But I should have known that this interview was different…very different. My first alarm should have gone off, when I received a long well detailed script in my inbox. It summarized the questions that I would be asked and what to expect on the day. They even wanted to know my height so that they could select an interviewer that would not dwarf me! With that level of attention to detail I had to pinch myself twice to make sure I was still in Nigeria. But surprisingly I was and the blare of horns on the always congested Awolowo road brought me back to reality…and reality was that I was running late for the interview!

I showed up to the interview location and the crew had already started setting up the scene. There were 2-3 camera man testing angles and lighting and stuff. It was all so impressive and detailed that I kept thinking they were mixing me up with d’banj. But the preparation was for my interview!

We shot a couple of teasers shots, including me flipping through some randoms books and then me stepping out of my helicopter car. 45 minutes had gone and we had not even started the real interview. And then she walked in…the sesi Eku Edewor…I mean light was glowing from her back and butterflies were floating in her hair as Mozart played magically in the background…whoops sorry that was her twin. But she did look dashing =D

Anyway back to the story…so she arrives and she and her producer start going over the script. They discuss the questions that would be asked and the set is re-adjusted another 2-3 times and then another set of camera lighting plus sound checks are made and then she does a couple of her own teaser shots.

And then finally we are ready for the main interview. Everything we had discussed over email and in person came to light and the interview session went smooth. It  lasted for about 30 minutes or so. Everybody from the camera man to the producer to the interviewer were working at their utmost best. I had never seen anything like that before. Even after we were finished the producer was calling me at 11:00 pm trying to get some pictures he could use in the interview footage. It was all a magnificent show of attention to details and awesome professionalism.

So why on this long story sef! I could have just said…here look at my interview on MNET #okbye. But I had to write this article, because we sometimes forget about the work that goes on behind the camera, we forget about the people there as well and we also forget there are still special Nigerians out there that believe in doing quality work.

The irony is that we probably spent over 6+ hours working on this interview from the producer that wrote the script to the camera men that set the scene and then the interviewer that rocked the interview and finally to the producer that did the post production. But from those 6+ hours of works we produced a short but awesome 4 minute video of extremely high quality! And that to me is the real African Magic, cause it shows what we can achieve when we focus on quality.

Thanks again to the studio 53 crew Ahmed Kayode (@ahmedkayode1), Bukky, Chinedu Ebishue (@shenaydu), Adeola Oyerinde (@adeolasound), Emmanuel Okunade, Goke Oyerinde and the ever sesi Eku Edewor (@EkuEdewor) for being focused on quality. And o lest I forget…enjoy the interview below:

Ofili is an award winning camera man motivational speaker, author, success coach and interviewer entrepreneur who blogs about life, success and entrepreneurial excellence. Follow him on twitter , facebook or subscribe to his blog for more success TIPS!” To bring Ofili to your school or organization as a speaker simply go here.

He has written two books, How Laziness Saved My Life and the best-selling How Stupidity Saved My Life, to find out how they both saved his life visit ofilispeaks.com his latest book is titled How Intelligence Kills Us and will be coming out in the first quarter of 2013 (he hopes). To read his latest book on your blackberry text “laziness” or “stupidity” to 33110 (only works for MTN).

On the real I hope you enjoy the talk and find it as helpful as I did while researching and working on it.

PS: I really apologize for the poor quality of the video. For the past 4 months, I have been fighting back and forth with the TEDxZumarock organizers to get a video of the event, which is why it is so late. In the end I got this bootleg video…at least it is better than nothing. If they (TEDxZumarock organizers) ever get back to us with a better quality video then I will re-upload. For now we will do as we do in Nigeria and “just manage.”

Ofili is an award winning TEDx fellow motivational speaker, author, success coach and video editor entrepreneur who blogs about life, success and entrepreneurial excellence. Follow him on twitter , facebook or subscribe to his blog for more success TIPS!” To bring Ofili to your school or organization as a speaker simply go here.

He has written two books, How Laziness Saved My Life and the best-selling How Stupidity Saved My Life, to find out how they both saved his life visit ofilispeaks.com his latest book is titled How Intelligence Kills Us and will be coming out in the first quarter of 2013 (he hopes). To read his latest book on your blackberry text “laziness” or “stupidity” to 33110 (only works for MTN).

NOTE: The discussion takes place during a dialogue with Gbolahan Fagbure at the May 2011 edition of the 90-minute speaker series.
 

  Ofili is an award winning motivational speaker, author, life coach and entrepreneur who blogs about life, success and entrepreneurial excellence. Follow him on twitter , facebook or subscribe to his blog for more success TIPS!”