The Media Coach | October 27th 2023 |
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Building and Protecting your Reputation |
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| Today is National Mentoring Day,
Set up by Chelsey Baker (more about her in a moment), it plays a key role in giving prominence to mentoring initiatives and a national voice to amplify important and inspiring mentoring stories and services.
Mentoring is critically important, and many of us can act as mentors as well as being mentored ourselves.
Find out more at the website, and if you have time to listen to my radio show this week, you'll learn about how you can benefit and get involved. |
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| Places are filling on my popular one-to-one speaker coaching services for 2024. I offer 12-month and 6-month courses that over a hundred speakers have already benefited from.
It's basically mentoring - I've been involved in the speaking profession for over 40 years, and I'm sharing my expertise.
If you'd like to have a chat about it, email me at alan@mediacoach.co.uk. |
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| My guest in the web radio show this week is the founder of National Mentoring Day, Chelsey Baker.
Chelsey’s career includes over twenty years in media, television, communications, publishing, PR and marketing. As an international speaker, commentator and presenter, Chelsey campaigns tirelessly to showcase the transformational power of mentorship with the aim of empowering and encouraging more people to take up mentoring.
In 2014 she set up National Mentoring Day, which has become a huge global phenomenon.
It was a pleasure and a privilege to speak with her. Hear our chat in the in the radio show. |
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MediaMaestro, MediaMug of the Week |
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| The MediaMaestros this week are a pop group from Liverpool called The Beatles. Sadly, only two of the Fab Four are still with us, but they've used AI technology to bring the band back together for what they are calling their last song, to be released on November 2nd.
Called Now And Then, it is based on a 1970s demo recording by John Lennon, and was completed last year by Sir Paul McCartney and Sir Ringo Starr.
Sir Paul mentioned it in a BBC interview this summer, saying AI technology had been used to "extricate" Lennon's vocals from an old cassette.
In a press release, the surviving Beatles said completing the song had been a surreal experience.
"There it was, John's voice, crystal clear," said Sir Paul. "It's quite emotional. And we all play on it, it's a genuine Beatles recording. In 2023 to still be working on Beatles music, and about to release a new song the public haven't heard, I think it's an exciting thing."
"It was the closest we'll ever come to having him back in the room so it was very emotional for all of us," added Starr. "It was like John was there, you know. It's far out." |
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| The MediaMugs of the week are members of K-pop band STAYC.
They had intended to wear the jerseys of the Texas Rangers baseball team, who this week reached the World Series, for a show in Dallas as part of their US tour.
Unfortunately, pictures circulating on social media showed two members of the girl group wearing blue Glasgow Rangers 1996-97 home shirts fashioned into crop tops.
One Glasgow Rangers fan wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “Rangers are the kings of K-pop.”
Another wrote: “As a Scottish person who supports [Rangers] this was not in my 2023 bingo card.”
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Speaking Tip of the week - Mind your language |
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| No, this is not about whether or not you use swear words in your speeches, though I assume that you don't. This tip is about choosing the right words for your speech. The important thing is whether the message that your audience hears is the one that you intend to convey. If, after your speech, you talk to members of your audience and hear yourself saying "that's not what I meant", then you have failed in your mission. In short, you need to use language that -
- Is clear
- Supports your message
- Is authentically yours
Clarity should not be a problem. There is no trade-off between short words and great speaking. In fact many of the most powerful messages have been delivered in the most simple language - "I have a dream..", "We will overcome.." "The lady's not for turning". Using the right words that support your message is very important too. How you describe something will determine how your audience perceives it. Do you talk about "developing new and powerful habits" or "stopping doing those stupid and damaging things"?
Lastly, being authentic is important for every speaker, in every speech. Try to avoid clichés. Make up your own comparisons, based on your own experiences. Tell your own stories. That's what people want to hear. |
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Media Tip of the week - Keep it simple |
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| Whenever I am providing media coaching for a client, I ask them to distill their message down to the bare bones, so that it can be communicated and understood easily. Sometimes they argue that their message is too complex to be condensed to a single phrase or sound bite, as it contains a number of points, requires a lot of context, or is simply too complicated to summarise in less than five minutes.
I listen to their explanations, and then ask them to imagine that they are speaking to an averagely intelligent eleven year old. If they respond that an eleven year old couldn't possibly understand their message, I advise them not to go on TV or radio at all. This often encourages them to reconsider.
The thing is, any message can be simplified, without losing its essential power and engagement. In fact, simplification is often what makes a message more powerful. All politicians know this. They aim to reduce their whole policy platform down to a simple, strong phrase. That doesn't mean they always deliver it in practice - that's a whole different debate.
So how can you simplify a complex message? Here are a few tips:
- Cut out filler words and phrases like "I think" or "Needless to say"
- Focus on the outcome, not the process
- Have only one point
- Keep your words short - one or two syllables
- Make the message positive
- Don't offer options
- Test the message on others - do they understand it immediately?
- Use a memorable analogy - 'It's just like...'
- Aim to deliver it in five seconds -that's ten to fifteen words.
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Social Media Tip of the week - Four social media tactics |
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| Various things are said about social media; "Content is King", "Engagement is everything", "The future is video" etc, etc. The fact is, no-one really knows, but there is one common theme - your social media content has to be interesting. So let's look at a few ways to up your game, using information from the platforms themselves.
1) Post more images/videos Statistics from Facebook say that photos and videos get seven times the amount of likes, and ten times the number of shares over content that only links to a page or is just written content. That's worth having.
2) Post shorter pieces on LinkedIn, and longer ones on Facebook Conventional wisdom suggests that Facebook is for short and chatty posts, while LinkedIn is for longer more serious posts. While the sentiment seems appropriate, according to LinkedIn, shorter posts get much more engagement. Facebook stats show the opposite.
3) Go hashtag mad on Instagram Figures from Instagram show that hashtags are the main way of finding content, and that up to fifteen per picture are normal.
4) Think about voice and tone Your social media voice should be consistent - it represents your brand and what it stands for. Your tone of voice, however, should vary between platforms, just as suggested in tip 2. If you master both voice and tone, you'll be doing a lot to improve your social media presence. |
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There's a wonderful piece of AI produced by Netherlands Tourism that turns your street into a Dutch cycling paradise. Give it a try. |
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Looking for a speaker coach? |
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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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