Building and Protecting your Reputation |
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I'm not one for complaining in public. If I receive bad service, I tell the provider of the service, and offer them some advice on how to fix it.
That's exactly what I did after a colleague and I had a bad experience in Brasserie Zedel in Central London.
I spoke to the manager, who asked me to email my concerns to her personally. I did. Three times without receiving a reply, or even an acknowledgement.
I won't go into the details here. You can read it by clicking the link. It's the first, and I hope only, time that I have been banned from a restaurant. And it's provided me with a terrific story of bad customer service for my speeches. |
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There are still places on my annual speaker programme in September. Two to be exact. If you want to give a huge boost to your speaking career, with one-to-one coaching from me every month for a year at an astonishingly reasonable cost, check out the details here. |
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 | Dean Friedman is a musical legend, as well as being one of the most entertaining interviewees I've spoken to over the years.
He first marked his entry into pop consciousness with the Top 20 chart success of his infectious hit single, Ariel, a quirky, irresistible and uncategorisable pop song about a free spirited, pot-smoking, vegetarian Jewish girl in a peasant blouse who lived, as the lyric goes, "...way on the other side of the Hudson".
Since then he's written and recorded a string of great songs, including a UK number one "Lucky Stars" .
He's produced a stunning new album which has a lot to say about the last few years. Even if you don't often listen to my show, try and catch this one.
And there's also a great song from Dean's new album - the title track, American Lullaby. |
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The MediaMaestro is BBC Commentator Andrew Cotter. Not only does he do a fantastic job on air, he's also very popular on social media for commentating on the antics of his dogs, Olive and Mabel.
He is a regular voice at golf and rugby union events, and in my opinion struck just the right note as a commentator at the opening and closing ceremonies of the Tokyo Olympics.
He has the rare gift of sounding like a well informed friend having a chat with you about sport. That's the product of years of experience and a mountain of detailed research.
At the end of the Olympics, he delivered a voice-over on a closing montage that summed up for me exactly what the Tokyo Olympics was about. It was a masterpiece. Credit also to the technicians who put it together - Sam van Gelder and Matt Loughlin. |
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The MediaMug is supermarket chain ASDA.
They've created a bit of a social media storm with their new pizza offering. It's Southern Fried Chicken with gravy (I'm not making this up).
Asda is no stranger to playing with fire with whacky pizza toppings. They once made a full English breakfast pizza and also topped another pizza with cheeseburgers..
They sold bunny shaped pizzas for Easter, which was perhaps understandable, but also made a steak and ale pie pizza which sounds utterly weird.
Maybe it's a PR stunt. Maybe the food buyers at ASDA don't sample their own products.
There are no ASDA stores in Italy.
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Speaking Tip - Where are you in the story? |
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Speakers are storytellers. Audiences are engaged by stories. Ever since we've been children, we have listened to and loved stories.
The best stories are those which really connect to an audience, and the stories that connect best of all are the ones that you are in. You don't have to be the hero of the story (in fact it is better that you aren't - I'll come back to that in a moment).
The important thing is to give the audience the vicarious experience of being in the story as an observer, or possibly a participant.
So where do you find stories that have you in? Everywhere, every day. We observe and take part in events all the time. The problem is that we forget, or fail to notice the lessons we lean. That's why carrying a notebook or recording device is so important, and why you need to note down not just what happened but how you felt about it.
You've heard of the hero's journey. Most stories fit that pattern. A hero, a challenge and a resolution. It's best that you make someone else the hero of the story, and allow them to have the best, and last, line.
Become a forensic observer of life. Everything can be a story. You just need to record it, and understand the part you played. |
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Media Tip - Instead of "no comment" |
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As you know, "no comment" is really a comment. It means that you just don't want to say anything, even though you know something.
There may be a very good reason for not wanting to respond to a reporter's question. You may be unsure, you may wish to avoid potential legal action, or you may wish to keep the confidence of whoever gave you information. However, "no comment" is usually interpreted by a viewer or listener as "they are hiding something".
So how do you avoid a "no comment" comment? Here are a few ideas:
- Prepare a response about the topic of the interview, and deliver it, prefaced by "let me first say this..." or "I think the important issue is this..."
- Explain that you are keen to help, but you are unable to at the moment - "I'd love to answer your question, but it would be unfair to do so until we have more information"
- If it's a legal reason, say so
- If you really don't know, say so and offer to find out
- Suggest someone else who should be able to answer
- Put it back to the interviewer "Your viewers/listeners wouldn't want me to speculate on that"
- Offer a future interview - "I will be able to answer that in a couple of days" (but make sure you keep your promise)
And a couple of don'ts: - Never walk away without responding - this just makes you look guilty
- Never get angry. The more reasonable you are, the better you will come across.
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Social Media Tip - Be there, now |
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Social media thrives on debates and disagreements.
If a post doesn't generate a contrary response in the first few minutes, it's probably going to attract very few comments.
How you react in those first few minutes can steer the entire debate in one direction or another. If you post something and then disappear, others will step in and take the debate onto their favourite topic (often themselves).
That means you need to be there after you have posted. Not immediately, but within the first hour or so to respond to any comments, answer questions, and take the debate back to the original post if it's veered away.
You need to be diplomatic of course. Never complain that the discussion has gone somewhere you didn't want it to go. Instead, gently cajole it back to the topic of your original post.
You can make this a lot easier for yourself by posing questions and making them as specific as possible. For example, asking people to share similar experiences, or asking them what they would have done in your shoes.
But you don't have to stay there all day. Post a few responses in the first hour, and the pop back every few hours to pick up any new comments. Don't schedule posts and then disappear for a few days. People will quickly lose interest.
Be there. |
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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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