable sentence is somewhere in the middle and the reporter has stopped listening.
Teach the inverse: the one-sentence answer first, then stop. “Is the new process safer?” “Yes, measurably. It catches the failure mode that caused the last recall before anything ships.” Full stop. If the reporter wants the mechanism, they will ask. This feels unnatural to an expert and needs to be rehearsed until it is automatic, because under pressure they will revert to building up to the point.
Draw the lane, explicitly
The second risk is that the expert, used to thinking out loud with colleagues who share all the context, speculates about things that are not theirs to speak on: the business rationale, the legal exposure, the policy implications, what the company will do next.
Write it down as two lists: you can speak to (the technical facts, the method, what the data shows) and you hand off (anything about company decisions, money, legal matters, or what happens next). Give them the exact redirect: “That’s a question for our communications team, I can connect you.” or “I can tell you what the analysis found; what the company does with it isn’t my call.”
Prep the obvious questions, lightly
There are two or three questions the reporter will almost certainly ask: what does this mean in plain terms, how confident are you, what are the limitations. Prepare a tight answer for each. Do not over-prepare the content, because the expert genuinely knows it and a heavily scripted expert loses the authenticity that was the whole point.
Explain the ground rules
Spend ten minutes on the things an expert has never had to think about: what on the record means, that there is no casual off-the-record chat with a journalist, that a friendly reporter is still a reporter, and that anything said with a microphone present can be quoted. An expert who assumes a hallway conversation with a science reporter is collegial rather than on the record is the classic way a quote appears that nobody intended.
One short rehearsal
Fifteen minutes with someone playing the reporter. The point is not to polish the technical answers. It is to catch the two failure modes in action: the answer that runs long, and the answer that drifts out of the expert’s lane. Flag each as it happens so the expert feels it and can correct it live.
Keep comms in the room
The communications person should be on the call or in the room, not to control the expert’s answers but to catch a question that has strayed into policy, legal, or business territory, and to note anything that needs a fuller company response afterward. The expert focuses on being accurate about their area; comms watches the boundary.
Frequently asked questions
Why put an expert in front of a reporter instead of a spokesperson?
For technical or scientific stories, the expert's credibility and specificity are the point. A polished spokesperson reading approved lines about a complex topic often does more harm, because reporters and readers can tell the person does not actually understand it.
What is the main risk with an untrained expert?
Two things. They over-explain, giving the reporter a 400-word answer with one quotable sentence buried in it, and they speculate outside their lane because they are used to thinking out loud with colleagues who share the context.
How much prep does an expert need?
Less than you think on content, more than you think on format. They know the material. What they need is 45 minutes on: how to give a short answer, what is inside versus outside their lane, the two or three questions they will be asked, and what 'on the record' means.
Should the comms person be in the room during the interview?
Usually yes, on the line or in the room, to catch a question that strays into policy, legal, or business territory the expert should not answer, and to follow up on anything that needs a fuller company response.
How do I stop an expert from over-explaining?
Teach the 'headline then detail' structure: give the one-sentence answer first, then stop, and only add detail if the reporter asks. Rehearse it. Experts default to building up to the conclusion the way they would in a paper.
Putting an expert in front of a reporter? Press Prep builds the short-answer drills, the lane boundaries, and a quick mock focused on format rather than content. See how to give a good soundbite or media training for founders.