Building and Protecting your Reputation |
|
I do like to be beside the seaside. This issue comes to you from Brighton, where we are spending a couple of days in a rock and roll boutique hotel - The Hotel Pelirocco,
No surprise that we are also visiting some very pleasant restaurants while we're here.
Brighton is a wonderful place, and we have many friends here. Alas, we don't have time to see them all on this trip, so apologies to Simon, Susy, Nick, Ahmed, Mark, Sonia, Gemma, Steve, Meera, and anyone else who is thinking "they didn't call". We'll see you next time. |
|
The The UEFA European Football Championships (The Euros) are starting soon.
Football commentators sometimes produce the most wonderful pieces of philosophy.
I hope we get a few quotes like these:
"I can see the carrot at the end of the tunnel" Stuart Pearce “That’s a fantastic penalty, but he’ll be gutted it went wide.” Michael Owen "If we played like this every week, we wouldn't be so inconsistent" Bobby Robson “Giroud scored a brilliant header with the last kick of the game.” Chris Kamara "It's now 1-1, an exact reversal of the score on Saturday." Alan Green “If history repeats itself, I should think we can expect the same thing again.”Terry Venables “I’d love to be a mole on the wall in the dressing room at half-time.” Kevin Keegan "I'm going to make a prediction - this game could go either way." Ron Atkinson |
|
 | Born in northern California in 1994, Jazzie Young moved to Hawaii as an infant and spent her formative years on the Big Island. There, she began playing classical piano and violin at 3 years old, eventually adding ukulele, recorder, and guitar to the list.
Her parents are both musicians. Her father, legendary folksinger Jesse Colin Young, kickstarted his own career during the 1960s as frontman of the Youngbloods, Her mother, Connie Darden-Young, played the violin and viola.
We had a wonderful chat about creativity, music and building a career when times are tough.
There's also a great song from Jazzie too. |
| |
|
The MediaMaestro award goes to a long-delayed film release which has finally brought audiences back into cinemas.
A Quiet Place Part II made an estimated $48m (£34m) between Friday and Sunday. That exceeded predictions and was not far off the $55m that the film had originally been projected to earn in March 2020, according to Variety.
The adverts for the film, which sees Emily Blunt and Cillian Murphy trying to evade noise-sensing blind aliens, stress that it is available "only in theatres".
It will be released in here in the UK on Friday 3 June. Most cinemas in the UK have now reopened, also with reduced capacities. I may just pop along and see it - but after I've seen Nomadland, which is hopefully my return to cinema-going. |
|
The MediaMug is Gemma Hill, a radio presenter at Heart West Midlands. She shared a story on Tiktok about an embarrassing exchange of text messages with her personal trainer.
She explains that her new personal trainer had asked her to take 'before' photos in her underwear, telling her not to breathe in or pose for good angles, but "be honest" so she would have a starting point to compare her progress against.
So Gemma did as instructed, posing for a photo in her underwear and sent them across - but was left mortified by his response.
In the exchange, he clarified "Hey, sorry Gem I meant take photos for yourself not to send to me. So you can check out your progress."The radio presenter replied: "OMG I'm so sorry. I thought I was meant to send them to you. How embarrassing. I'm so sorry".
The trainer made clear: "No lol I don't ask clients to send me pictures in underwear. I was eating dinner with my girl she's quizzing me 'who is this...'"
Her TikTok video has been viewed over 130,000 times. It's not clear whether she is going to resume working with her PT. |
|
Speaking Tip - I keep thinking it's Tuesday |
|
Paul Crum produced a cartoon many years ago, which showed two hippos in a swamp, their heads just about water. One is saying to the other "I keep thinking it's Tuesday".
OK, that's more of a smile than a laugh out, but it's something I think of when I'm listening to some people speak. Their statements make perfect sense. But I have no idea why they are telling them to me.
I'm sure you know a few people like that. When you meet them and ask how they journey was, they tell you in great detail, including the names of the roads and the junctions they used. It's all true, and may be very important to them, but is has no value to you whatsoever.
Obviously as speakers we want to be sure that we are providing our listeners with valuable and entertaining content. We can sometimes overlook the fact that what seems important to us is of no interest to them.
That's why we have to keep in mind all the time what they are going to do with the words we deliver. We have to try to put ourselves in their shoes, imagining that we are hearing the speech for the first time. Can we understand it? Can we see the relevance of it? Can we appreciate what the speaker is telling us, and why they are telling us now?
If you can find someone who typifies a member of your future audience to run through the speech with, that will be an ideal test. Alas, we rarely have that privilege, so I suggest recording your words, and then considering some of the characteristics of your audience. What is their experience? What is their level of knowledge? What do they focus on? A few hours after you've recorded your words, play them back to yourself as though you're an audience member. I guarantee you will find some things to amend, remove and add, making your speech much better.
Don't be a hippo in a swamp. |
|
Media Tip - How did I do? |
|
The most common post-interview question asked by my media clients (including some of you reading this) is "How did I come across?". Of course, I offer them honest, feedback, in as positive a way as possible. Naturally, they all perform well, since they've been well coached (ahem!).
But if no-one has seen or heard your interview, how can you make a judgement yourself about the success of it? Well, unless you have thought about it beforehand, you can't. You will be so caught up in the moment, and focusing on saying the right thing, that you will not be sure whether you got your message across.
You must set yourself targets before you step in front of a microphone or camera.
For example;
- Three mentions of your website address
- Stating the core message at the start and at the end
- Giving a contact phone number
Unless you have targets, you can't know whether you succeed. Make a plan before you are interviewed, and then judge for yourself how you did. |
|
Social Media Tip - Honest and open |
|
There's a clue in the name "Social Media" (no, not "media"). You will have much greater success if you tell people your views, get involved in debates, and offer opinions on current topics. Many people fear that if they express an opinion, they might offend someone, and lose a potential customer. The reverse is true. Your clients and customers want to know how you think, and why you are saying things. Naturally, there will be some people who disagree with you, but there will also be people who love you.
If you try to remain "safe" by simply posting links to news sites, or re-sending other people's opinions, you will struggle to build up your own following. Being seen as boring is only one step from being ignored. OK, you can go too far the other way, and disagree with people just for the sake of it, or express very controversial views. You don't need to go that far.
Simply state your case, back it up with reasons, and see how people respond. You'll find that you become the person that others recommend, and your influence and reputation will grow.You don't have to reveal everything, but simply being open and honest will help your reputation to grow. |
|
Time for some more classic stand-up comedy, or actually step up comedy. It's the wonderful and much missed VIctoria Wood. |
|
An online or in-person speech to make? I can help.
|
|
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." |
|
|
|
|
|
|
