Building and Protecting your Reputation |
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It's slow and gradual, and obviously has to be safe, but a return to something like our old lives is in prospect.
This week, I helped out at a 5k and 10k running event in QEII Olympic Park, just up the road from me here in East London. For most of the runners, and for the helpers too, it was the first running event for many months.
It was wonderful to be out with a group of pals again, and the joy from the runners, even when they were struggling to beat their personal bests, was plain to see.
There's a long way to go yet. But we are up and running (pun intended). |
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Even as we look forward to a return to indoor entertainment, there are some brilliant online events in prospect too.
I've been chatting to two brilliant comedy and improv performers, Neil Mullarkey and Josie Lawrence, about an online show where the audience get to take part in the improv (though they can just watch if they like).
Called Crowd Sauce, the family-friendly show is on Thursday May 27th at 6pm, and stars Neil, Josie and Steven Edis on keyboards.
It's ridiculously good value, at less than a tenner for priceless entertainment. You can get tickets from The Comedy Store website, and you'd be mad not to.
You can also hear an interview with Neil and Josie about the show and many other things, in my Web Radio Show this week. |
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I've been interviewing a lot of musicians for my web radio show recently, and they need all the help they can get, with live gigs still few, far between or completely absent.
So after 17 years of my web radio show (which will keep running every week), I've decided to launch a brand new show dedicated totally to music and musicians. After 17 years of doing a show alone, I think it's time for a co-host for a new show.
So - if you're obsessed with music, and have a bunch of musical pals you'd like to help, and you can spare around an hour to be a guest host on a show, let me know, wherever you are in the world. Thanks. |
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 | Mike Kerr is a terrific speaker and a great friend of mine. Based in Canada, he speaks globally on inspiring workplaces, particularly by using humour.
His ideas on building better workplace cultures have been featured in hundreds of publications worldwide, while his Inspiring Workplaces blog has been recognized as one of the top-30 workplace blogs in the world.
He is also the author of 8 books, including, “The Jerk-Free Workplace", his latest tome, that I was keen to speak to him about.
It was great fun, as usual.
There's also a great song from a band I interviewed recently that just scooped four trophies at the British Blues Awards - When Rivers Meet. |
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The MediaMaestro is a tourist attraction in Romania - Bran Castle - apparently the inspiration for Dracula's castle in Bram Stoker's novel.
Like most of the world's tourist attractions, the castle in the Carpathian mountains has seen a drop in the number of tourists this year. So instead, it has become a COVID-19 vaccination centre.
Medical workers with bloody fang stickers on their scrubs are offering free shots of the Pfizer vaccine every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday this month.
According to a survey released in April by Bratislava-based think tank Globsec, Romanians have the highest rate of vaccine hesitancy in eastern Europe.
Alexandru Priscu, marketing director of the 14th century castle, said: "The idea... was to show how people got jabbed 500-600 years ago in Europe."
No doubt happy visitors remember to say "Fangs very much" |
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The MediaMug is a woman on Facebook known only as "Lisa". She shares a page with her partner Josh, and both of them deliver invaluable "life hacks" to help people get through their busy days.
I've watched a few of their videos, and I can't quite tell if they are playing it for laughs. Regardless of that, she has upset a lot of people, many of them Italian, with her "ultimate spaghetti hack".
In a video that has racked up 25 million views, she demonstrated the bizarre method, which sees her pouring the ingredients onto her marble countertop. "All my friends are coming over, so this is the easiest way to make spaghetti for a crowd - and it's fun, It's all just right in front of you, you don't have to worry about dishes or a mess or anything like that," she says as she pours pasta sauce from the jar onto the side. Then, she piles on meatballs, parmesan and a pan of hot pasta.
It looks utterly disgusting to me, and I love spaghetti with meatballs. One person said: "I showed this to my grandma. She is Italian. She was Italian. She passed away after watching this." |
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Speaking Tip - Speaking to children |
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Speakers often say that children are the toughest audience. I wouldn't argue with that, although many, many years ago I was a teacher, and I really enjoyed delivering lessons.
So I'm not sure whether they are the toughest audience (it depends on many other things), but there are a few things that you need to think about if you're speaking to groups of young people.
- Avoid using slides, and if in-person, don't use a stage unless you have to
- Tell stories to illustrate your message, and try to make them personal experiences
- Stop frequently and ask them questions
- Allow them to ask you questions at any point (but ensure that you don't run out of time)
- Use visual aids (if you're an athlete, show them your medals)
- Never patronise them - they will understand more than you think!
Come to think of it, the above tips work for adult audiences too! |
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Media Tip - Calm, calm, calm |
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TV and radio producers love conflict. I don't mean personally, but in the shows they are responsible for. If they can capture a moment where an interviewee loses their temper, makes an ill-judged statement, or dashes out of the nearest exit shouting "no comment", it makes their day. Their ratings soar too, which is why they love to see and hear conflict in the first place.
Don't be the person who delivers that "moment of madness". However, strong the provocation, stay calm. In fact, try to become even calmer as the temperature of the debate rises. If you do feel yourself succumbing to anger, try to say nothing until you regain your composure.
And never, ever, go into an interview with the intention of venting your frustration at someone else. You will weaken your case and hand the initiative to your opponent. Instead, smile, explain your position, and if asked "What would your rivals say to that?" simply reply "You'll have to ask them, not me". |
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Social Media Tip - Smart Messaging |
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I don't know how many social media messages you receive every day, but I'm sure it's more than you want. (By the way, thanks for reading this one). The trouble is, a message is often an "interrupt" form of communication, like a phone call, rather than "when I'm ready", like a letter. The sheer volume of interruptions makes it difficult to concentrate on other tasks for any length of time.
One of the best tips I ever received about messages was to turn off alerts. That little "ping" or pop-up that tells you a new message has arrived. I found that I couldn't ignore it - after all, it might be important! But now that I only check messages when I feel like it (a few times a day), I get more done, stay more relaxed, and funnily enough, my business seems to run just as well as ever.
Here are a few more tips I find useful:
- Never reply to a message when annoyed
- Only have one topic in each message
- Replying in brief quickly is much better then replying at length a few days later
- Never put any sensitive information in a message
OK, I don't always apply my own rules. But when I do, it works really well. |
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An online or in-person speech to make? I can help.
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The information in this ezine may be freely re-used in any online or offline publication, provided it is accompanied by the following credit line - "This information was written by Alan Stevens, and originally appeared in "The MediaCoach", his free weekly ezine, available at www.mediacoach.co.uk." |
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