Building and Protecting your Reputation |
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Hi John,
I am at one of my favourite events of the year - the Annual convention of the Professional Speakers Association of the UK and Ireland. A couple of hundred professional speakers from the UK, Ireland and around the world will gather to share expertise, advice and the occasional adult beverage.
For the seventh year in a row, I am hosting a Comedy Night this evening when twelve brave souls, most of whom have never done stand-up comedy before, will try to get a bunch of laughs in five minutes. I will be doing the warm-up and acting as MC for the evening. I will let you know how it went next week!
For me, the best aspects of this type of gathering are meeting old friends, starting new friendships, and seeing great speakers in action. I will record some interviews for you to hear in my web radio show.
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However, the best part of the weekend will be to sit down with my oldest and best friends in the business - Lesley Everett and Sean Weafer, to chat, offer support, and raise a glass of red wine to the much-loved fourth member of our wee band, Kenny Harris (on the right in the photo), who died seven years ago. Cheers! |
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When it comes to great speakers, there are few as good as my old pal Geoff Ramm. In Dallas, in July last year, I watched Geoff deliver a near-perfect keynote in front of 1,300 professional speakers. You can watch it here. I urge you too. Geoff talks to me about how he did it in the Media Coach Radio Show,
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The MediaMaestro is the much-loved newsreader Peter Sissons, who died this week way too young at the age of seventy-seven.
He helped host the first episode of Channel 4 News in 1982, becoming its lead presenter. He was poached by the BBC in 1989 to take charge of Question Time and present news bulletins, before becoming the corporation’s main evening news programme presenter for much of the 1990s and early 2000s.
The BBC director general, Tony Hall, said: “Peter Sissons was one of the great television figures of his time – as an interviewer, presenter and world-class journalist. During his distinguished career he was one of the most recognisable and well-respected faces of television news. He was always a great person to be with and to work with. He will be missed by his many friends and colleagues, and our thoughts are with his family.”
Absolutely. A great man. |
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The MediaMug is Burger King, for a tweet alerting customers it was "selling milkshakes all weekend" after several of the drinks had been thrown over political candidates.
The fast food firm has been criticised by the Advertising Standards Authority(ASA) for condoning and encouraging anti-social behaviour.
The ASA said: "Although we acknowledged that the tweet may have been intended as a humorous response to the suspension of milkshake sales by the advertiser's competitor, in the context in which it appeared we considered it would be understood as suggesting that Burger King milkshakes could be used instead by people to 'milkshake' Nigel Farage.
"We considered the ad therefore condoned the previous anti-social behaviour and encouraged further instances. We therefore concluded that the ad was irresponsible."
A Burger King spokesman said: "Our tweet regarding the situation in Edinburgh was intended to be a tongue-in-cheek reaction to the situation. It appears some have misinterpreted this as an endorsement of violence, which we absolutely reject."
They got the publicity though, didn't they? |
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Speaking Tip - A funny thing happened... |
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I was at a conference recently when the MC told a story and actually began it with the words "a funny thing happened to me last night".
He then went on to relate how he had wandered into the hotel corridor stark naked to leave his meal tray outside, and the room door had slammed behind him. I won't detain you with the remaining details (though alas, he did). So what's the problem here? Well firstly, the audience will be the judge of whether a story is funny. Secondly, I suspect that the story may not actually have happened to the narrator, since I've heard it dozens of times, but never from staff in a hotel.
Many speakers feel that they have to deliver an "icebreaker", usually a funny story, in order to relax the audience. If audience members wanted to laugh, they would have gone to a comedy club (actually, that's not a guarantee, but that's another story). By all means use humour in your speeches and MC work, but it should never be forced or recycled. And most of all, it shouldn't be made up.
The best type of story is true, happened to you, and is relevant to the event. If you can't think of a story like that, don't use one. The danger of using old anecdotes, or worse still, telling a joke, is that it can backfire, leaving the audience more disengaged. If you keep your eyes open, there's always something funny going on.
Keep a notebook handy, write it down and use it in your speech that day or the next. Your audience will love it. |
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Media Tip - Seven tips for great interviews |
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Whether it's radio or TV, there are ways to make an interview work really well. Here are some of my top tips:
1) Stay calm and confident. Interviewers may appear intimidating, but they are simply professionals doing a job. If you work with them, the outcome will be good for both of you, so stay calm and express your views slowly and confidently.
2) Only say what you know. Speculating about a topic that you don't understand, or offering an explanation for events without any real evidence, are both routes to disaster. It's perfectly acceptable to admit that you don't know the answer to a question, but you will endeavour to find out. That also gives you another opportunity to be interviewed.
3) Keep still. Even if you are in a swivel chair, keep your feet on the floor and keep the chair still. Avoid nodding your head as the interviewer asks a question, since a reaction shot will suggest that you agree with the point they are making.
4) When you have made your point, stop. Interviewees can get themselves into terrible tangles if they try to keep speaking to "fill the dead air". Silence is not your problem, it's the interviewer's, so allow them to deal with it.
5) Leave edit points. Pause between the end of the question and your answer, and between your main points to allow the possibility of sound bites. It will greatly increase the chance of your words being re-broadcast.
6) Plan a memorable phrase. We're not all as witty as Oscar Wilde was (and he used to prepare his ad-libs too). Plan a memorable phrase well in advance, and as just mentioned, pause before and after you deliver it.
7) Leave your details behind. After the interview, make sure that you leave your contact details with the producer, the runner and the receptionist. They may call you back directly, or give your contact details to anyone who calls the station. |
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Social Media Tip - Show and Tell |
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There's a lot of debate, and a lot of advice, about how to market your services or goods on social media.
Here's some more. Show people what you do, and tell them how it works. I know, it sounds too obvious. But I've been on social networks for long enough to see that successful businesses are very clear about what they do and how they do it.
Video is key, of course. It's attention-grabbing, quick to produce, and (hopefully) brief. It allows you to create advertising in minutes, and then see how your advert performs within hours.
If you find it difficult to explain what you do in a short video, film one of your happy customers. They will summarise your business and how it has been of benefit to them. Not only that, their testimonials will be much more credible than your comments (sorry about that).
If you haven't used video before, try it out. If you use it already, think about how you might do it differently - a different location, a different style, or a different message. Show and tell your customers what you do. It works. |
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Even if you aren't a Prime Minister under pressure, I can help.
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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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