Building and Protecting your Reputation |
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On Sunday, I will be revising my role as a polar bear (or possibly a yeti) at the Cancer Research Winter Run in London.
The forecast is for heavy rain. I'm not sure how my costume will stand up to that. Next week I will post some pictures so that you can see how I fared.
The important thing is that thousands of runners will be on the streets, raising millions of pounds for cancer research. I am quite happy to stand around in a wet fur coat for six hours to help them.
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It's awards season in the film industry, and we went to see one of the contenders a few days ago - Belfast.
Kenneth Branagh's film was a superb watch, and I recommend going to see it. It's not a documentary about The Troubles in Northern Ireland - it's more about the relationships within a family and their friends - and I found it a wonderful cinematic experience.
It was also a treat to get into a cinema seat, settle down as the lights dimmed and immerse ourselves in a marvellous piece of drama.
I hope it wins some of those awards.
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 | My radio show guest this week is absolutely the real thing.
He's Chris Amoo, lead singer of the legendary soul band The Real Thing, who had hits with "You to me are everything" and "Can you feel the Force?"
We spoke about the challenges and opportunities of the music industry these days, his background as a very successful singer-songwriter, and a new album that his band has just released.
It was a real pleasure to talk to one of the icons of the UK soul scene.
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MediaMaestro, MediaMug of the Week |
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The MediaMaestro is Derek Marr, a regular customer of a cafe chain called Nettie's in Scotland.
He won a social media competition to win free pies for life by getting the logo of the chain - a woman's face - tattooed on himself.
Lynnette Shields, the owner of the chain said: “I noticed the other month that someone had got the Greggs logo tattooed onto themselves and they gave them free sausage rolls or something for life and it got me thinking. This was around October or November time and I jokingly just put up a post on social media saying I would give away free pies if someone got our logo.We didn’t expect it but there was loads of local interest so we narrowed it down to just three guys and decided to run a wee competition and see which of the three of them could get the most likes and shares from their posts."
Apparently one of their most popular pies is made with Irn Bru sauce. Only in Scotland.. |
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The MediaMug this week is a rather different establishment - a restaurant in Leatherhead, Surrey called Beluga.
The newly-opened venue published a dress code which asks female customers to wear 'sexy black ankle-strap heels with a form-fitting top' or 'bodycon dresses'.
Men were asked to wear jackets and not t-shirts or tracksuits.
The code has now been deleted after a furious backlash, with one angry local writing on social media: "You’re a restaurant on Leatherhead High street not some private members club in Mayfair (which will even allow a flat shoes and skinny jeans combo!)"
Others described it on Twitter as a "dress code for a strip club" and "party like it's 1959".
The owner of the restaurant has declined to comment. I'm not surprised. |
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Speaking Tip of the week - Three Wise Speakers |
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Very, very occasionally (and this is one such occasion), I like to share the wisdom of great speakers. Here we go:
Marjorie Scardino
"Presentations are important; they force you to get your thinking in order. They take an enormous amount of preparation. You have to be able to reduce complexity down to simple core ideas."
"You can do a lot without slides - ideas, attitudes and atmospherics play a part. When you are trying to react to recent events and achievements, pre-prepared slides would be quite wrong"
"I don't create prepared answers. I focus on understanding the key themes, and always draw the answers back to them".
Tony Carlisle
"In an ideal world, you would communicate one-to-one; but there isn't the time, and doing so risks varying the message. Besides which, presentations are very cost- effective".
"Presentations are conversations, not lectures; they represent business between consenting adults in public".
"Never ever give a presentation unless it matters; never deem it a success unless it worked"
Michael Ullmann
"A really good presentation can transform a mediocre written plan. Personal style is much more important than graphics. However, you can't get away with weak graphics on the big screen."
"Walk on stage with purpose. First impressions are vital. Don't hide behind the lectern, but move around, keeping the focus on yourself. Silence can be devastating. Use pauses - three seconds of silence will get attention. After twenty seconds, you can say anything, and they will listen."
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Media Tip of the week - Play your Cards Right |
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The late TV presenter Bruce Forsyth used to present a show called "Play your cards right." It wasn't the most intellectual of game shows, being simply a guessing game about whether the next huge playing card to be selected was higher or lower than the last.
Knowing how to play your cards is an essential skill for media interviews. There's a literal and figurative reason for this.
In literal terms, it can help a great deal to have your key messages written down on pieces of card and kept in your pocket. On the way to the studio and while sitting in the green room, you can take the cards out, review them, and remind yourself of your messages.
Of course, you should never make use of them live on air, even on radio, since the presenter will not take kindly to you reading out prepared answers. However, the simple act of writing the cards, reading them off-air, and knowing that they are in your pocket, will help you to remember your message.
In figurative terms, you need to know whether to go "higher", by delivering a strong message in strong terms, or "lower", by defusing any anger in the question or another interviewees response by softening your voice and staying calm. Always play your cards right.
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Social Media Tip of the week - Building an audience for your blog |
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When you start a blog, it's like writing a book that no-one has read. You have to find a way of building an audience. Here are a few strategies that I've found useful.
1) Let people know I realise this sounds rather obvious, but you need to use every channel of communication to ensure that people are aware of your blog.
2) Keep it fresh Blogging briefly and often is better than lengthy posts far apart
3) Use controversial titles If you can intrigue people, or better still annoy them a little, they will read your blog, if only to disagree
4) Comment on other blogs This is very effective, especially if you mention in your comment that you have a blog too.
5) Monitor and Analyse Once you have readers, make sure that you study them, and look for what attracts the most interest - is it a topic, a headline, a video? Whatever it is, do more of it.
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Our friends at Honest Trailers have taken a look at https://youtu.be/6n1ntwMNrI4. No, they didn't understand it either. I read the whole series of books in 1972, but I'm not sure it'll help. |
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Speaker coaching - a reminder |
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A final 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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