The MediaCoach

Hi John,

Well it all kicked off at Oxford Circus in London last Friday. There was mass panic as news spread on social media about gunshots being heard on an underground platform. People hid in shops on Oxford Street. Singer Ollie Murs tweeted to his eight million fans that he was safe inside Selfridges while shots were being heard outside. The emergency services arrived en masse. In the end, the conclusion was that no shots were fired at all. I ended up on LBC radio the next day, talking about social media hysteria. My conclusion - read the tweets from official sources. They got it right.

Meanwhile there's been a bit of a Twitter spat between the USA and the UK. I will return to that in my selection of MediaMaestro and MediaMug.

One more mention of my group coaching programme for professional speakers in 2018, since my one-to-one programme is full. Just two places left now. The programme includes a two-hour group video call every month, a one-hour one-to-one video call, plus reasonable email and phone support. The cost is 250 pounds a month plus VAT where it applies.

Steve Bingham is an old rocker. He played with Ronnie Lane's Slim Chance when he left The Faces, and is still playing with them, as well as with veteran soul man Geno Washington. I spoke to him last year, and it's worth a replay. Hear him in the Media Coach Radio Show. There's also a wonderful Ronnie Lane song from his old band, featuring Steve Bingham, Slim Chance. They will be at the Half Moon pub in Putney next Friday December 8th - see you there?
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The MediaMaestro is the British Prime Minister, Theresa May. She's had a bit of a tough time since the last election, and is by no means out of the woods yet, with rumours of plots against her and the tricky Brexit negotiations under way. But this week she did herself proud, by taking on Donald Trump over his Twitter activities (more of that in a moment). She stood up for the UK, and stood up for what is right, and I believe deserves great praise. She was not afraid to take on the US President and give him her firm view. Well done her!

However, the other side of the debate was President Trump, who gets the MediaMug award this week. His actions in retweeting three anti-Islamic videos posted by Jayda Fransen of Britain First have been quite appalling in my view. To make matters worse, his spokesperson said that it didn't matter whether the videos were fake or real since they "highlighted an issue". It makes his regular comments about fake news even more bizarre. He responded to Mrs May's criticism by sending a tweet to the wrong person - a Theresa May Scrivener. He later realised his error. Yet again.

CAN YOU HEAR ME AT THE BACK?

My heart sinks when I see a speaker tap a microphone, and say "One two three, testing. Can you hear me at the back?" It's very unprofessional behaviour, and simply demonstrates that they didn't prepare properly. You should never need to test a microphone or the acoustics of a room. All of that should be done when you rehearse, before anyone has arrived to listen to you.

There are many reasons to arrive early and check out the venue. It gives you the opportunity to meet the organiser and agree your introduction. You can also meet any other speakers and check whether your material overlaps. Most importantly, it allows you to find out how the room is laid out, whether you will need a microphone, and whether all of the technical equipment functions correctly.

If there is a technician on site, meet them as early as possible, and work with them to organise a technical rehearsal. Any good meeting professional will have planned a rehearsal, but if for any reason it isn't set up, you should take the initiative. This is especially important if you are using slides, video or audio. Never, ever go on stage without testing every technical aspect of your presentation.

Even if everything works in rehearsal, things can still go wrong when you're in front of an audience. You should plan for this too. Consider how you would speak without slides or without a microphone. If you are able to carry on when other speakers would give up, it marks you out as a true professional.

HANDLING A PRE-RECORDED INTERVIEW

Pre-recorded radio interviews are used for one of two purposes; to play in full, giving the presenter time to take a break, and to edit for clips to be used in trailers and news bulletins.

The first type, where both the questions and your answers are recorded for later broadcast, can be disconcerting. It may be that the interview is recorded on one day, and broadcast the next. It may be recorded for playback in the middle of the night. You should always ask when it is due to be broadcast, and then imagine that you are "live" at that time. Let me explain what I mean. You may be asked to record an interview at 4pm on Tuesday, for broadcast at 7am on Wednesday. The interview may start with a cheery "Good Morning" from the presenter. You need to respond as though it really is Wednesday morning, since when it is broadcast, the listeners will often have no idea that it is a recording, and will imagine that you are in the studio. It is only a slight subterfuge, but you need to play along with it. It may be easier for you to avoid all references to day or time, and simply say "Hello".

The second type will probably be conducted by someone other than the presenter. They will have a list of questions, but not necessarily any interest in your responses. The whole process is not a discussion, simply a list of prompts to encourage you to make your points. You need to remember that the questions will not be broadcast, so you have to repeat them in your response, in order for the clip to make sense. If you are asked "How will you react to the workers' demands for higher pay?", it will not be helpful to respond "We're not going to budge on that issue". Instead, you need to say something like "In response to demands for higher pay, our stance is to stick with our current offer". In this type of interview, it is up to you to inject interest and emotion, since your questioner may not help you at all. On the positive side, if you deliver your core message in a punchy and memorable way, it will almost certainly be the clip that is used.

In all types of pre-recorded interviews, you need to be at your best at all times. You have no control over which sections will be broadcast, so you need to be sure that every answer is on the money.

HOW DO YOU DO EVERYTHING?

There's an old saw "How you do anything is how you do everything". It's often attributed to T Harv Eker, but probably predates him by a few thousand years. In my view it's a handy maxim.

There's our public and private personas. They need to be congruent, if not identical. There's how we treat people in every circumstance. Word gets out. There's how we treat clients, and how we talk about them to colleagues (especially in open Facebook groups). It's all visible.

Then there's everything we post on social media. That's everything. I realise that some people want to keep their "social" use separate from their "business" use. However, many of our friends are regular referrers of business. They see our social posts. They know our favourite music, films and sports teams. They know exactly who we are.

Everything we do affects our reputations. It may be as well to stay your hand sometimes before you post that comment on a social network.

Who would have thought that a police recruitment video could be so entertaining?

A reminder that I have two places left on my group coaching programme for 2018. Reply to this email for details.

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."