The MediaCoach

Hi John,

The Beast from the East and the Pest from the West (don't you just love journalists) have more or less faded away, and we await the next rhyming weather. I hope you weren't too badly affected. As I mentioned, I was working at the World Indoor Athletics Championships, so the only issue was getting to and from the venue. Wearing my blue volunteers uniform, and especially the bright yellow trainers, I was an obvious target for questions. One person approached me to ask what event was on. I explained, and he said "Wow, do the athletes have to run in the snow?" I pointed out that it was being held in an indoor arena. His next question was "Is there a roof on the stadium?". Good grief.

I've been working with the Expert Academy this week, recording three online video courses - Powerful Presenting, Perfect Pitching and Difficult Conversations. The courses will be online in a few weeks' time, and I will remind you to look out for them. I plan to have a special offer on one of them for you as a subscriber to this ezine.

I was watching a documentary about Jimi Hendrix the other night and it reminded me of an interview I did a few years back with a photographer who captured his iconic image - Gered Mankowitz. Listen to our chat in the Media Coach Radio Show. and there's also a marvellous song from a band I saw play live this week - Son of Town Hall.
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The MediaMaestro is shared between two film-makers and a young film star. At the Oscars last weekend, the award for Best Short Film (Live Action) went to Chris Overton and Rachel Shenton for their film The Silent Child, about a young deaf girl played by six-year old Maisie Sly. It was a treat to see their excitement at a win they clearly did not expect, and to see Rachel Shenton's acceptance speech, which she signed as well as spoke. Chris Overton explained how they had engaged the whole family in raising money to make the film: "My mum and dad made the cupcakes and Rachel's mum and her mum's partner Nigel sold them at their work," he said. "We crowdfunded this all by ourselves and we had the support of so many people, but it was made on a shoestring." Inspiring.

The MediaMug is the Brighton Cheese Festival, which in an echo of Monty Python's Cheese sketch, managed to have a distinct lack of cheese. The Big Cheese Festival, held on Saturday, fell at the final curdle with organisers blaming "adverse weather conditions" for the shortage. "Brie warned", Rachael Chadwick wrote on Twitter, adding that the organisers needed to "tread Caerphilly" and should have "done Feta". I know, but I'm quoting. Kya Poat tweeted: "£22 for the #BigCheeseFest is a joke. I know the weather stopped some vendors from coming but there's only 2 cheese based food trucks and like 3 stalls."

RECENCY AND RELEVANCY

You may have a brilliantly-honed and carefully choreographed speech. It has a brilliant message. You have performed it a hundred times, and been well-paid for doing so. It can't get any better, right? Well maybe. You should always keep a speech under review, to make sure that it still has relevancy. OK, there are timeless universal truths, and many speakers use them to good effect. But if your stories include "celebrities" that your audience has never heard of, or no longer cares about, you need to change something.

Which brings me to recency. Some speakers (one of whom would be me) say that you should always include something in your speech that happened that day, or the day before. It should not be a contrived, shoe-horned reference, but should be relevant (again) to the topic you are speaking on. It's also good to back-refer to earlier speakers who made points that you can build on. Of course, in order to do the latter, you need to be there to listen to the previous few speakers, which is something we speakers are not to good at.

Your audience will often judge your speech in a similar way to a conversation. We would all shy away from people who only told stories about the dimly-remembered past, or who persisted in talking about a topic we didn't have the slightest interest in. So it is with speeches. Try to be conversational, if only in your opening and closing remarks, and make a stronger bond with your audience by using relevant and recent detail.

APPEARANCE NO-NOS

If you are going to appear on TV (or on webcam in a radio studio), there are some traps to avoid. Here are a few:

Avoid rushing. If you know you are being interviewed first thing in the morning, plan your outfit the day before, and have it ready. Some early morning interviews may require a pickup at some unearthly hour (I speak from experience here). If you want to stay friends with your partner, put your clothes and accessories in a spare room, and sneak out quietly. The alternative (and here I speak from experience again) is to stumble around and try to get dressed in the dark. This is not a good idea for many reasons.

Avoid white. White does not look good on television, as the camera will "balance" for its brightness. This will make you and the rest of your outfit fade into the background. If the studio is using a "blue screen" or "green screen", then they will also tell you to avoid blue or green, since otherwise part of you will definitely be part of the background
Avoid anything distracting. Ask someone to check whether any part of your outfit is causing a distraction. It may not be easy for you to tell, since you may be used to your flashing medallion.

Avoid fidgeting. If you regularly fiddle with a ring or a bracelet, try to stop yourself for the duration of the interview. Again, you may need to ask someone for advice, since you may not be aware that you are fidgeting. The easiest way to stop is to clasp your hands together (not too hard!) in your lap.

BRAND YOURSELF FROM THE START

Why is branding so important online? A lot of it is to do with consistency. What you do online should reflect the way you are offline, or people will notice the difference. Many of our contacts and clients know us in both the real and the cyber world, and will be quick to spot any inconsistencies.

Take your avatar, for example. Does it look like you now? (be honest). I've seen several which look as though people's children are running their Twitter feeds - not because they are, but because a 20-year-old photo is the avatar. The way that you write online should be the way that you speak, since social media is conversational. Adopting a more formal, or more informal style will make it appear very odd.

Make sure that you fill in your profile details too, at least as far as your business is concerned. Any contact details that appear on your printed material or your website should also be in your social media profiles, since it's already public information (and presumably you would like prospective clients to get in touch). Branding is all about trust, and the best way to build that is to be open and consistent at all times.

Sometimes it is more entertaining when great actors get it wrong.

Don't worry, I specialise in protecting reputations.

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."