10 Specific Steps to Take If You Want to Get On The Oprah (Or Any Other Talk) Show

STEP TWO: Know the show.

Search "topic alert." Go to: http://www.marketerschoice.com/app/adtrack.asp?AdID=18031 to sign up for a topic you want to be alerted to. Though the topic is planned and Oprah may have all the guests for that particular show lined up, it doesn't mean you can't get on that show or a subsequent one. Oprah often does one topic and then creates spin-offs from the popular ones. For example, Cheryl Richardson's Life Make-overs topic became....[Find out more when you buy the book.]

STEP THREE: Evaluate your limits and capabilities.

Ensure Oprah's producers can find you easily in many places.

When Oprah's producers search for experts they search the places where experts are found. To be perceived as an expert it's a good idea to have some media attention already. If you haven't had any now is the time.

There is a great way to get media exposure without . . . . [Find out more in The Ultimate Guide.]

STEP FOUR: Realize what it takes to be a guest.

Solve a problem for Oprah and her staff.

Do a personal good deed for Oprah. Have you noticed something Oprah and her staff needs that you have? Do you have a skill that can make some process easier for Oprah? Organizing guru Julie Morgenstern author of "Organizing from the Inside Out." transformed Oprah's producer's offices from untidy mounds of paper and other flotsam to an orderly and neat environment.

Can you do a . . . . [This is something you'll want to know when you're pitching a producer. It's one of the key strategies many guests have used to get on Oprah.]

STEP FIVE: Do your research before you contact the show.

Get a celebrity attached to your name or product.

Relationship and personal coach Heide Banks got on Oprah with the theme of alternative healing. Her book "It Works for Me: Celebrity Stories of Alternative Healing." covered everything from relationships to cancer. Says Banks "I interviewed a number of celebrities for the book because they get attention and I wanted the most amount of people to get the information. On the show each one talked about the form they used. I thought at first we would just talk about form itself--relationships, acupuncture, but Oprah....

STEP SIX: Prepare your pitch.

Create one segment or the whole show.

Your pitch should be designed to generate ideas for one segment or an entire show. Obviously, if you can suggest something that warrants an hour show you win first place.

Here's how you do it: Develop a theme.

Past themes have been "Women who don't want to have sex with their husbands," "What Parents Should Know About Ecstasy."

The Ecstasy show included an examination of a teenager's brain permanently (and shockingly--the thing had holes in it similar to the brains of Alzheimer patients) damaged by Ecstasy who vowed never to use the drug again. This former Ecstasy addict was now educating teens on the damaging effects of the drug. Another teenage girl used Ecstasy recreationally and discussed its effects. And a mother, whose model-perfect son turned into a delinquent addict who wanted to come clean but couldn't, talked about how she lost the son she loved.

The show included an inside look at Raves (parties where kids do Ecstasy and dance all night) and advice from undercover cops. What you need to do is collect the people, statistics, stories, associations, and....

STEP SEVEN: Pitch Oprah's producers.

Pitch on paper. Put together a winning press package.

This is how the experts do it. In your press packet you need four essential things (Each of these items is explained in the book.]

Publicists differ slightly in what they think is mandatory and what is optional. Some believe a traditional press kit that includes a pitch letter, press release and bio, works well. Others think the angle page is most important backed by information that highlights your expertise.

That said, realize that publicists are on the phone regularly with producers pitching ideas and clients. They have a reason to stay in frequent touch as they are constantly coming up with new ideas for a variety of people. At any rate, everyone agrees that you must pitch a segment idea that centers around or includes your topic. The old saying 'less is more' is applicable here. If the producer is interested in an idea he will ask for more information. You can count on that. I suggest you prepare all four items to have them ready to send once asked.

HOT TIP! The quickest way to get attention is to....[Find out when you buy the book.]

In addition those items mentioned above, you'll want to send your book and if possible a. . . . [this one item is what producers often use to make a final decision to book you.]

Ten Questions.

Give the producers the questions you want them to ask you in order to elicit the responses you've prepared in your 5 talking points. Your questions should be both pointed and intriguing. For example, the question to the theme of "Why your kid's lunch can kill them," would be "What is the most dangerous food in your kid's lunch box?" Or, "What's the most common form of food poisoning that most parents never suspect?" Your answer: "The sandwich. Ten minutes in the sun spoils the mayonnaise. Substitute mustard." You tell the problem and offer a solution.

