Building and Protecting your Reputation |
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Hi John,
The death of Caroline Flack, whatever you thought about her, is a tragedy, and her family and friends must be distraught. I send them my condolences. Is it fair to blame "the media" or even social media?
We will never know the truth about what happened between Caroline Flack and her boyfriend. We don't know the intimate details of people's lives.
As Mark Goldbridge said on Twitter: "People forget there's a real person behind the blue tick". There was a time when people used to make comments in private - at home or in the pub. The celebrities never knew, so it had no impact on them. Now that comments are public, and often shared widely, it's much more likely that the subject of the comment will see them.
I hope people will consider, when posting remarks about people they have never met, what the impact might be when they see them. By all means criticise a policy, or a comment. When it comes to criticising someone's character, appearance or intelligence, think what they might feel if they read it. |
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I recommend courses by my fellow speakers only when they are very, very good.
Two speakers that I have known and respected for many years are Nigel Risner and Geoff Ramm, and together with Hilary Dunne of of Speaker Bureau 'The Brand Activators', they are running a one-day event in June which will be a cracker.
If you are a speaker interested in really making a difference to your business, I urge you to go along to their event.
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Antoinette Dale Henderson is a global expert and speaker on leadership and gravitas. With over 25 years’ experience in communications, she tailors her knowledge, business acumen and research, ensuring every audience receives a relevant experience that inspires positive change.
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The MediaMaestro is Larry Tesler, the inventor of the computer keyboard commands cut, copy and paste, who has died aged 74.
"The inventor of cut/copy & paste, find & replace, and more was former Xerox researcher Larry Tesler," the company said.
"Your workday is easier thanks to his revolutionary ideas. Larry passed away Monday, so please join us in celebrating him."
Possibly Mr Tesler's most famous innovation, the cut and paste command, was reportedly based on the old method of editing in which people would physically cut portions of printed text and glue them elsewhere.
The command was incorporated in Apple's software on the Lisa computer in 1983, and the original Macintosh that was released the following year.
Silicon Valley's Computer History Museum said Mr Tesler "combined computer science training with a counterculture vision that computers should be for everyone".
I use his invention every day. Many of us do. Thanks Larry. |
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The MediaMug is Andrew Sabisky, who resigned this week from the team of special advisors in Number 10.
He described himself as a "super-forecaster", and was appointed earlier this year after the prime minister's chief adviser Dominic Cummings called for "misfits and weirdos" to apply for jobs in Downing Street.
People had called for Mr Sabisky to be sacked over comments on pregnancies, eugenics and race.
Mr Sabisky accused the media of "selective quoting" and "hysteria".
He also tweeted that he had resigned because he did not want to prove a "distraction". "I know this will disappoint a lot of people but I signed up to do real work, not be in the middle of a giant character assassination," Mr Sabisky added.
"If I can't do the work properly there's no point, and I have a lot of other things to do with my life," he added.
As well as the remarks on race and intelligence, Mr Sabisky wrote that compulsory contraception could prevent "creating a permanent underclass".
As is often said, when you become the story, it's time for you to go.
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Speaking Tip - A Speaker from the Block |
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Preparation, as in all things, is important when preparing to deliver a speech. One of the elements sometimes overlooked is to decide exactly where to go and not go on stage. In the theatre, this is known as "blocking", and is part of the role of the director, ensuring that each of the actors is in the right place.
Even when working alone, blocking is important for a number of reasons. In rehearsal, it's very useful to place pieces of tape on stage to mark the area you should stay in. The audience won't see them, but it's important to you for a number of reasons, including these:
1) Sight lines. Every member of the audience should be able to see you at all times. The simple way to determine this is to walk around the stage, making sure that you can see every seat. If and when a seat disappears from your eyeline, put down a marker.
2) Being heard clearly. There are a couple of aspects of this. If you are using a microphone, there may be areas of the stage which generate feedback. Moving too close to a speaker may cause this. During a sound check, make sure that you cover all of the stage, and if feedback occurs, mark that as a no-go area. If you aren't using a microphone, some areas may make you inaudible because of the acoustics, so work with an assistant who stands at distant parts of the room, and makes sure you can always be heard clearly.
3) Light. Actors know how to "find their light". You should know too, and if there are areas of darkness on stage, avoid them.
4) Camera angles. If you are being videoed or live-streamed, you must stay where the camera can see you. Going out of shot (especially into the audience) is unforgivable if the camera can't find you. |
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Media Tip - Dealing with poorly-prepared interviewers |
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As a media person myself, I have to defend the quality of media interviewers. But if I'm honest, there are plenty of interviewers who don't have a clue what they are asking questions about. Not that it's always their fault. There is often little time for an interviewer to prepare to meet a guest, and all they may know about them is their name and job title, which has been shouted at them through the headphones as the guest sits down opposite them and smiles.
It's a situation that is often encountered by authors on a book tour, or stars promoting a film. How do you cope if you are the guest in that situation? You take control. One of the most likely questions for an author is "So what's your book about?". (The interviewer hasn't even read a review of it). If you're the author, you need to be fully prepared for such a question, and will deliver a response which not only informs the audience (and the interviewer), but also helps to promote your book.
Whatever your expertise, you should practice your response to the "ill-informed question". It may not be ignorance, but misunderstanding that leads to it, but whatever the cause, you must be able to respond with a positive message. If there is something factually inaccurate, deal with it, but move on to your own agenda as quickly as possible.
Always prepare for an interview as if the interviewer knows nothing about you. |
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Social Media Tip - Who are you again? |
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Social media has a lot to do with person to person communication. It often amazes me that when companies get involved in social media, they try to hide the person behind the tweet or the Facebook update. It's as though they are trying to pretend that the logo is doing the typing, rather than a real person. Savvy companies know better. They identify the person blogging or tweeting, and allow them to reveal their personality, as well as demonstrating the values of the brand.
On Twitter, for example, there is the option have both a twitter name and personal name on your profile. Some companies register the brand name for the Twitter account, but allow the current user to change the profile to show their name, image, and a little about themselves. It takes only a few seconds to modify the profile details, and makes for a much more friendly approach.
On Facebook, the photo gallery allows companies to show the people behind the account, and gives customers a much more rounded picture of the people they are dealing with. I haven't tracked down any research to prove this, but I believe that if you show your face and name to your customers on social media, you are much more likely to have a polite conversation, with less aggression from any dissatisfied customers. That's my theory, and I'm sticking to it until someone can prove me wrong.
Amazingly, some individuals hide behind a logo or a cartoon.
Be yourself, and show people who you are |
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Need an event host (not you Oscars)? |
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Get in touch and we'll chat.
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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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