The MediaCoach

Hi John,

A very Happy St Patrick's Day to you. I'm Irish by marriage, so I may allow myself a little celebratory Guinness. Of course the best Guinness is served in Dublin, where I trust my great pal and speaking brother Sean Weafer will be raising a glass. Anyway, wherever you are, and whatever your tipple, "Sláinte mhaith!"

It's not Carpool Karaoke. It's not Car Share. But it is two people in a car chatting about the speaking world. I recently shared a car journey with Lee Jackson, President of the Professional Speaking Association, and our conversation, which covered many aspects of professional speaking, is now online.

On Tuesday May 9th at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London, I will be helping speakers to create and develop stories to use on stage. I'm limiting the attendance to only twelve people to ensure plenty of personal attention. You can find out more, and reserve a place right now.

Lucinda Sieger has had a amazing career in music and the arts and is still bringing creative people together from all around the world. Hear some of her story in the Media Coach Radio Show. There's also of course a song from Lucinda too!
Go to the iTunes Archive of the MediaCoach Show
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The video of an expert on Korea, Professor Robert Kelly, being interrupted by his children during a BBC interview has now been viewed millions of times. I've been in his position many times, doing a down-the-line interview, and hoping not to be interrupted. Some people argued I should have made him the MediaMug of the week. Au contraire. His response, along with his wife and children, makes him the MediaMaster, in my opinion. And a great outcome for his wife too - he's buying her a spa day as a thank you for coping so well with the children.

I know, she's an easy target, but Kellyanne Conway once again takes the MediaMug award for her comments a few days ago: "What I can say is there are many ways to surveil each other now, unfortunately, including microwaves that turn into cameras, etc," she told New Jersey's The Record newspaper "So we know that that is just a fact of modern life." It sounds as though the Transformers live in Ms Conway's kitchen. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

TALK TO PEOPLE WHO LISTEN

It's a rare speaker who delivers content that appeals to everyone. I'm not one of those speakers, and nor, I suspect, are you (no disrespect intended). The vast majority of us have a particular type of audience that "gets" what we do. So let's assume you are on stage in front of that audience. At least everyone in the room will enjoy your speech, won't they? Alas, that's probably not the case either. Some people, who are hopefully a small minority, will not be listening. They may have something else on their minds, they may have been sent by their bosses, or they may have misunderstood what you were due to present.

In short, you will be delivering your speech to the majority, but not all, of your audience. Some people may look distracted. Some may give poor feedback. As long as it is only a few, you shouldn't worry about it. Conversely, you will always have some raving fans, regardless of the quality or content of your oratory. It's best not to be too distracted by their feedback either.

The thing is, a great speech causes a transformation in your audience. They will either think or behave differently after they have absorbed your words. Those members of your audience who are unaffected by your words weren't really listening. That's not necessarily your fault.

The point of all this is that you should never try to please everyone, because you can't. You should aim to influence the majority of your audience - those who are really listening. They are the ones you are speaking to.

KEEP IT FRESH

If you can bring a new element to a news story, you be welcomed by the media. You're not there to tell a reporter what they already know, but to offer a fresh insight, however small. But you need to be able to react quickly. It is more important to be responsive to the media than to spend hours crafting the perfect response. If you don't supply a statement or quote quickly, someone else will, and they may be a rival, or someone with a grudge against your organisation. You need to establish yourself, very quickly, as a prime source of information that the media can approach to for an interesting viewpoint.

If a journalist tells you that they need a response by ten o'clock in the morning, you need to supply it by five to ten, not five past ten. A few minutes late can mean that your brilliant quote may never be heard. Of course, you can sometimes prepare your quote in advance, such as when a report is due for publication, and you know you will be asked to comment. In the apparent "heat of the moment" you can then deliver your carefully crafted message.

The best way to deal with a sudden media request is to have a list of agreed "position statements" in the hands of anyone who might be confronted by a camera or microphone. Update these statements regularly - say every three months - and your spokespeople will be able to deal with most issues without having to call a meeting first. When I was a media spokesman for a large organisation, I could recite any one of ten position statements on various issues, and could adapt them for any situation. That's what you need to do, otherwise you could be caught out.

Keep your statements fresh, respond quickly, and always be helpful and polite. You'll be the perfect interviewee.

FOUR WAYS TO VERIFY A SOCIAL MEDIA EXPERT

There are over sixty thousand self-proclaimed social media experts on Twitter. That's a lot of (apparent) expertise. If you needed social media expertise for your business, how on earth could you choose? I believe there are some very simple checks you can do to give you the best chance of finding a genuine "expert". Here are four tests that I hope will help you.

1) Evidence of success. Rather than explaining what they might be able to do for you, any genuine expert should be able to "show and tell" a number of examples where their work has been of benefit to clients. Ideally, they should be able to quote examples of similar work to that you are asking for, and provide proof of their success. Look for numbers and financial value. If they say that their value is "impossible to quantify", be very wary.

2) Referrals from happy clients. This is similar to the one above, but your potential expert should also be able to provide contact details of past clients who will vouch for them. Ideally, they should allow you to select several clients from a list, and then provide you contact details so that you can take up references. If your expert claims that all of their work is "confidential", or "too early to tell", this should give you cause for concern.

3) Online presence. Real social media experts use social media a lot. That's why they get good. It's not just about the number of followers they have (though that is relevant), but it's also about whether they post regularly, engage with their connections and appear to know what they are doing. If you check their Twitter profile and find they are following five hundred people, and have only a few hundred followers, run away quickly.

4) Published expertise. Have they written a book (yes I know, very 20th century), blogs or wikis that you can look at? Do they speak often at large events? Real experts publish their knowledge widely, and are often asked to speak. It's not a guarantee of expertise, but it's another sign.
This list is not exhaustive, and nor does it mean that if they don't tick every box, you should not engage their services. But if they only meet one or two of the above criteria, are you sure they are a real expert? If you're putting your money out there, you need to be confident. Take care.

I don't often watch game shows on TV. This compilation shows why!

Book now - only a few places available for May 9th at Theatre Royal.

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."