1. Get asked to do an interview.
2. Freak out!
3. Why are they asking me?! Impostor syndrome to the max!
4. Show interest in the invitation, but keep your option of saying ‘no’ open while asking for more details: what’s the expected audience, what sort of things are they going to ask you about?
5. Tell friends and family and watch them get super excited.
6. Freak out!
7. Recognize it’s a nice opportunity and, worst that can happen, they won’t use your recording/footage. But you still get to keep your experience.
8. Happily accept and settle all details about when and where.
9. Ask for advice: best from someone in a similar situation, or who was in a similar situation before.
10. Pretend you’re not freaking out anymore until 1 hour before the interview.
11. Freak out!
12. Babble your way through the interview, hoping they have a damn good editor to make you sound smart.
13. Laugh at their silly mistake asking if you have anything else to add: then babble for double the time about your own research area.
14. Find out how they discovered you / who recommended you, go and thank them!
15. Wait until it airs and hope it’s magically sounding smart… and that you’re in there as well.
16. Breathe.

Check out Command Line Heroes, where I may or may not be featured in a future episode (I’ll share more when I know myself!).

Special thanks to Tommy Thompson for giving great advice (Step 9!) and Katja Hoffman for throwing this opportunity at me (Step 14!). Very greatful to know awesome people. :)