Pitch a hot topic.

Never pitch your yourself, your speech, your product or your book. Instead pitch something that's newsworthy now: a pressing national issue, a controversial subject, a problem for which you have the solution, a common myth debunked. Propose a topic that is relevant to Oprah's audience like....

STEP EIGHT: Handle the producer's call.

Expect things to happen fast once they happen.

Here's typically the way it works. You or your publicist pitches Oprah. Days, months or years later you hear that golden ring of the telephone with the words, "Hi, I'm _______calling for the Oprah Winfrey Show."

Here are some typical reactions:

a) You think it's your best friend calling as a joke.

c) You are in total shock and are rendered speechless.

Once you have recovered from the joke or shock, you can't even remember when or why you called the Oprah Show and have no idea where your talking points are. You try to put together a coherent sentence or two and 30-45 minutes later you are either:

a) Eliminated.

f) Any combination of the above.

For Parul Shah, PR manager for Garden.com and current product manager for MSN (Microsoft) Marketing, things went lightning fast. "We faxed a Mother's Day pitch to Oprah mid week, and a few days later got a phone call. They were planning a segment on online shopping and thought it would be fun to include us. They had other dot coms already lined up. The producer called to discuss what the segment would look like and what would look best on the show. They mentioned it would be great to have a celebrity attached like they did with the other dot coms.

"Oprah's producers found Debra Jo Rupp, who was the mom on 'That 70's Show.' The premise: She went online to put her garden together from beginning to end. She ordered our products on the Internet to receive the goods. They wanted to film the Federal Express truck arriving and unloading the plants, garden furniture, etc.. We had to contact various suppliers in different parts of the country to get all the products sent to Rupp's house in Los Angeles (from Austin, Texas) in a very short timeframe. The shoot was on a Sunday and we.... "

Wow the producers with brevity.

Remember, the moment you open your mouth you are auditioning. Keep your list of talking points by the phone when you call a producer (or a producer calls you) so you'll be succinct. You will already have rehearsed your points so that they'll sound natural and inviting. "Nobody gets on the show without a ..." says publicist Leslie Rossman. [Find out when you buy the book.]

If you don't know how to wow the producers with brevity, you may never get a second chance to talk to them.

Clarify how you will be positioned.

There are 4 ways you can be on Oprah. In order of importance they are as:

1. A guest . . . .

[Find out the other 3 ways when you purchase The Ultimate Guide by clicking below:]

STEP NINE: Deal with the "After the call, but before the show," changes.

This section requires some explanation. Sometimes, things get not so pretty in Oprah purgatory. But, if you prepare yourself for the inevitable ups and downs and vagaries of how national TV (not just Oprah) works behind the scenes, you'll save yourself some sorrow.

Think about it this way: National TV follows news. They also follow what's hot in the moment, so your topic may suddenly become passé in favor of the flavor of the moment. That's just the way it is. Some news is much more serious than other news and demands immediate attention from all the networks. One thing you can know for sure: The Oprah Winfrey Show generally tapes....

STEP TEN: Smile! You're on Oprah

Now that you know what it takes to pitch an idea to Oprah, you need to know what to do when you actually appear on the show.

Maintain rapport with Oprah, her guests and her audience.

Communications expert and author, Deborah Tannen calls the repartee on the show "rapport-talk" which typifies the-back-and-forth conversation that is the foundation of female friendship. The emphasis is on "self-revealing" intimacies, oftentimes highly personal or confessional in nature. Oprah doesn't like it when....

Tell a compelling story.

Oprah loves stories with deep emotional resonance. Can you make her audience weep? Can you make them giddy with laughter? Can you make them sigh or gasp? Prepare you best heartwarming or heart-rending stories ahead of time and be ready to . . . .

Now that you've read about all that The Ultimate Guide has to offer, you know that you must purchase this book if you have ever thought about getting on the number one talk show in the world. This information is not available anywhere else at any price.

Normally, you would expect that a comprehensive guide of this quality would cost a small fortune, since there are consultants who charge $1500 to TRY to get their clients booked on Oprah.

But through a special deal with the author we are able to offer it to you for just $147 (plus shipping and handling.) And of course, like everything else we sell, it comes with a complete money-back guarantee.

Get your copy now by clicking on the link below.
The Ultimate Guide to Getting Booked on Oprah

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