Hi John,

A big shout-out to Apple. I realise that it's a company that doesn't always win praise, especially due to the pricing of its products, but I've had splendid service from them this week.

At 4.30pm on Sunday, I closed my laptop with some vigour, forgetting to notice an earbud sitting on the keyboard. A smashed screen resulted. I immediately applied for technical help on the Apple website, and found that I could drop it in for repair that evening at the Apple store in Nearby Stratford (London, not upon-Avon). I was told that a repair could be done within seven working days, so I was resigned to running my business from my phone for a while. However, only two days later, I had a message to pick the laptop up, fully repaired and guaranteed. A fine example of under-promising and over-delivering. Phew!

We've been away for a couple of weeks in St Lucia.

I know. But someone has to do it. We stayed in a lovely hotel near the capital, Castries (The Bel Jou - highly recommended) and took trips to see an active volcano (boiling mud rather than lava), a superpod of thousands of dolphins, and a trip into the rainforest canopy.

Most importantly, we had some downtime to relax - which you can do anywhere - and came back with a bunch of ideas, some of which you'll be seeing in the next few months.

My guest in the radio show this week is Tally Spear.

Tally was introduced to me by her cousin who lives locally to me, and I was delighted to listen to her music and interview her.

Tally shares her introspective lyrics through fierce punk-inspired choruses and hooks and has been noted by Clash Magazine as “resolutely DIY, Tally is able to make something grand from the smallest budget, nailing down her ideas with impeccable precision.” 

Hear our chat in the in the radio show.

Go to the MediaCoach Show

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And of course there's great song from Tally Spear too.

The MediaMug of the week is the un-named PR person at Kensington Palace who released the now heavily-publicised Mothers' Day photo of the Princess of Wales and her three children.

The admission that the photo had been edited kicked off dozens of conspiracy theories and speculation about the extent and reasons for the changes.

I'm sure there was a very simple explanation for the editing of the image.

To be honest, I took a look at it and couldn't see much wrong with it.



Never listen to anyone who tells you that you're a natural, confident speaker who doesn't need to practice. We all need to rehearse in order to make sure that we don't under-perform. Here are three advantages of rehearsing your speech:

1) It reduces fear Everyone has some nervousness before a speech, so the aim is to channel your anxiety into a great performance. Much of the fear comes from unfamiliarity, so it's self-evident that becoming more familiar with your material will reduce your worries.

2) It keeps you focused When you run through your whole speech, it will help you to determine the balance between the opening, closing, strong messages, humour and supporting material.

3) It improves your clarity When you run through your speech out loud, you will discover any tongue-twisting phrases and awkward words. You can either replace them with something easier or run over them several times until you can say them perfectly,

As to how you should rehearse, I'd say definitely out loud, and preferably to someone who will give you honest feedback. Some people (like my friend and co-author Paul du Toit) favour the use of a mirror, and if that works for you, then fine. But practice you must.     

Al Murray, who is known to many as the stand-up comedian 'The Pub Landlord', used to have an occasional radio show on BBC 5Live. He had a section entitled "not news", when he and his guests compared news stories that should never have been aired, since they weren't really news in the first place.

So what is news, and what is "not news"? A journalist pal said to me the other day "If only people who wrote press releases understood what news is, we'd all have a much easier life". I know what she meant. I've seen thousands of press releases that contained no news whatsoever, despite (or perhaps because of) being carefully constructed and edited by PR companies and their clients. No disrespect to PR professionals by the way, I've been a member of the Chartered Institute of PR for years.

So, here's my "what is news" check-list. If your PR material doesn't contain most of these, don't bother sending it out.

• Interest, especially human interest
• Current. Is it happening now?
• Local. Is it happening here?
• Scale. Does it have an impact on many people?
• High profile. Are there some big names, whether companies or people, involved?
• Conflict. Are there opposing forces or opinions?
• Drama. Is it compelling, such as a disaster or overcoming the odds?

That's news

Social media is perceived as being a form of personal communication.

Yes, we all know that some high-profile people pay others to manage their social media feeds (and some lower-profile people do too), but the comments or posts have your name on them.

As far as your connections are concerned, your social media comments or posts show exactly what you think.

That's why you must always be very wary of allowing anyone else to post on your behalf. It's a common defence for people who are caught out posting offensive remarks that someone must have posted it from their device when they weren't looking. But that's no defence. You have to take responsibility for what is posted in your name.

If it's got your name on it, it's your comment.

2048 is an extremely tough and addictive game....

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."