The Media Coach 31st January 2014

Pete Seeger - a legend; Two Russian toilets; A singing ticket barrier; Coke’s not gay; Oh no, no that question; Meeting the reporter; When in doubt, cut it out; An interview with Sofie Sandell; Music from Lisbee Stainton

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The Media Coach 24th January 2014

Twitter in a Flutter; Ant and Dec yet again; Bob Blakely; Scented jeans; Pick a card, any card; Your mileage may vary; Online for knowing, a handshake for closing; An interview with Heather Townsend; Music from Mick Terry

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The MediaCoach 17th January 2014

A spot of bother in France; Is foreign news a waste of time?; Roger Lloyd-Pack; Trouble on Tripadvisor; Five things to do before every speech; Five ways to make a reporter love you; Five ways to check a social media specialist; An interview with the co-founder of Ryanair, Kell Ryan; Music from Maggi Ronson

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Advice for President Hollande - "Sortir avec vos mains en l'air"

French President Francois Hollande is in a bit of a fix. A tabloid newspaper has made allegations of an affair with actress Julie Gayet. His current squeeze, Valerie Trierweiler, is in hospital suffering from ‘very strong emotional shock’ after hearing allegations that the President had cheated on her. At a press conference today, President Hollande deflected the first question about his alleged affair, saying "private matters should remain private". 

So how should President Hollande deal with the international media attention and barrage of questions? The French press, having had the question from their representative batted aside at the conference today, seemed to have accepted the response. Closer magazine, which broke the story, has removed all references from its website, following an approach from Ms Gayet's legal team. The international press are likely to be less forgiving and co-operative. 

Whatever the truth of the allegations, and there does seem to be a lot of evidence, there's no doubt that the President has to respond at some point. The more he keeps the media waiting, the greater the speculation that will occur, and the longer his name will appear in the headlines. 

Here's my advice to him - "Sortir avec vos mains en l'air" (Come out with your hands in the air). Talk to the press, and make yourself the prime source of information. Tell your side of the story. If you need to apologise, do it now, and make it sincere. If you plan to leave your current partner, get it over with. If you plan to stay with her (of course, that's not entirely your decision), end any affairs, say so publicly, and go away with her for a few days.

Every politician gets to a point where they think they can outmaneuvre the press. They are wrong. Everything comes out in the end. It's better to tell the truth, tell it early and move on.  

Image credit: Creative Commons Licence

The Four Great Pretenders on Social Media

In my opinion, there are several types of pretender on social networks. They claim expertise, but they are really frauds. When credibility and authenticity were being handed out, they were at the back of the queue, or more likely not in the queue at all. Sometimes it's hard to tell if they are real or fake, so here's a guide that I've developed for my own use. You may find it helpful.

Here's how I describe them:

1) The pretend expert 

These are the people who publish reviews of new products and services, sometimes before launch. They haven't seen or tried the new stuff themselves, but have simply read all the reports from people who have, and pulled together a summary which makes them look as though they are "in the know".

2) The pretend writer 

These are real crooks, in my opinion. They reproduce articles and blog posts written by others, with no accreditation, leading people to believe they wrote them. Sometimes they even claim the writing credit. Sad indeed.

3) The pretend journalist 

This is a type I'm seeing more often. they pick up online news alerts or listen to broadcast sources, and then announce the "news" to their friends and followers. They overlook the fact that if people are interested in a story, they will have the same alerts set up. If there was an attempt to comment on the news, I could see the point of it, but simply sending out "news" seems utterly pointless. News sites do it better and faster.

4) The pretend friend of celebs 

They continually "chat" to celebrities on Twitter and Facebook as though they are pals. 99% of it is one-way traffic. Occasionally, they will receive a response, which they will talk about for weeks.

What do all these fakes have in common? I suspect it's a desire for status - to be seen as an important member of their online community. Alas, I think it's all wasted effort. It would be far better if they posted their own views and experiences, offered their unique perspective, and engaged in debate. It would provide some genuine credibility, not to mention some much-needed self-respect.

Image License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 from http://anysnapshot.com

The Media Coach 10th January 2014

Learn how to speak brilliantly; Michael Bay; Serving drinks to Bowie; Simon Hoggart; Neil Young; Pitch your product well; Talking about a disaster; The French Maths Test; An interview with Randall Grahm; Music from Maggi Ronson

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Michael Bay - Five Lessons from his CES meltdown

There's been a lot of chat about Michael Bay and his speaking skills (or lack thereof). But was it all his fault? I think not, and here's why:

Social Media Avatars - And which one is you?

