Alumni Insights: Make the Most of Your Next Podcast Interview

For our next #DuqAlumniInsights presentation, Timothy O’Brien, A'82, will share his insights gained from producing more than 120 podcast episodes. In this session, he'll explain how to hit a home run in your next podcast interview. The key lesson is not to speak in sound bytes but in story bytes. Tim O’Brien, a senior level corporate communications counselor, formed O’Brien Communications, an independent corporate communications practice, in June 2001 after serving as Communications Director and the Chief Investor Relations Officer at Tollgrade Communications, a NASDAQ company at that time. Tollgrade has since been acquired and is no longer publicly traded. Tim focuses in strategic analysis and planning, professional services marketing, executive visibility, crisis and issues management, media training and coaching, media relations, and content development and writing. O’Brien Communications, which is ranked by Expertise.com as one of the “Best PR Firms in Pittsburgh,” has managed corporate projects and communications programs for both publicly and privately held companies, from start-ups to Fortune 100 companies. Tim earned his bachelor’s degree with majors in Journalism and Speech Communications at Duquesne University. He has presented at professional and trade functions, including the American Bar Association’s Continuing Legal Education programs. He has also lectured at graduate and undergraduate programs at several major institutions. He contributed to the PR News Crisis Management Guidebook, the PR News Employee Communications Guidebook, and he was featured in Harvard Business School Press’s The Essentials of Corporate Communications and Public Relations. In 2019, Tim’s podcast called Shaping Opinion, was honored by the PRSA Bronze Anvil Awards in the branded podcasts category. If you would like to share your expertise with your fellow alumni, fill out an application at www.myduquesne.duq.edu/webinarpresenter to be considered.