Building and Protecting your Reputation |
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I was looking for a challenge to start 2022, and I found a campaign called "Run your Age" which raises money for Age UK.
The idea is to run a total distance in January that matches your age.
You've seen the obvious flaw - the older you are, the further you have to run.
Anyway, I gave it a go, and managed to complete a total of 69 miles (oops what a giveaway) in three weeks. I raised some funds too - with grateful thanks to some generous friends. If you'd like to add a few sovs, here's the link. Thanks. |
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I found a great way to make money on my unused CD collection last week.
It's an App called Ziffit - you just scan the barcodes of your CDs. and it makes you an offer for then. I sold 80 CDs, including all my Neil Young albums.
Then I heard that Neil Young had asked for all his music to be removed from Spotify as he objected to the presence of a podcast by Joe Rogan, who gives out misinformation about COVID-19. Ah well. Don't let it get you down, as Neil would say. |
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The Exceptional Speaker Academy is still open for six-month memberships. Sessions are delivered by Lesley Everett, Sean Weafer and me. You receive:
Two group sessions a month: - 90-minutes of expertise shared by the experts
- 60 mins of Q & A
Plus: - PDF copy of The Exceptional Speaker
- Access to all recorded sessions (while your membership is live)
- Discounted coaching sessions at any time with any of us
- Discounts on our public programs
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 | My interview guest this week is speaker, copywriting expert and author Jackie Barrie.
Jackie trains recruiters, journalists, marketing teams, business-owners and aspiring copywriters how to write better copy.
In 2019, Jackie published Experiential Speaking, a book of icebreakers and energisers for speakers and trainers.
She's now written a brilliant book called Unboring, about how to keep people's attention and help embed the learning when you make your online and hybrid events more engaging.
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There was such a great reaction to Jesse Butterworth in last week's show, I'm featuring another of his tracks - his new single, Our Good Old Days |
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MediaMaestro, MediaMug of the Week |
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The MediaMaestrois comedy great Barry Cryer.
He wrote jokes for generations of comedians from Tommy Cooper and Morecambe and Wise through the Two Ronnies to Rory Bremner
Cryer said in 1998: “I haven’t had a career, just a series of incidents. I’ve been dogged by good luck all my life.”
In 2013, Cryer was asked by the Yorkshire Post for his favourite joke. He answered: “A man drives down a country lane and runs over a cockerel. He knocks at a nearby farmhouse door and a woman answers.‘I appear to have killed your cockerel,’ he says. ‘I’d like to replace it.’ The woman replies: ‘Please yourself – the hens are round the back.’”
He was also a long-term member of the wonderful radio comedy show I'm sorry I Haven't a Clue.
Here's a classic series of extracts from the show, featuring, Barry,Graham Garden, Humphrey Lyttleton Tim Brooke-Taylor, Jeremy Hardy, Sandi Toksvig, Tony Hawks, Phill Jupitus and Andy Hamilton. and Linda Smith. |
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The MediaMug this week is "expert on the unxplained" Nick Pope.
He says that aliens would love the Queen as "the true leader has stayed strong for decades".But he feels that extra-terrestrials wouldn’t be so keen on Prince Andrew and the Duke of Sussex,
It’s unclear where Nick – who now works as a journalist in the US – is getting his intel from.
In 2016, Nick argued it was time for the government programme looking into UFO sightings to re-launch. He told the BBC: ‘What fascinating incidents are currently getting only a cursory glance from amateur hobbyists, or not being reported at all?’
Despite his protests, the government currently has no such plans. |
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Speaking Tip of the week - Do you love your topic? |
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I hope the answer is yes. If not, learn to love it or find another topic. Your audience will be able to tell instantly if you don't believe in your message. It will be apparent from your voice, your delivery and your overall demeanour. it will also be apparent from your vocabulary. If you say to people "This is absolutely brilliant", and they can see from your eyes and body language that you mean it, they will be much more likely to listen to what you have to say.
Enthusiasm and passion on stage is something that is hard to fake. It shows up especially well in question and answer sessions, where you have time to respond and engage on a topic that you know in depth. That's another key sign of loving your topic. If you are enthused by the subjects you speak about, you will keep up to date and study research around the issues you present. A question and answer session will hold no fears for you, and the only thing to think about is when to stop talking.
I find it surprising that many presenters seem to strip away all the fun from their material, and just present the facts. There's no point in doing that, since the attention of the audience will drift elsewhere. Your job is to make your audience members think and act in a different way, and to get them excited about your topic. if you don't show them how much the subject excites you, why should they bother to listen? |
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Media Tip of the week - Fork Collector Monthly |
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I'm not sure there is a journal with that title, actually. The last round of questions in the TV show "Have I got news for you" features partly-obscured headlines, some of which are from a tiny publication such as "Woodworking News" or "Caravanning and Camping Gazette". Part of the humour comes from the feeling that none of us would ever admit to reading these publications, of course.
However, you ignore specialist magazines and newspapers at your cost. Here are several reasons why you should specifically target "niche" journals, both online and in print.
- They are desperate for editorial copy
- They have a small, but loyal readership
- You have no idea how influential their readers are
- Their journalists often move on to larger publications, and will take your contact details with them
- Stories may be offered to larger publications, so your article may "climb the ladder"
- Hey, it's all publicity
It won't take too much of your time to answer a media request, wherever it comes from, and you never know how and when it may pay off. |
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Social Media Tip of the week - Take it up a notch |
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Great service is about over-delivering. When my wife and I were last in New York, we were constantly surprised and delighted by the level of service (and I'm not convinced that it's just working for tips, it's an attitude of mind). So it is with social media. If you deliver a higher level of content or interaction than people expect, you will stand out from the crowd.
These days, everyone is on Facebook, and most people seem to be on Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. It's no longer good enough to simply be there. You need to over-deliver. For example, if you're a web designer, try posting a blog about the "21 most common website problems - and how to fix them" or if you are a golf coach, upload a video showing how to play a shot from a difficult lie. In other words give people something really valuable, which exceeds their expectations.
As soon as people realise that you are a provider of incredibly useful content, your material will be passed on, and you will find that traffic to your site and blog increases. You don't have to give away everything you know, but the more you provide, the more people will promote your business for you. What could you put online that amazes your customers? |
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Speaker coaching - a reminder |
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A reminder about my speaker coaching programme for 2022 - find out more at the link or reply to this email
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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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