Hi John,

A very Happy New Year to you.

I hope you had a relaxing break and you're full of anticipation for a successful year to come.

We spent New Year in a wonderful hotel on the Sussex coast - The Gallivant. I recommend it very highly - local food and English wines, a huge focus on sustainability and the friendliest staff you could ever meet.

It's also perfectly placed for walks on the immense beach at Camber Sands.

Congratulations to the five lucky readers who won free speaker coaching sessions in my Christmas offer.

If you missed out, don't worry, I have another offer for you.

Everyone who signs up for my 12-month speaker coaching in 2024 will receive a free place at a one-day workshop in London in June, providing detailed intelligence on the speaking industry. That's on top of a year's coaching to improve your speaking, increase your fees/influence and getting more gigs.

Or if you'd prefer my six-month programme, just get in touch.

To find out more, simply email me at alan@mediacoach.co.uk,

My guest in the radio show this week is former BBC technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones. Back in the day, Rory used to interview me for BBC News items. But this time we spoke about something very different.

He knew he was the child of a brief love affair between two unmarried BBC employees. But until his mother died and he found a previously unknown file labelled 'For Rory' he had no idea of their beginnings or ending, and why his peculiarly isolated childhood had so tested the bond between him and his mother. 'For Rory,' his mother had written on the file 'in the hope that it will help him understand how it really was ...'

The book he wrote, "Ruskin Park" is a compelling account of what Rory uncovered in the papers, letters and diaries; a relationship between two colleagues (two romantics) and the restrictive forces of post-war respectability and prejudice that ended it.



Hear our chat in the in the radio show.

Go to the MediaCoach Show

Follow me on X (Twitter)

And there's a great wonderful song from Simon Stanley Ward too.

The MediaMug of the week is Asparamancer Jemima Packington, who says she can predict the future by throwing asparagus spears in the air and seeing how they land (I'm, not making this up - though maybe she is).

Among her predictions for 2024 are:.

England FA will appoint more female referees to officiate at all male team matches.

A raft of very well paid TV personalities will lose their jobs.

There will be separations and divorces amongst members of the royal family. 

Regime change will take place throughout the world.

Stone me. Amazing what you can learn from asparagus eh?

You've got to be original.

As actress Bernadette Peters puts it "If you're like everyone else, why would they want you?"

Incidentally, one of the greatest books I've read recently on how to be original and stand out from the crowd is "POP" by Sam Horn, which also mentions that quote.

Some people argue that originality is impossible, since everything has already been said. I beg to differ.

Anyway, back to originality. When you deliver a speech, it should be unlike any speech that your audience has heard before. You must offer them a new insight, a surprising thought, or a reminder of an old truth that they may have forgotten - but in a unique and memorable way.

I despair of speakers that trot out tired old stories about putting rocks, pebbles and sand in a jar, or throwing a starfish in the sea, or putting a frog in a pan of water until it boils. If you use any of those stories, STOP IT NOW! Your audience wants to hear about your experiences, and your original take on the world.

Of course, you can use the odd quote from someone else, provided you attribute it. But no hackneyed old stories. Be original. You can do it.     

The point of appearing on the media is to get your message noticed by the audience. One way would be to write it on a huge flag and wave it in front of the camera. Unfortunately, they won't let you do that.

Luckily, you can still use a technique called "flagging" to indicate to viewers what they should remember from your interview. It's like putting a large flashing neon sign before your main message.

Here's how it works. There are some key phrases that signal your intent to wave a flag. These include "I can't stress enough the importance of...." or "The really significant thing here is..." or one of my favourites, which you can use when a reporter has stopped taking notes "You should write this down".

On their own, flagging statements sound rather silly, but in the context of an interview, their use is crucial.

Flagging phrases are of particular value when you sense that the interview is coming to a close. Of course, you have already memorised your core message, so now is the time to flag it and deliver it. So, finally, here are a few flagging phrases to use in conclusion -

• "There are just two things to remember..."
• "I'd just like to re-iterate the importance of.."
• "Allow me to summarise the essence of my message.."
• "The single thing that you really need to be aware of is..."

Remember to wave your flag.     

There's a lot of discussion about how people can protect their intellectual property online, and how to ensure that only those who pay for it can access it. It's been the bane of the entertainment industry for years. Here's my take on how to protect your intellectual property online. You can't. You shouldn't even try. In fact you should do the reverse, and encourage sharing.

The thing is, people are going to share your content anyway, so you should position yourself to take advantage of it. Your blog posts and videos should have sharing buttons on them for Facebook, X, LinkedIn etc. You should encourage people to re-post your comments.

Of course, the best way to get your content shared is to make it so engaging that it makes the sharer look good too. In order to benefit from all this sharing, your contact details should be on every piece of content, with a reminder to the sharer to include them. As you will see by looking a little further down, I encourage you to share any or all of the content in this ezine. I ask only that you mention my details.

And does giving all of this away mean that you don't get paid to deliver expertise? No, quite the reverse. People get to know what you do, and seek you out for personal advice.  

I say give away your knowledge, and sell your expertise.    

Someone has produced a collection of modern memes based on classical art - they're very good!

A reminder to look no further. Just get in touch. 07986 852621

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."