If you’ve been living under a stone for the past 3 years, you still probably haven’t escaped Miss Teen Carolina 2007’s disasterous on stage interview question.  The clip racked up an impressive 48 million online hits, and has reached audiences world wide as possible the worst pageant interview on record.  It therefore goes without saying that your interview is one of the most important parts of your pageant repertoire to perfect, when preparing for a pageant! UK Beauties has put together some top pageant interview tips for doing well either on stage on in front of a panel of judges:

•    Be prepared. Most interview questions come in either one of three formats: general information questions (about yourself and what you would do as the winner); theoretical questions; and ‘open’ questions.  Answering all three genres of questions is easy if you are prepared.  Again, practicing in role play situations is the best preparation, but online research is also good too: Google ‘pageant questions,’ and you’ll be very surprised at the amount of mock – questions you can find to practice with.

•    Project confidence! Even if you feel like shaking inside, stay calm.  Relax, and think about your posture:  Stand up tall, bring your shoulders back and down, keep your head up with eyes focused on the judges, and smile.  If you only smile with your eyes, your smile will appear fixed and fake, so think of something or someone back home that makes you happy...this will make you smile from the inside and it will show in your eyes too.

•    Be ‘up to date’ on current events. Reading Cosmo and the latest issue of Women’s Health is great for your waist – line and wardrobe, but not if you want to sound relevant, educated and a woman of integrity.  By reading up on current political, economical and social events that are going on around the UK and elsewhere in the world, in publications such as The New Statesman and The Guardian. Read the articles, build a personal opinion on these issues, and practice thinking on your feet by discussing them with your family and friends.

•    Practice doesn’t make perfect, but it certainly helps! With this in mind, UK Beauties advises you spend a lot of time practicing for your interview, especially if you know you get nervous speaking in front of people. In terms of preparing for questions, do your research and find out as much about the pageant system you are in, as you can, to give you an idea of the kind of questions they could ask you.  It’s also easy to find sample interview questions online, and ask a friend or family member to go through them with you in a role play situation.

•    Be true to yourself. Don’t waste your time trying to be like last year’s winner – be confident in yourself and show this in your personality in the interview.  Be cal, confident and true to yourself.  This is your only chance to connect with the judges on a personal level, and it gives you the opportunity to show who you really are – your sense of humour, interests and beliefs, ambitions and achievements. Don’t hold back..be passionate, conversant and have 100% confidence in what you’re saying.

•    Don’t rush! You want to sound genuine and unrehearsed, so take your time. Equally, don’t droll on and on about yourself before giving the answer you need to.  Listen to the question carefully and take a few seconds to consider your response: If you are struggling for what to say and your mind goes blank; smile, take a deep breath and repeat the question back before you add your point.  For example if the question is ‘Who do you think is the most inspirational figure of modern culture?’ you would say ‘Today’s society is full of inspirational figures, for different members of society, however in my opinion, the most inspirational figure of modern culture is…’  Finally, it is good to prepare your answers, but don’t have a list of fully rehearsed answers prepared for the interview, as this will be obvious to the judges, and will not count in your favour.

If you’ve been living under a stone for the past 3 years, you still probably haven’t escaped Miss Teen Carolina 2007’s disasterous on stage interview question.  The clip racked up an impressive 48 million online hits, and has reached audiences world wide as possible the worst pageant interview on record.  It therefore goes without saying that your interview is one of the most important parts of your pageant repertoire to perfect, when preparing for a pageant! UK Beauties has put together some top pageant interview tips for doing well either on stage on in front of a panel of judges:

•    Be prepared. Most interview questions come in either one of three formats: general information questions (about yourself and what you would do as the winner); theoretical questions; and ‘open’ questions.  Answering all three genres of questions is easy if you are prepared.  Again, practicing in role play situations is the best preparation, but online research is also good too: Google ‘pageant questions,’ and you’ll be very surprised at the amount of mock – questions you can find to practice with.

•    Project confidence! Even if you feel like shaking inside, stay calm.  Relax, and think about your posture:  Stand up tall, bring your shoulders back and down, keep your head up with eyes focused on the judges, and smile.  If you only smile with your eyes, your smile will appear fixed and fake, so think of something or someone back home that makes you happy...this will make you smile from the inside and it will show in your eyes too.

•    Be ‘up to date’ on current events. Reading Cosmo and the latest issue of Women’s Health is great for your waist – line and wardrobe, but not if you want to sound relevant, educated and a woman of integrity.  By reading up on current political, economical and social events that are going on around the UK and elsewhere in the world, in publications such as The New Statesman and The Guardian. Read the articles, build a personal opinion on these issues, and practice thinking on your feet by discussing them with your family and friends.

•    Practice doesn’t make perfect, but it certainly helps! With this in mind, UK Beauties advises you spend a lot of time practicing for your interview, especially if you know you get nervous speaking in front of people. In terms of preparing for questions, do your research and find out as much about the pageant system you are in, as you can, to give you an idea of the kind of questions they could ask you.  It’s also easy to find sample interview questions online, and ask a friend or family member to go through them with you in a role play situation.

•    Be true to yourself. Don’t waste your time trying to be like last year’s winner – be confident in yourself and show this in your personality in the interview.  Be cal, confident and true to yourself.  This is your only chance to connect with the judges on a personal level, and it gives you the opportunity to show who you really are – your sense of humour, interests and beliefs, ambitions and achievements. Don’t hold back..be passionate, conversant and have 100% confidence in what you’re saying.

•    Don’t rush! You want to sound genuine and unrehearsed, so take your time. Equally, don’t droll on and on about yourself before giving the answer you need to.  Listen to the question carefully and take a few seconds to consider your response: If you are struggling for what to say and your mind goes blank; smile, take a deep breath and repeat the question back before you add your point.  For example if the question is ‘Who do you think is the most inspirational figure of modern culture?’ you would say ‘Today’s society is full of inspirational figures, for different members of society, however in my opinion, the most inspirational figure of modern culture is…’  Finally, it is good to prepare your answers, but don’t have a list of fully rehearsed answers prepared for the interview, as this will be obvious to the judges, and will not count in your favour.