| Building and Protecting your Reputation |
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Well, as I mentioned last week, there was a bit of sport going on. Depending on who you favour, there were some remarkable victories or some incredible near-misses.
I was lucky enough to be with a bunch of speaker pals on Sunday, and we gathered around a hotel TV to watch the Cricket World Cup final, with a sub-group glued to the Wimbledon Men's Final on an iPad. There was much jubilation at the end of both, not least from an Australian couple who were not displeased by New Zealand being bested at Lords.
It made me reflect on the joy in being with, or watching, people at the top of their game. |
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Whether it's top-class sports people, or world-class professional speakers, like the group I was with, there's a huge amount to be gained by seeing how top performers perform. Every time I meet with my professional peers, I learn something new, and last weekend was no exception.
I had another opportunity to see one of the best in their business this week. 91-year-old Burt Bacharach appeared at the Eventim Apollo in Hammersmith with a full orchestra, and some superb singers including the marvellous Joss Stone, performing song after song that have become standards - Anyone who had a heart, Raindrops keep falling on my head, The Look of love, Alfie, Make it easy on yourself, I say a little prayer. Absolutely outstanding, and a great example of why you don't have to retire. |
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The MediaMaestro is the band Snow Patrol. Their song, Chasing Cars, has just been named as the most-played song on UK radio since the year 2000.
Originally released in 2006, the ballad never reached number one in the UK, but remained on the charts for more than three years.
"It's unbelievable," Snow Patrol's Gary Lightbody told the BBC. "I'm not sure how that happened."
Asked to explain the Chasing Cars' appeal, he said: "It's an emotionally open song and it's a simple song. But it's also unabashedly a love song, and we don't really have any others.The way it unifies an audience is the thing I most cherish about it. It's a beautiful moment every time you play it."
Second place went to Black Eyed Peas' I Gotta Feeling, while Pharrell's similarly upbeat Happy came third. So being lovelorn and introspective is commoner than happiness? I do hope not. |
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The MediaMug is Darrell Johnson, R. Kelly’s publicist. He held a news conference in Atlanta on Friday following the singer's arrest, where he faced the Savage family, who demanded answers on the whereabouts of their daughter, Joycelyn Savage, an alleged victim of R. Kelly.
It turned into a complete farce. Mr Johnson had no clue how to handle the heckling, which is weird when he described himself as a crisis manager.
He both denied and then agreed that he was working for R Kelly, in a totally confusing and mis-managed attempt to represent the singer. I suspect he won't get too much more work as a "crisis manager" (but I do know a good one) |
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| Speaking Tip - Something in common |
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Your job, as a speaker, is to find common ground with your audience, and then gently lead them to pastures new. As we all know, the best way to do that is by telling stories. There's a temptation, in these days of sound bites and instant news, to try to tell a story as quickly as possible, so as not to bore the audience. However, that doesn't always work. It's the detail in stories that people find engaging. It's the evocation of sights, sounds and even smells that they can imagine, that make their connection with you very strong.
Although your audience won't have had the same experiences as you (or there would be no point telling the story), they will be able to identify with elements of it. For example, you might start by describing your feelings before an important pitch meeting, and how you suddenly felt like you were back at school, standing outside the exam room waiting for the doors to open. Although your audience may never have pitched for a million-pound contract, they've all sat an exam, and will be able to remember exactly how they felt.
Some speakers introduce these common elements by saying "you know how you feel when.....", but I don't think that's necessary. If you tell the story exactly as it happened to you, describing your feelings and emotions at the time, they will identify with you. You will learn the phrases and analogies that work well, and also discover what will touch different audiences.
Aim to include three or four common experiences in every speech, and you will take your audience on a journey with you. |
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| Media Tip - A super stunner |
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A single piece of information - a stunner of a line - can completely change the way in which people think about an issue. Being able to craft and deliver a stunning fact is a skill that you need on the media. Best of all, listeners will not only remember the fact, but will pass it on to friends, so it almost becomes "viral". So how do you create a stunning fact? Here's a simple process.
1) Look at the facts you already have. Are any remarkable? Test them on people who don't know the topic, and see which ones make them say "wow".
2) Look for analogies. Don't simply use the numbers. Instead, say "as big as five football pitches" or "enough people to form a human chain from London to Glasgow".
3) Create images in listeners' imaginations. If they can "see" the fact as well as hear it, the impression is much stronger.
4) Keep things simple. Don't use units that you have to explain, such as nanoseconds. Always speak in terms that your audience will understand quickly.
5) Provide some proof. If a fact sounds unlikely and you can't back it up, people dismiss it. If it sounds impossible and you can prove it, it becomes a stunner. |
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| Social Media Tip - How you doin'? |
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If you are old enough to remember the sitcom Friends, which remains the most popular show to this day, you will remember a line that Joey often used: "How you doin'?"
It's a line I still have running around in my head when I am using social media. Every so often, I see a comment or a post from someone I haven't spoken to in ages, possibly for years. Of course, there may be a good reason for not speaking, connected to a time neither of us wishes to remember. However, more frequently, it's just that we have lost touch with each other.
That's when I turn into Joey, and drop them a line, either by private message or email, simply to ask them how they are doing. It nearly always turns into a conversation which may or may not lead to something else. it doesn't matter. The point is, we both find out what is going on, whether one or both of us can help the other, and we keep each other in mind for some future chat.
If nothing else, it's enjoyable to chat with and old friend. There's no need to ask anything except "How are you these days?" or whatever your version of the Joey phrase is. Go on - ask how someone is doing. |
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