For good or bad, people form an impression of us on social media from the picture we display. It lives with every post we make, and if we are only connected online to someone, it's probably how they always think of us. I've been looking at some of the images used by my online contacts, and I offer these observations. 


1) The "not just me" shot There may be two, three, or an entire crowd of people shown. I don't know who I'm talking to. Who are those other people? There seem to be two basic types of this shot. The first is with a loved one. That's nice if you're running a dating site. If it's a business, is that your business partner? The second type is with a celebrity. Alas, not everyone will recognise the "celeb", so they're left wondering which one is you. 

2) The "cropped from a party" shot This simply says to me "I can't be bothered to get a professional photo done". If that's the case, I wonder how you might handle my business? Would you rather be out partying? 

3) The "over the hills and faraway" shot I'm sure you're in the picture somewhere, but I can't tell if that's you or a lamp-post.

4) The "it's not me" shot It's nice to pay a tribute to someone you admire by using their image, but it makes me a bit suspicious about why you don't want to be seen.

If you're on social media and want to look businesslike, get a proper photo taken. Let us see a bit about you. People do business with people. We want to know which one is you.

Picture credit - Alan Stevens 

The Media Coach 3rd January 2014

Happy New Year; An invitation; A reporter faints; A man can’t type; Time to drop the Sex Pistols; You versus a journalist; And which one is you?; An interview with Rita Rudner; Music from Geoff Gibbons

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Speakers - time to drop the Sex Pistols.

You remember those news images when the Berlin wall came down? It's unlikely that anyone under 40 in your audience will. That was 24 years ago. And those naughty Sex Pistols? then you're talking to over-50s - the punk rock era was 36 years ago.

I don't know about you, but at this time of year I pause to review the reference points in my speeches. The stories, the characters and the historical incidents all age at the same rate that we do, though the average age of our audiences remains the same.

Of course, many stories - often personal ones - are timeless, since they relate to emotional rather than temporal issues. However, leaving a speech unchanged, year after year, may mean that your connection with your audience wanes.

Why not take a few hours to consider what stories and references you can replace or update? Your audiences will notice and appreciate it. 

Photo credit: Creative Commons licence

The Media Coach 27th December 2013

Special end-of-year edition with MediaMaster an MediaMug of the Year, plus exactly the right music from Out of the Rain.

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Do speakers tell the truth on stage? Really?

Can you really back up what you say on stage? Is your speech really web-proof? Now that most members of your audience have smart phones and tablets, you'd better be able to justify your assertions. They will check.

There is no getting away with quoting the 1953 Harvard Goals Study (it never happened) or the "7% of communication is words" (untrue, and disowned by the original researcher, Albert Mehrabian).

Of course, not everything on the Internet (or in Wikipedia) is true, but it's easy to verify if things ever took place. So whenever you start a sentence with "Studies have shown that..." or "It's well-known that...", you'd better be sure of your ground. If your statements can't be verified, your credibility is gone.

So my advice is to be your own fact-checker. Look up everything you claim in your speeches, and be prepared to deal with the consequences of your audience doing the same. It used to be said that you could fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but not all the people all the time. These days, you can't fool any of the people any of the time.

Picture Credit: Creative Commons license

The Media Coach 20th December 2013

Happy Christmas; Your nominations please; Peter O’Toole; British Airways; It’s not just a speech; Why?, Why?, Why?; RSVP every time; An interview with Bob Mills; Music from Out of the Rain

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Is keynote speaking heading for the elephants' graveyard? #mpi #eventprofs

Is the traditional keynoter an endangered species? While in Vancouver at the Global Speakers Summit, I spoke to a number of bureau heads and bookers about what they are looking for in speakers. There was considerable agreement on three trends:


 

1) Length of speeches. Everyone I spoke to said that the format of 15-20 minutes speaking, followed by 45 minutes Q&A was increasing in popularity. Some said that's all they look for. They want speakers who can engage an audience with their depth of knowledge and expertise, not with a prepared delivery.

2) Level of engagement. Everyone, yes, everyone, wants speakers to engage with the audience before, during and after the event. They want webinars, tweetchats, social media engagement, Google hangouts - all part of the deal. Just turning up on the day, speaking and leaving won't cut it any more.

3) Interaction.  Forget the "turn off your phones" stuff. We need to be interacting with our audiences during our speeches, using apps like Pigeonhole Live, Poll Everywhere and the Twitter back-channel.

I've already incorporated these trends into what I offer, and I will keep watching the market to see how to keep adapting. My view is that if the traditional keynote is all you offer, you'd better check the route to the elephant graveyard. What say you?

Image Credit: Creative Commons Licence