Hi John,

Welcome to the penultimate issue of this newsletter.

Next week, I'll be posting a final edition with a few memories, many thanks and some highlights of the past 21 years.

For now, it's strictly business. Actually it's never been strictly business - you have to have fun too.

Right now, as you read this, I'll be having fun (and discussing a tiny bit of business) at the annual conference of the Professional Speaking Association. It's being held at the Cotswold Water Park. Cue references to "sink or swim", "drowning in paperwork" and "making the boat go faster".....

Don't you go Doom Scrolling.

That was the advice I gave to viewers of GB News this week.

Even if you don't know what it is, you probably do it often. It is defined as the act of spending too much time consuming negative news or social media content, often on a phone or computer. It can be a form of internet addiction disorder and can negatively impact mental and physical health.

You may be fine with your phone in hand, but a MP has put forward a Bill to require social media companies to take extra measures to protect children. A good idea, but in my view the best people to control children's use of social media are their parents, carers and teachers.

A reminder that although this ezine will be closing down I'm continuing to offer speaker coaching - for just half a dozen clients.

You can find out more on my website, or you can drop me a line.

If you want to deliver exceptional speeches, I'd be happy to help.

My guests in the radio show this week are Michelle Plum and Nick B Hall who together form the band Plumhall.

The duo's livestream shows built a global online community during lockdowns, inspiring a stunning video for their song "A Darkness That Won't Leave The House," which was recognized by Janice Long on BBC radio.

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Michelle Plum was formerly a member of Chumbawamba, replacing Lou Watts for 4 years, a touring session musician with The Chris Norman Band for 4 years, and a founder member of Waking The Witch. Nick Hall has been a touring member of Ian Prowse & Amsterdam, Magna Carta, and The Hall Brothers

Hear our fascinating chat in the in the radio show

Go to the MediaCoach Show

Follow me on X (Twitter)

And of course, there's music from Plumhall

The MediaMug of the week goes to Brendan O'Carroll, the creator, writer and main character of Mrs Brown's Boys, a BBC1 comedy show.

He has apologised for making a racist joke in rehearsals that led to a suspension of proceedings.

O'Carroll said he had made a "clumsy attempt at a joke" during a read-through of the scripts, where he was in character as Agnes Brown.

"It backfired and caused offence which I deeply regret and for which I have apologised," he told the Daily Mirror.

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Those present were said to have been "left shocked by the slur", The Mirror said, adding they "flagged it with the BBC afterwards". The corporation said it "acted immediately".

Personally, I think the BBC should apologise for calling his show a comedy, but each to their own.

Timing is one of the key elements of professional speaking.

People will rarely forgive a speaker that runs over time. It's disrespectful to the audience, the organiser and to other speakers who follow, since they may have their time reduced.

So how do you make sure that you stay on time? Here are a few tips.

1. Practice your speech out loud until it's about two minutes shorter than your allotted time
2. Make sure you can see a clock or timer when you speak
3. Stick to what you've rehearsed - don't add in extra material
4. Don't take questions during your speech
5. If you start late, ask the organiser if you can run a bit later, or need to cut
6. Plan sections of your speech that you could leave out if time Is tight
7. Have extra material that you can add in if you need to extend
8. Plan timing points in your speech so you can check if you are on schedule
9. Never ask the audience if you can go over time - it's not their call
10. Finish 30 seconds early

Whatever you do, make sure that you check with the organiser - they call the shots.

Oops. Somebody stole this tip from last week's newsletter. (OK, it was me, I deleted it by mistake when I was copying and pasting text into a script for my web radio show). Sorry about that. Here it is:

As Elvis Costello used to sing "Radio is a sound salvation, Radio is cleaning up the nation.." Actually, the rest of the song is not so complimentary about radio, so let's just stick to the intro. There's a popular belief that radio has had its day, and it is not very useful when it comes to promoting yourself. Is that really true?

A survey published by public affairs consultancy TLG suggested otherwise. They questioned 1,000 opinion leaders in large companies, and found that radio had more influence on them than any other medium when it came to corporate reputation. (Television came second, print third, and online sources fourth).

The main programme mentioned was Today" on BBC Radio 4, which was singled out as being the most important source of information about a company's reputation. Local radio was also mentioned, particularly BBC local radio. Interestingly, many of the people surveyed worked in "new media", but they still regard radio as critically important.

It's not that hard to get on the radio, and it will definitely pay dividends. Here's what to do:

1. Listen to a radio show you want to be on, for an hour. Make copious notes
2. Make a connection between something you hear, and what you do
3. Phone the show's producer, tell them the connection, and ask if you can come on the show

More often than not, they will say "yes". Why not try it?

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 share your posts.

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've always encouraged 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.     

News anchors never laugh, do they?

You know I can help. 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."